Racist slurs from a store manager has The Sleeping Giant in the doghouse

ALL he wanted was to buy a trundle bed. Instead, he was subjected to racial slurs when a derogatory email from a bedding store manager was sent by mistake.

The apology letter from Mr Borg.

ALL Soumen Dutta wanted was to buy a trundle bed.

When his bed still hadn’t arrived after eight weeks, he contacted the bedding company to make a complaint. He wanted answers.

Instead he was subjected to racial slurs and shocking customer service when he was accidentally sent a derogatory email from a manager at The Sleeping Giant addressed to a colleague.

The email stated: “Hi Jamie. This guy is full of S**T... He is just a rude pig who lied to get his way. I AM SICK OF THEM. And they all come from the one country which someone should sink into the ocean. Regards, Dawn.”

Soumen Dutta says, in his lifetime, “no one has called me these names”.

The email was sent by Dawn, store manager at The Sleeping Giant Auburn, who has managed the store for 15 years.

After receiving the offensive email, Mr Dutta, a chartered accountant, contacted The Sleeping Giant, but wasn’t satisfied with the verbal apology he received. He made a complaint to the Australian Human Rights Commission.

Subsequently Sleeping Giant’s general manager, Steven Borg issued a written apology, but according to Mr Dutta, this apology only came after the Human Rights Commission intervened.

The apology stated that the Mr Borg was “shocked and embarrassed by the comments mentioned in the email”.

Mr Borg assured Mr Dutta that he contacted Dawn and she was “totally apologetic of the email” and offered a personal apology. According to Mr Borg, Dawn was “very embarrassed of the situation and requested to keep this [issue] confidential from other employees”.

Mr Borg explained that in Dawn’s 15 years of store management she had “always handled herself in a very professional manner” and is a “very experienced and highly thought of manager within the company” who is “used to dealing with customers from all nationalities and religious beliefs”.

The apology letter from Mr Borg.

He added that “this situation is totally out of character for her”.

But Mr Dutta wants more than an apology letter. He told news.com.au the distress from the comments caused him to take days off work with what he described as depression.

“She targeted me by my skin. It makes me feel awful. I’m speechless,” Mr Dutta said. “In my lifetime no one has called me these names. She is so outraged that she thinks she can say anything and get away with it. The apology is not good enough.”

Mr Dutta wants to know how The Sleeping Giant has dealt with Dawn and what the compensation policy will be for the abuse he received. He believes this case of racism is a fireable offence.

Mr Dutta says he has been offered a refund of $300 but he doesn’t want to take the money, because he believes stronger action should be taken.

“I want to know how they are going to deal with the issue. At this point in time I don’t see anything. They don’t have a policy.

“It’s a message that they’re sending to the public, that we don’t care about you. They think, this guy is a small problem, we’re a big company, we can get away with it.”

The second half of Mr Borg’s apology letter to Mr Dutta.

Mr Dutta came to Australia from India in 2007 because of attractive employment opportunities in what he believed would be a tolerant multicultural society.

“Is this Australia?” he questioned. “I’m not sure. I’ve been here for eight years and I have not ever come across such a level of hatred! Many people have been very kind to me.”

Mr Dutta had experienced issues with the delayed shipping of a trundle bed he had ordered, and paid for in part. He informed staff that he had waited for over eight weeks for the bed, and had been advised that the delivery time could not be estimated.

He was communicating via email with the Operations Manager at Sleeping Giant about resolving the issue, when he inadvertently became the recipient of the email from Dawn.

Mr Dutta has since received his bed, but says it arrived broken. He is still waiting for it to be fixed and is continuing to seek answers from The Sleeping Giant.

News.com.au approached The Sleeping Giant, who declined to comment.

Do you think The Sleeping Giant owes Mr Dutta more than a written apology? Comment below or join the conversation on Twitter @newscomauHQ | @gracekoelma