Lithuania: employee gets fired for tying black pantyhose on a flag

CORRECTION: Thank you to readers of this blog who pointed out a mistake that before the country was wrongfully stated as Latvia and the date of the mourning day was wrongfully written as well.  Correct country – Lithuania.  Correct date – June 14th.  It is something that is remembered in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. 

pantyhose over latvian flagA flag is a symbol of a country and if mistreated, it maybe taken as an offence.  Usually it happens because people don’t know any better.

Let’s say that there are cases of ships entering a foreign port with the flag upside down.  Or an embarrassing case of outsourcing gone wrong, such as a batch of Israeli flags that were made in China arrived with the Star of David shifted by a 30 degree rotation, which for whatever reason was not rejected and filled the air on the 2008 Independence Day in Tel-Aviv.

Alright, we can perhaps assign such cases to a staff member who didn’t check the drawing or a young sailor who has has no idea which colour of the French striped flag should face the top.  We all make such mistakes.

But what would you say about a man who purposely ties a pair of black pantyhose over the Lithuanian flag instead of a black ribbon?  It is a common custom in the Baltic countries to tie a ribbon on the flag on the days of mourning.

So in this case on June 14, 2013 – Anniversary of Deportation (mourning in memory of victims of communist genocide), a worker of a store called Maxima tied a pair of black pantyhose over their flag.

Let’s just say that not only the worker got fired for such a deed, for which no explanation was released, the owners of the store are hoping to pursue this matter in court as a criminal offence.

Even though I believe that any flag should be treated with respect, I should point out that such a deed made it to a newspaper, thus informing the whole world about this Lithuanian day of mourning.  I would probably have no idea about such tragedy suffered in the Baltic countries in 1941 if I wouldn’t stumble upon that note online.

For sure the worker didn’t raise the flag properly, but he (or she) for sure raised some awareness as a result.

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2 thoughts on “Lithuania: employee gets fired for tying black pantyhose on a flag

  1. I am guessing he meant well and just didn’t have any ribbon. The punishment seems harsh. But then the management is probably considering that the pantyhose is a piece of underwear so that’s the insult.

    • James, I understand, if I wouldn’t have a ribbon and ONLY pantyhose, I’d take the scissors, cut up the fabric in such a way that it looks like a long ribbon and not pantyhose. I doubt thee is a law of what the ribbon should be made of.

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