Wellma “Tootie” Shafer, 46, was fired as a cashier at Last Chance Market in Russell, Iowa, after a customer reported her engaging in “sexual” banter at the register. Her boss, Rick Braaksma, explained, “We cannot … talk about adult situations in front of other customers.” Shafer sought unemployment compensation; Braaksma challenged it. Among the items Last Chance sells are Wake the F- Up Coffee, The Hottest F-ing Sauce (noted, the label states, for its “ass-burning quality”), and The Hottest F-ing Nuts (all product names using the explicit “F word”), and a state administrative judge granted Shafer benefits, showing (according to an April Des Moines Register item) little sympathy for the store’s contradictory policy.
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