The humiliation of dozens of shoppers pointing and laughing at a young Tekkie Town saleswoman forced to stand in the Baywest Mall store’s window with a degrading note around her neck, has led to her opening a criminal case against her supervisor.
The note read: “I don’t listen to my supervisor now I’m in the naughty corner.”
Her offence – talking and laughing loudly with a colleague.
The supervisor, Thozama Spielman, has been suspended pending an investigation.
Eighteen-year-old Maxime Lee told HeraldLIVE that on a Friday afternoon the store was quiet, so she and a colleague were talking and laughing. Her supervisor called her to the back, forced her to write the note then stuck it to her shirt.
Lee said she had laughed at first when people walked by, laughing and taking pictures of her, but then realised just how humiliating it was.
“I initially thought it was a joke but then seeing how people were laughing at me, it made me feel like a joke and I wanted to cry,” she said.
“I apologised to my supervisor and asked to move from the window, but she said no. I then started shouting that I wanted to leave the window and get back to work – and that’s when she got the tape to cover my mouth.”
A picture of Lee in the window soon went viral.
Tekkie Town area manager Mariette Oosthuizen could not be reached for comment, however, in a statement on its Facebook page, the company said it was investigating and that the supervisor had been suspended.
Police spokesperson Captain Johan Rheeder confirmed a case of defamation had been opened on Monday but said it should be changed to crimen injuria as it was better suited to the incident.
Read the full story on HeraldLIVE