SPAR @ 84 Kwartel Rd, Birchleigh, Johannesburg, 1617

<p>I approached the lady and requested her name, but she refused to give it to me. I proceeded to call her Manager / the Store Supervisor (Lady) who was busy attending to other shoppers at the time, and when she eventually joined us (at the register next to this lady, still assisting the same Customer) she rep**** by saying “they will deal with the matter internally” yet she didn’t even listen to my complaint.</p> <p> </p> <p>It all started when my wife and I joined the queue in which to pay Water & Lights / DSTV. The que was rather lengthy, however we were 3rd in line, all in the que facing away from the door / adjacent to the front row registers. My wife and I have been shopping at this store since it opened years ago, frequenting the store practically every 2nd day. However on this day (Friday, 28th April) we were confronted by an African lady who joined the queue from the left of the store (entrance side).</p> <p> </p> <p>At first we presumed she was joining a family member / friend who had been in the queue in front of us. However, when the lady behind the counter called the next customer, this lady was next and was not there with anyone else. I approached the lady behind the counter (Spar employee) and asked her if she was going to allow this, someone cutting in. Considering we had been standing in the queue for a significant period of time, I knew the lady (Customer) could not have possibly been next as I had not seen her since entering the store. The Spar employee answered back by saying “this lady was next in the line” to which I responded “it is impossible, as we had been in the store for a significant period of time”.</p> <p> </p> <p>This is where the racial slurs and incitement started. Both the female customer and the Spar employee started saying things like “I feel sorry for you because you are white” and “you are stupid because you are white”, “look around you and see how many black people are in the store”. I repeated myself by asking the lady behind the register “what is your name”, she then proceeded by hiding her nametag. She ignored me, needless to say didn’t even make an attempt to resolve the issue. She merely joined the Customer with her remarks of “get back in the queue, stupid”.</p> <p> </p> <p>Disgruntled and disgraced at what happened, even after making an attempt to address the matter with the in-store / on duty Supervisor, I left the store and was further verbally abused by a fellow customer (African male carrying a baby who insulted my wife). Now I don’t expect your employees to manage Customers when something like this happens, however I would expect your employees not to participate. As you can see by my signature, I am an HR practitioner specializing in Industrial Relations who deals with ****** and misconduct on a daily basis for a firm who is 1000+ employees strong, so I know a little more than the average “Joe”.</p> <p> </p> <p>Quite frankly I couldn’t care what comes of this, nor do I care about the Customers who insulted us. Quite simply put, I will not be a customer of your store ever again, nor will I speak of Spar as being a store with the values it proclaims to advertise. This happened days ago and I am over it, but the scar has been left in terms of how I valued being a frequent shopper of your store and to be quite honest, I would like the media to hear about this. In my life I have never been so humiliated in my entire life. As a 37 year old male who worked on the Mines at Marikana, I was treated with more respect in those 5 years than I was in the 5 minutes I spent in your store @ 84 Kwartel Rd, Birchleigh, Johannesburg, 1617.</p>