Man films own tirade at 7-Eleven worker as shop is closed for cleaning

A BRISBANE man filmed his own racist tirade against a 7-Eleven staffer. He posted it on social media then immediately regretted it.

WARNING: EXTREME LANGUAGE

AN ANGRY customer has filmed himself in a shocking rant at a Queensland 7-Eleven store abusing the employee inside because the shop was closed for cleaning.

The three minute video, obtained by news.com.au, shows the young man banging on the closed door and hurling racial comments and expletives at the man inside because he can’t enter.

“You’re so scared you don’t give a sh*t about Australians mate, look after your own kind,” he said.

“I wanted to come in, get a f*** hot dog and go home but you’re denying me that at a 24 hour shop.

“You are a piece of sh*t Muhammed. This is why Australia … it’s going to sh*t.

“This is why Australia is f**ked and there’s no f**king jobs for the f***ing juniors. I’m being denied a f****ing hotdog and bananas,” he said. “I’m being denied that by this piece of sh*t right here.”

The staff member can be seen working inside the store while the man bangs on the door outside.

The footage shows a handwritten sign posted on the door of the Noosa shop saying it is “closed for cleaning” and “sorry for the inconvenience”.

The staff member can be seen inside mopping the floors and talking on the phone as the man calls for a boycott and the media to take notice. He gestures for the would-be customer to leave as he cleans out the Slurpee machine.

“I’m on my way home and I cannot go to 7-Eleven, a 24 hour convenience store because an Indian guy is occupying it and calling the police officers right now,” he said.

“Open the f****door. You’re on camera you piece of sh*t.

“God I love phone cameras. It’s all on camera mate.”

After posting and deleting the video, the repentant Brisbane man told news.com.au he posted the footage while in a “distressed mood” and the comments were “out of character”.

“I am not a racist. I am a very passive person all of the time. I spoke out as I was distressed,” he said.

But he said he held to his belief that the store should not have been closed.

“I still strongly believe it is wrong of the store clerk to close the doors and tell customers to go away,” he said.

A 7-Eleven spokesman said the 24 hour convenience store chain operated a “locked door policy” between 11pm and 5am each night that enabled employees to refuse entry to abusive customers, for their protection.

He did concede posting a sign on the door saying the store was closed was not in line with company policy and that had been reiterated with the staff member involved.

However, he said nothing could justify the sustained abuse hurled at the staff member in the video.

“7-Eleven condemns the disgusting verbal abuse and intimidation directed towards the staff member in this video, which is unjustified in any circumstance,” he said.

He said stores sometimes closed in the early hours for the morning for cleaning but it was not a common practice.

“A store may very occasionally be closed for a short time for cleaning as part of planned maintenance — at a time to minimise inconvenience to customers — or in exceptional circumstances,” he said.

He said the incident was being investigated internally, and the staff member involved in the confrontation would be offered any support he required.

“We’re looking into this incident to understand exactly what has taken place,” he said.

The video is one of a series of racist rants caught on camera in Australia in recent years. The subject was the focus of a recent SBS documentary titled Is Australia Racist? which found almost one third of those surveyed had experienced racism in the workplace.

In December, 7-Eleven signed a landmark deal with the Fair Work Ombudsman on wages fraud to tackle exploitation and illegal treatment of workers.