Staff at Michael’s Fresh Food Market IGA in Keysborough are facing racial abuse amid coronavirus stockpiling
Management at a community supermarket in Keysborough have called out abuse and aggression towards its staff after shoppers were caught racially abusing workers over loo roll-buying limits as coronavirus panic buying continues.
South East
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Workers at a Keysborough supermarket have been subjected to “nasty” and “racist” comments after it implemented buying restrictions on toilet paper.
The management team at Michael’s Fresh Food Market IGA took to Facebook to say it was “very disappointed” after staff were subjected to rude, abusive and racist insults for simply doing their job.
It comes after the store and most major supermarkets placed a one toilet pack per customer limit as well as restrictions on other items due to panic buying.
The store’s human resources manager Teresa Lorenz said the team was forced to post on its Facebook page after witnessing multiple confronting verbal assaults.
In one incident customers became aggressive when told by a store worker they had to stick to the toilet roll buying limit.
“There have been an accumulation of incidents and we felt that we really wanted to make it clear that this type of behaviour is not acceptable,” Ms Lorenz said.
“It’s mostly been over toilet paper restrictions. We understand tensions are high at the moment but people do need to think twice about how they treat others.”
Ms Lorenz said the store’s team was looking out for the elderly and assisting those who were desperate for basic essentials.
“We have been helping our customers and reaching out to the elderly too if they need assistance.
“We have had feedback from one customer who travelled to 10 different supermarkets in the area to get toilet paper -we were so happy to help her out.”
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She said the Facebook post had an “overwhelmingly positive” response from customers.
“We’re happy with how people have responded and it’s a reminder for people to be kind and considerate to others.”