The same black people who complain about being mistreated by white customers treat them like royalty and blacks like peasants, writes Kabelo Chabalala.
‘The customer is always right” goes the proverbial saying. But I fail dismally to exercise my rights as a customer. This has led to a few instances where I have been mistreated by my fellow black brothers and sisters.
The latest encounter was at a fastfood outlet in Hatfield on Sunday. It was at about 10.30pm when I popped in there for my biggest addiction - fries. I walked in, not forgetting my struggle of opening the door - Pull vs Push. I managed to get it right eventually. I greeted the crew-member with a big smile. I placed my order, gave her my bank card, did the transaction and took my card back and ran to the bathroom.
When I came back there was a commotion around the cashiers. A young, white lady about my age came from the drive-through to ask for her order.
Apparently they went off-line just as I disappeared to the bathroom. So the lady who was helping me asked if I got a decline notification on my phone. I hadn’t, it wasn’t declined. She then said: “We cannot give you your order. Wait a few minutes, the signal is back. I want to see if we can retrieve the last transaction.”
I kept quiet. But I knew it had gone through. My bank notifies me with declines immediately. The white young lady continued to demand they give her her order. Even though her transaction, like mine, didn’t show that it went through, the cashier helping me and the manager ran around to get her order of a Chicken Fold-over meal and Double Quarter-Pounder meal.
“Please forgive us, we will get your meal just now. We are sorry for the inconvenience.”
They then called each other to organise her meal. Needless to say that she was rude towards them given the unforeseen technical glitches they experienced. But remember, “the customer is always right”.
Meanwhile, I am asked to wait for them to make sure if my own transaction went through or not. This isn’t black and white.
It’s different shades of black battling it out. Mind you, in her explanation to me, there was no “sorry, please and forgive” to show remorse. But the white lady next to me got them all. The cashier’s “apology” to me was plain rude and dry.
The white lady was screaming and shouting and yelling. In a few seconds, her meal was in her hands. I was still waiting. This took me back to earlier on in the year at a clothing store in Lillian Ngoyi and Pretorius streets in the Pitori CBD.
I walked into the store looking for a pair of tracksuits. I looked and I couldn’t find them. I greeted and asked one of the guys on the floor, and he said, “walk down the aisle, turn left and they will be on your right”. He was busy unpacking some cargoes. Lawfully he is supposed to take me there. But I’m not one to make a fuss about such things.
Just as I was about to walk away, coincidentally, a white guy asked him about the same stuff. Guess what he did? He left what he was doing (rightfully so) and walked him to where I was heading. I picked my colour and size and went straight up to him. He knew what this confrontation was about. Without hesitation he said; “Uyazi kuthi izingamula zinjani mfowethu” (You know how white people are). In my head I am thinking, yes I do. They know their rights. But I am too dumb to practise them because in our African culture, such things shouldn’t give us sleepless nights.
But the supremacy of white people in South Africa isn’t entirely embraced by some white people. It is the very same black people who are always complaining about being mistreated by white customers who treat them like royalty while treating fellow blacks like peasants.
So, I have learned the hard way; where services are concerned, a customer isn’t always right. But a customer who knows his or her rights will always be treated right. I have just had enough with playing cool in restaurants with both black and white waitrons.
* Kabelo Chabalala is the founder of the Young Men Movement (YMM). @KabeloJay, [email protected]
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.