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Subko Coffee staff calls Bengaluru customer ‘little fat black shirt’ on bill. Cafe apologises: ‘It was cruel’
Subko apologised after a Bengaluru customer said his receipt identified him by his body type instead of his name.
A Bengaluru man has called out popular coffee brand Subko after allegedly finding a body-shaming description printed on his receipt instead of his name. The incident reportedly took place at Subko The Craftery in Koramangala, prompting the company to issue a public apology.
(Also read: Retired Air Force officer lashes out at woman body-shaming her on Instagram)
The man shared his experience on Reddit under the title, “Subko didn’t use my name. They used my body to describe me.” He also posted photographs of the cafe and the receipt.
“I went to Subko The Craftery, ordered my food, paid my bill, and later looked at the receipt. Under Customer Detail, instead of my name, I found: ‘Little fat black shirt.’ Yes. That was apparently enough to identify me,” he wrote.
He added, “Not my name. Not ‘the gentleman at table 12.’ Not even a simple order number. What makes this worse is that someone had to consciously type that into their system. Someone looked at a customer and reduced him to ‘fat’ because apparently basic dignity wasn’t part of the service.”
The Reddit user further argued that body-shaming should not be dismissed based on gender. “If this were a woman and the receipt described her body instead of using her name, I doubt anyone would call it a harmless joke. Body-shaming isn’t funny just because the person on the receiving end is a man. Subko, your staff can identify customers without humiliating them. Do better.”
Take a look here at the post:
Subko responds
The post caught Subko’s attention, with the company later sharing a detailed statement on its official Instagram account.
“Today, we're not addressing this because it's gone viral. It hasn't, yet. We know that publishing this could give it more attention than it currently has. But we're posting this because it genuinely bothered us. Taught us how far we have to go. And accountability is more important to us than sheltering ourselves from judgement when our team member was unequivocally in the wrong,” the company said.
(Also read: Woman shuts down body shamer with creativity, turns nasty fatphobic remark into song. Watch)
Subko confirmed that a guest at its Koramangala outlet had been “described by their body type on a printed bill instead of by their name” and said the employee had knowingly entered the description.
“Fat shaming is wrong. Every form. Every time. No exceptions. There's no clever way to say this. It was cruel, and it happened under our roof,” the statement read.
The company said it had attempted to contact the customer to apologise and had taken “the strongest disciplinary action possible”. Subko also said it was revising the way customer details are recorded at the counter and would address the issue as part of its staff induction process.
(Also read: 'Main kahan baithungi': Woman’s vile fat-shaming rant about bike taxi driver sparks outrage)
“To the guest who experienced this: we're sorry. Not for how it looked. For what it was,” Subko said.
Check out the post here:
Internet reacts
The Reddit post drew several reactions. One user wrote, “This is completely unacceptable! Please write a Google review so that the manager becomes aware of this and, hopefully, someone learns a lesson from it.” Another commented, “Omg this is horrible! Sorry you had to go through this.”
“This is totally not acceptable,” wrote a third person, while another summed up the criticism by saying, “Body-shaming is never okay.”
