My complaint:
My wife and her elderly mom went to shoppers drug mart(3080 Carling Ave) near the movie theatre around 8pm on March 11, 2021 to buy a walking cane. My wife asked the cashier about the price of the canes they have in store and he pointed to a price that was around $49.99 or something like that. She asked him if he had another option that would be cheaper around $20-$25. The normal response from the cashier would be either tell her that they have that and tell her where to get it or say politely we do not have this product in that price range and maybe advise her to try other store that might have it. Instead and out of the blue, he said this racist condescending troubling comment to my wife go outside , cut a branch tree and your mom can use it as walking cane, my wife was pulled back by the comment as she couldn’t believe herself that he told her such comment that she didn’t know what to say. my wife is a muslim refugee who came from syria not too long ago and still struggling with english and getting accustomed to a new country and trying her best to integrate into this society, when this racist person pull such a comment toward her and her elderly mom. My mother in law left the store in tears and she was still crying when came home.
My niece asked for the store manager Mike and told him the story and he didnt seem interested to do anything about this and the cashier Patrick didnt even attempt to apologize for his racist comments. i had to go back to the store and demand to see this cashier , when he saw me coming into the store with my wife, he did hide inside the employee room for a bit so he would avoid us but because the argument between me and the manager heated up, he came out and was trying to say it was a joke and he was trying to help them. he was trying to say he is human and human make mistakes . true human make mistakes but there is different kind of mistakes, such an unprovoked unnecessary and hurtful comment shouldnt have been said and he sould have thought 10 times before saying such a racist comment. He was trying to say it was a joke but it was not because it was a deliberate act of mistreating someone that you should be helpful toward because if customers stop coming to your store and buy things, you will not have a job in the first place. Mistakes happen but people pay for their mistakes and i demand this company take the necessary steps to fire this employee because he cannot be working a customer service person and treating people the way he did.
Suggested solution:
Fire this employee and issue a public apology statement otherwise i will be contacting the local ottawa media and come forward with this story to showcase how racism and discrimination is still a huge problem in our society against minorities.
