Today, we went shopping at our local shopping centre, which has an open food court. As you know, this means there are lots of food options with a huge seating area where you can generally sit wherever you like. However, some cafés or stalls have tables and chairs attached to their counters and expect only their customers to sit there, which I get.
My sister wanted a dessert from one of the cafés, so we decided to sit at the high-top breakfast bar in that area. Just to clarify, my sister is profoundly deaf. She sat down, I sat next to her, and my mum, who’s in a wheelchair, stayed close by. It's just easier for us to settle first, then go and place our order.
We’d barely been sitting for a minute when I heard someone calling, “Excuse me, excuse me.” I looked over and saw a man at the same breakfast bar talking to my sister. I immediately apologised and explained that she’s deaf. He then said, "You can only sit here if you’re going to order." I said, "Yes, I know. Just give me a minute; we’re going to order." But he kept insisting, "You can only sit here if you’re going to order," and was getting more and more aggressive. I said again, “Just give me a minute PLEASE”
I’m fairly certain the man was the manager, as he had a laptop with him, but I can’t be 100% sure. He just kept on demanding we either order or leave. Eventually, I got really frustrated and said, “What is your problem? We’ve only just sat down, and all you’ve done is tell us to order.” I then turned to my mum to ask her what she wanted, and the whole time, this man was still shouting at us. Even though my sister couldn’t hear him, she could see how angry he was, and it scared her. She got up and moved behind my mum’s chair.
It seemed like he thought my sister was ignoring him, so I explained to him again, “She’s deaf. She didn’t hear you the first time.” His response was, “So am I,” before he put on his headphones. At that point, I was absolutely livid especially with that comment.
Luckily, some other customers around us noticed what was going on and stepped in to tell the man he didn’t need to be so aggressive. But instead of backing off, he turned on them, and it just became a huge scene.
I was feeling really intimidated, so I took my phone out to record him. I’m only 5’3”, with a mum in a wheelchair and a sister who not only has hearing loss but also psychological issues, so I honestly felt quite threatened. He saw and walked towards me to grab my phone or even get physical. Thankfully, security from the shopping centre arrived, and they asked to see the video. They told me to file a formal complaint and didn’t ask me to delete the video, if they did, I still wouldn’t have.
Now, I understand the manager might be fed up with people sitting at his counter without ordering, but it’s a huge food court in a massive shopping centre. It’s unrealistic to expect that every single person sitting on or near the counter is going to be a customer of that particular café. We had every intention of ordering, but the way this guy treated us was completely uncalled for.
After everything that happened, security said they’d find somewhere else for us to sit, but by that point, we didn’t want to spend any money at that café. I can appreciate that the manager might have been having a bad day, but his behaviour was completely rude, aggressive, and intimidating.
I’ve written a complaint about it and really hope something comes of it.
So, am I being unreasonable for being so upset about this?