IF BHEKI CELE WORKED AT ENGEN ONE STOP HIGHVELD HE'D BE NOMONDE

This morning round about 12 hours ago at 06:40, while merrily driving on the R21 North bound, I thought ran through my mind that : Lesego you have been working strenuously and maybe you deserve a treat. I decided there and then that I had seen the Engine Highveld 1-Stop West selling Crispy Creme donuts and that I would reward myself with a couple of them. Really a happy thought. I got to the garage, inflated my left rear tyre and then proceeded to park at an open parking bay, removed my jacket from the back seat of my car and then proceeded towards the store, got right in front of the sanitizing station and while zipping up my jacket a voice from the cashier side without greetings or anything shouted "faka isanitizer",- to be honest, if I was blindfolded and didn't know where I was, I honestly would have thought that I was back in Orlando East where I grew up and that the voice belonged to Mantwa from my kasi with her dirty night dress, gown and an old pantihose that haven't seen water for at least a week. Rudely and disrespectfully expressing her dissatisfaction at the world, but alas, I was at the Engine garage.

My response to her unceremonious "faka isanitizer" was an affirmative "yes", which under my mask one can assume based on what followed that she didn't get, while still standing by the sanitizer stand struggling to zip up my jacket, disturbing nobody, she again repeated "ngithe faka isanitizer". To which I wasn't impressed at all in the way I was being addressed and I took up the issue with her asking her to "Please address me appropriately, and that I hadn't even proceeded to the store because I am struggling with my jacket" At this point a customer comes into the picture and inquires on what's happening, Nomonde - as I would later learn her name, as she did not have a name tag, and did not seem to be bothered with that - proceed to talk about me with the customer as if I am not even in the store, explains to the customer that "lobhuti uyaphapha, ufuna ukungena without isanitizer". At this point obviously enraged I gunner up all the strength in me and try to tell her that she shoudl not address me like she's addressing some wayward child of a cousin that she hates, and if there's anything that is wrong she addresses it so properly, her response "uyaphapha uzoyenzani", she then continues to talk about me with the other two cashiers.

At this point I have realized that I will only get straatmate tendencies out of this woman, I then ask her to call the store manager so that I can take this up with him, again with attitude she calls the manager and proceeds to rudely talk about me. When the store manager Jan Malan comes in, I explain to him what has happened, and to be honest his behavior tells me that he's just saying whatever he thinks I want to hear so that I can get out of his hair as well. To an extent that when I asked him what the woman's name is, he says Nomonde, and I ask what's her surname and he says he DOESN'T KNOW. Tells me that he will discipline her and blah blah blah. So eventually I ask for the customer service numbers and he tells me they are on the receipt to which I took my leave from the store.

This morning's events honestly raised a lot of concerns for me: 1. Is this the level of customer service that one is to expect at your outlets? 2. Are the people interacting with customers, your most valuable part of the business trained to have such interactions with them? 3. Do the people working at your service stations know that without me, the customer, there is no Engen, and without Engen, there is no jobs for them? 4. I tend to avoid watching the news nowadays so as to avoid bumping into a clip of the minister of Police addressing South African citizen like some tjatjarag attention seeking annoying kids, and then I have to get the same treatment where I use my hard earned cash? By the way I use the garage to fill up on fuel and spend no less than 220L worth of petrol a month there.

IT REALLY IS DISAPPOINTED TO SAY THE LEAST THAT I GET TREATED LIKE THIS!!!!!