Tsitsi G

Unprofessional Conduct and Discriminatory Treatment

I was in the Crazy Store, Menlyn Park Shopping Centre, Pretoria, 30 minutes before the scheduled 13:00 closing. At 12:58, staff closed the doors and aggressively pressured customers to move to the till. Upon arriving at the checkout, I found a queue of eight people being serviced by only one cashier. Knowing that I would be waiting for at least five to ten minutes before being served, I made a reasonable observation regarding the contradiction of being rushed to the till only to stand in an inefficient line. To maximize my time, I stepped back to grab two final items while the queue moved. Unprofessional Conduct and Harassment: At this point, a white woman (who said its her store) began shouting at me in front of other customers, stating, "This is my store, so when I say my store is closed, and you come to the till, you come to the till and wait in line." Following her lead, other employees joined in, mocking me for being the "only one complaining." Points of Concern: 1. Inefficient Management: Closing doors early and operating only one till for a large group is poor operational practice. 2. Verbal Abuse: Shouting at a customer is a gross violation of basic retail ethics. A customer's presence in a queue does not give management the right to be verbally abusive. 3. Discriminatory Undertones: I found it highly suspicious that I was singled out for harassment. As a Black African woman who does not speak a local South African language, the aggressive "shouting down" felt like an attempt to intimidate me based on my race and origin. While other customers remained quiet (perhaps because they had finished their selection), my attempt to be efficient with my time was met with a level of vitriol that was not directed at anyone else.