I went to Pep Retail Crossing this morning to buy a 3 pack wipe combo.
I had a limited time for shopping and thought it would be a quick exercise.
There was only one cashier by the name of Portia Phosa at the till attending to a customer that was paying for a basket full of clothes.
Portia looked up while chatting with the other customer while scanning the items that she had in the basket at a very slow pace.
I thought Portia would call for assistance after noticing me and another customer in the row waiting to be helped.
Nevertheless Portia continued chatting with the customer she was attending to.
When I saw the number of items that still had to be scanned I requested her to please call another cashier. She did not seem very happy with my request as there was no reply from her side but made it seem like a great effort to make an announcement for another cashier to come to the till point to assist.
After this Portia and the customer that she was attending to looked my way and where clearly discussing me and the situation while thinking it was all a big joke.
When the other cashier arrived I asked her where all the other cashiers were. She then said that they were attending to stock in the back. I then asked why they only had one cashier attending to customers at 11am on a Sunday morning. The cashier that was assisting me then confirmed that Portia who was attending to the other customer had instruction to call them when there were more than one customer in line which did not happen at all. All through this whole situation Portia and her customer were laughing at me and discussing me as if I did something wrong when asking for assistance. I asked to speak to the Manager but was told that she was not in today.
I left the shop very upset and after completing shopping at Spar with my mother, we decided to go back to Pep to get Portia's name as I did not feel that I was treated fairly at all. I then asked to speak to the person in charge for the day and Mosetsane was called.
I then explained to her what happened earlier.
This is not the first time that we were treated in this manner at this specific branch and I have decided not to just let it go this time.
The cashiers do not treat the customers with respect and speak in their language to each other while attending to customers most of the time as we go to this Pep very often.
As a paying customer I feel the behaviour of Portia Phosa was totally unacceptable today.
It makes me feel as a white person that I am not welcome in the store and it is not acceptable.
Please reply with the steps that will be followed to rectify the way that I was treated in the store today as I am sure this happens on a daily basis. As mentioned this was not the first time.
We go to Pep almost every weekend and it feels like it is just getting worse as time goes by.
I think people too often, like I also did the first time just let things go and it is not being brought under the attention of the owners of this store if we do not let them know what the staff is doing with their business while they are not present.
Please advise what is going to be done about this ?