TRADERS cannot issue receipts carrying identifiers according to the physique of their customers, says Consumer Council of Fiji CEO Seema Shandil.
Her comments come in the light of a complaint from a Lautoka woman who was issued a receipt from a popular coffee shop that read ‘Pink Fat Lady‘.
Mrs Shandil expressed concern saying such incidences would not be tolerated.
“Consumers should be treated with paramount respect as they pay for the goods and services and here we see that traders are labelling customers in a very insulting manner,” she said.
“If this has been a common practice, it must cease. These labels are nothing short of fat shaming and it is discriminatory.”
Ms Shandil urged traders to train their staff on customer service standards and refrain from using physical appearances as identifiers for their orders.
“There are many other systems that traders can employ to identify and serve their customers, the number system, for instance, is an effective way.
“We need to move away from providing discriminatory derogatory remarks to customers. Traders must remember consumer confidence is key to effective business and incidences as such will not augur well for them.”
