“Customers are always right.” Pfft… yeah right…
Recently, a popular restaurant in Taman Paramount, Petaling Jaya, called Awesome Canteen, took to their Instagram to share how they had recently encountered a customer who made a certain racist remark towards one of their staff.
The post received countless praise and applause from netizens and other restaurant owners, as the way the manager took control of the incident was simply spectacular!
WORLD OF BUZZ had the privilege to speak to the manager of Awesome Canteen, Mr Faris, who explained what actually went down in yesterday’s incident.
A rude regular
Faris said the incident took place yesterday, 22 April, at around 2pm.
“A customer came into the restaurant with a woman. And, of course, following the standard SOP, they are required to check in with the MySejahtera app as well as scanning their temperature in order to dine in,” he said.
“However, the customer stormed in and sat down at the table straight away while the woman proceeded to check in on his behalf,” he added.
As Faris is the manager of the restaurant, he did his due diligence by politely asking the customer to check his temperature.
“I went up to the customer and said, “Hi sir, would you mind scanning your temperature please?”. But, instead, he replied to me with “Shush”, aiming to chase me away,” Faris explained.
According to Faris, this is not the first time encountering this same customer. This customer has been a regular at Awesome Canteen and the staff is well aware of his unpleasant behaviour.
Since the other woman he came in with was doing the check-in for him, he decided not to push it with the customer but made sure the check-in was done properly for both the male and female customer.
“One of my colleagues, Yunishaa, was the one who helped the woman with the check-in after greeting her at the door. It was all good,” Faris added.
A picture from Faris of the alleged racist customer.
“Tell your boss not to hire Indians”
“The lady then proceeded to place an order for food and drinks for the both of them and paid for it. Everything was normal.
But, then, the customer called out one of our floor staffs, Myra. He specifically said to Myra “Excuse me, tell your boss to not hire Indians anymore.”
As Myra is a Malay, he was actually referring to Yunishaa, the staff that greeted them at the door,” Faris said.
“Yunishaa is the nicest girl in Awesome Cafe. So, she was a bit shock by the customer’s request. But, again, we were all well aware of this Uncle’s behaviour. We know he’s not so friendly.
Myra then asked the customer “I’m sorry, do you have a problem with us hiring Indians?” but he just repeated the same thing, “Just tell your boss not to hire Indians”.
After finding out about what had happened, Faris was filled with rage as he does not condone any inappropriate behaviour taking place at the restaurant, regardless if it is coming from a customer or their own staff.
Faris had a feeling that the customer seemed to be one who is quite hard-headed, and knew it was pointless speaking to him. Instead, he went up to the woman sitting with him and asked her if he could have a word with her in private.
When he got her away from the male customer, he asked the woman “Do you mind if I ask you who is the gentleman you are with today?” to which she replied, “Oh, that’s my boss.”
Faris assumes that she must be his PA.
“Then I asked “Is your boss okay? Because he made a comment and I think it is a little disrespectful.”
I repeated the phrase he had used to his PA. Then I told her, that this is unacceptable behaviour, especially during these times,” Faris explained.
“This racial remark is unacceptable. Not just here at Awesome Canteen but in Taman Paramount and anywhere you go.
I understand that you both have ordered food so we will just let you guys dine with us, but since this is not the first time your boss being rude to our staff and to our other customers, after this I’m afraid I cannot let your boss in our premises anytime soon.
Please pass this message to your boss. Thank you,” Faris told the woman.
She apologized and headed back to the table where he passed the message to her boss.
After receiving the news, the angry customer gave Faris a stare before leaving the restaurant. Faris added that they had paid for the food but stormed off.
We should all be treated the same
“In this service industry, we are always expected to go the extra mile for our customers. But, like what Awesome Canteen said in their post, we are all still human and we should all be treated the same.
Because we are a multiracial company, sometimes these racial remarks can be taken lightly. I’m half Chinese and half Malay myself and I too go through this racial abuse as well.
I don’t think my staff, Yunishaa deserved such a comment. No one deserves it,” Faris added.
Well said Faris! Kudos to Awesome Canteen for sticking up for their employees!
What are your thoughts on this story? Let us know in the comment section below!
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