Woolies apologises for mocking of gay man in store. But is it enough?
Rico Zaaiman
Woolworths has apologised for an incident in which a gay man was humiliated for being effeminate at one of its Johannesburg stores on Monday night.
According to marketing executive Rico Zaaiman, while shopping at a Strubens Valley Woolies branch, a man believed to be a staff member mocked him by “pretending to walk like a woman and pretending to carry a handbag”.
He says that another individual, who he also believed to be an employee, laughed along with his colleague’s antics. When Zaaiman, who self identifies as “a very effeminate gay person”, complained, some customers also laughed at him. The incident, he said, left him feeling humiliated and insulted.
On Wednesday, Woolworths told Mambaonline that it regretted what had happened. “Firstly, we would like to apologise profusely to the customer. We have been in ongoing contact with him since we were first made aware of the incident and deeply regret the upset it has caused him,” said a spokesperson for the company.
She also insisted that Woolworths’ policy on diversity is clear: “We will not tolerate any discrimination towards our customers on the basis of race, gender, sexuality or creed. We respect and celebrate the diversity of our customers and our country.”
The spokesperson added that the company “will conduct a thorough and appropriate investigation to resolve the matter”.
Woolworths did not answer Mambaonline’s question as to whether its employees undergo diversity sensitisation training, including how to appropriately serve LGBTIQ clients.
The company also did not address claims that the staff members implicated may actually be employed by another company that is contracted to offer a coffee shop service in the store.
Some members of the LGBTIQ community have threatened to boycott Woolworths if the company does not adequately address the incident. One member of the public, Jaco du Preez, posted a picture of a Woolworths gift card being cut up on Twitter. He wrote: “If #Woolworths turns a blind eye to #discrimination I will not support them.”
Zaaiman said that he is grateful that Woolworths appears to be taking the incident seriously, but he remains upset.
“The experience has left a bitter taste, and being brand loyal as I am, I felt deeply betrayed by Woolworths.” He noted that even if the staff member involved was not employed directly by the company, he was dressed as a Woolies employee and “he represented the brand”.
“I am so grateful and humbled by the support from both my friends and the community as a whole. I will eventually get over myself but I just need time to process this and then move on,” said Zaaiman.
If #Woolworths turns a blind eye to #discrimination I will not support them. #OutAndProud @Mambaonline @WOOLWORTHS_SA pic.twitter.com/wfi599yry0
— Jaco du Preez (@Buglish) March 16, 2017
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This also hapend to me 5 years ago at woolies in N1 city capetown.since that day i dont put a foot in woolies.
One homophobic employee does not reflect the policy of an entire company, especially one as large Woolworths. There isn’t a single company of similar size that will not have a few homophobes. Was Zaaiman mistreated? YES. Did he complain about it? YES. Will Woolworths do anything concrete to bring the perpetrators to book? Besides the PR efforts to repair the damage done to the brand, I’d say highly unlikely.
Woolworths on the whole have to pull up their socks. Pretty poor service. Food crappy. Rest poor. All clothes not worth buying for the price. Not the Woolies I was used to. Obviously dont shop there anymore.
In recent days woolworths is just dissapointing, the current pool of employees are generally poor at customer service, long waiting ques,their nectarines are always off, fabric quality of their house brands, stock capacity in their mini stores, quality of their home range, things are just getting poor overall, in solidarity to you I am not going to that strubens valley branch until woolworths announce the said employes havd been dismissed, I live near strubens valley.
Unfortunate incident but human. I am gay and I also find some of these “fems” either extremely funny or completely embarrassing. Now I notice we have become LGBTIQ clientele. The person made a joke like we
have all done about different things. I do not need specially trained staff and I would urge the LGBTIQ not to drag all gays into their circus. A stand-up comedian needs a reaction from the audience, my view.
This has happened to me as well, Woolies in Main Stream, Cape Town!! Anytime when i get there they always laugh and at times I don’t get much help.
It’s very unfortunate but does anyone really care NO they will continue to mock the LGBTI community until the LGBTI community stops supporting Woolies
Do they need staff gender sensitization training YES
Will anything be done about it probably not until the company is made to realise that all customers are important not just the heterosexuals
Just hurts my heart that a person can belittle another person like that. Woolworths needs to have a good hard look at their overall level of service lately. It has gone down dramatically. Always used to support them. So sad. Secret shoppers need to be introduced in every store. It really works. I will volunteer.
It is unecessary to be so effeminate in public if you are gay, you put yourself up for ridicule in this world as you should know that people will mock you , laugh at you and no take you seriously. You are not a woman and need to behave more masculine as bless you are in trans state . Don’t embarrass yourself and neither the gay community please .
stop ridiculing those gay men who are more feminine. that is who they identify as and it does not mean they have to be transgender. I wish gays within the gay community would stop bashing each other, its bad enough that the straight world still has issues accepting gay people. if we all know what discrimination feels like, why then do we need to discriminate against each other. come on gay community, stop turning a cold shoulder to your fellow gay and rather give them a warm hug. no wonder gay men deal with issues like depression, suicide, eating disorders and isolation. what is the point of living up to a stereotype perpetuated by straight people. we should embrace each other instead of hating on one another. if we don’t we are just as bad.