Well, it is Walmart........
An incident of racial discrimination against three Guelph students has led to the termination of a Walmart cashier.
On Tuesday evening, Yasamin Zia took to social media to publicly express her disgust with the way she was treated by an employee at the big-box retailer on Stone Road.
“Today my friends and I were at Walmart and as we approached the cashier she immediately started disrespecting us and giving us attitude,” Zia wrote in the post.
The employee refused to cash them out and told them they weren’t citizens, she said.
“You’re not Canadian citizens, I need to see pictures of your citizenship, you can’t pay for this,” Zia wrote, quoting the cashier in the online post.
This is when a manager got involved and cashed them out, assuring Zia and her friends the situation would be dealt with.
“I'm appalled, this was my first time getting discriminated against my skin colour,” she wrote.
On Wednesday, the Mercury Tribune contacted Walmart Canada about the incident. Company spokesperson Anika Malik responded with an email statement.
“Respect is a core value at Walmart Canada and we do not tolerate any behaviour which contradicts this value. We are taking this matter very seriously and can confirm that the associate in question is no longer with the company.”
Zia's friends, Sunny Nakra and Prithika Coomaraswamy, were with her when this incident occurred.
Nakra said he feels the discrimination was based on race. He said he is Hindu Punjabi, Coomaraswamy is of Sri Lankan descent and Zia is of Iranian descent. All three of them were born and raised in Canada. He described the cashier as a middle-aged woman of Caucasian descent.
"We were all deeply upset by the disrespectful and discriminatory behaviour of the cashier. This is completely unacceptable, especially from a widely well-reputed corporation like Walmart," he said.
After filing a complaint, the students received an apology from the store manager and the district manager. They were also informed that the cashier was no longer with the company.
"We feel like these are steps in the right direction, but that there is clearly much room for improvement in Walmart’s hiring and training standards
Employee fired from Guelph Walmart over discrimination complaint
An incident of racial discrimination against three Guelph students has led to the termination of a Walmart cashier.
On Tuesday evening, Yasamin Zia took to social media to publicly express her disgust with the way she was treated by an employee at the big-box retailer on Stone Road.
“Today my friends and I were at Walmart and as we approached the cashier she immediately started disrespecting us and giving us attitude,” Zia wrote in the post.
The employee refused to cash them out and told them they weren’t citizens, she said.
“You’re not Canadian citizens, I need to see pictures of your citizenship, you can’t pay for this,” Zia wrote, quoting the cashier in the online post.
This is when a manager got involved and cashed them out, assuring Zia and her friends the situation would be dealt with.
“I'm appalled, this was my first time getting discriminated against my skin colour,” she wrote.
On Wednesday, the Mercury Tribune contacted Walmart Canada about the incident. Company spokesperson Anika Malik responded with an email statement.
“Respect is a core value at Walmart Canada and we do not tolerate any behaviour which contradicts this value. We are taking this matter very seriously and can confirm that the associate in question is no longer with the company.”
Zia's friends, Sunny Nakra and Prithika Coomaraswamy, were with her when this incident occurred.
Nakra said he feels the discrimination was based on race. He said he is Hindu Punjabi, Coomaraswamy is of Sri Lankan descent and Zia is of Iranian descent. All three of them were born and raised in Canada. He described the cashier as a middle-aged woman of Caucasian descent.
"We were all deeply upset by the disrespectful and discriminatory behaviour of the cashier. This is completely unacceptable, especially from a widely well-reputed corporation like Walmart," he said.
After filing a complaint, the students received an apology from the store manager and the district manager. They were also informed that the cashier was no longer with the company.
"We feel like these are steps in the right direction, but that there is clearly much room for improvement in Walmart’s hiring and training standards
Employee fired from Guelph Walmart over discrimination complaint
