Video of store clerk’s racist tirade goes viral
Avideo that appears to show a former employee of the Dollarama store in Penticton making racist comments towards customers has gone viral. The video, shot Dec. 18 and posted by Nanda Sangwais on Facebook, starts mid-argument between the female employee, Sangwais, her 23-year-old daughter Kayla Warger and Warger’s two friends.
Sangwais said they were out Christmas shopping, when the employee approached and accused them of shoplifting, asking to look in their bags.
“(The employee) said ‘get the f—k out of my store,’” Sangwais recalled.
“So they dropped (the items) and were trying to walk out. When they go to the door, (the employee) comes out and puts both her hands on my daughter and shoves her, and so that was it.”
Sangwais’ daughter grabbed her phone and began recording the incident.
The video depicts the employee stating she was called by security and holding a phone to her ear. At one point in the argument, the employee says, “Go back to the rez, where you belong,” an apparent reference to the Penticton Indian Reserve.
Sangwais says she’s from Holland and her daughter is not Indigenous, though Warger’s friends are of Indigenous descent.
Sangwais said police arrived and took a statement from her daughter and Sangwais is hoping to press charges.
“For her to say they need to get a job and get back to the rez, it was like, whoa, that was uncalled for,” Sangwais said.
“My daughter, she can’t even go out in public anymore, she is just beside herself. She hasn’t looked at Facebook, she’s in her own bubble trying to survive.”
Having worked in retail herself, Sangwais said the employee’s response was uncalled for.
“I worked at Walmart for a couple years. Some people might drive you crazy, but you still treat them with respect,” Sangwais said.
“Even if they are swearing at you, it’s called respect and it boils down to it. If she would have respected the girls, they would have respected her. It’s a two-way street.”
Sangwais said she was completely surprised by the response to the video on social media, with over 107,000 views as of Thursday and over 1,000 shares. She has also been receiving messages from First Nations as far east as Winnipeg and into the U.S.
“It’s overwhelming. I did not think it would take off like that,” Sangwais said.
Dollarama spokeswoman Lyla Radmanovich said in an
” I worked at Walmart for a couple years. Some people might drive you crazy, but you still treat them with respect. Nanda Sangwais
email the employee in the video is no longer with the company, but would not confirm her identity or comment on whether or not she was fired because of the offensive comments.
“I can confirm that Dollarama is aware of this incident and took immediate measures to address it,” Radmanovich added.
“The behaviour depicted in the video is inconsistent with our nationwide customer service policy, which aims to promote a discrimination-free environment, and according to which, all employees are required to treat customers with respect at all times, regardless of race, creed, age, gender or disability.”
The video can be viewed in the online version of this story at www.pentictonherald.ca.