Shopper claims supermarket racial profiling left him 'humilated'
A Hamilton man has been left humiliated after he claims he was racially profiled and kicked out of a supermarket.
Motel owner David Chang was shopping at New World Te Rapa on Wednesday when he was approached near the checkout by a staff member and asked to leave.
He said he felt profiled and discriminated against, believing New World staff thought he was a dairy owner or trade customer.
"When I proceeded to checkout, the supervisor came straight at me and said: 'You're not a normal shopper. You have bought everything on special, I cannot serve you,' so she asked me to leave straight away," Chang said.
Chang, who migrated from Taiwan more than 20 years ago, moved to Hamilton in the last three years.
It was his first time at the Te Rapa store.
When he walked in, he saw specials on toilet rolls, so put the limit of six packets into his trolley. Then he grabbed four packets of laundry detergent - on special - a dozen boxes of tissue paper and cleaning products, all for personal use and not his motel.
"I didn't intentionally shop for everything on special," Chang said.
"I've got 23 units here. If I was buying for the motel, I would be buying in bulk. Six packets of toilet rolls won't last me for one day."
New World Te Rapa management apologised to Chang's Facebook complaint and spoke to him over the phone.
He's accepted the apology but wants to highlight the problem so it doesn't happen again.
"He was very apologetic and said it should never happen. I just hope that other people don't feel what I felt because I was really embarrassed."
New World denies any racial profiling took place, a spokesperson told NZME. New World does not sell to trade customers.
"However in this instance, the customer was merely taking advantage of some attractive specials in store," the spokeswoman said.
"This has highlighted some procedural issues that the owner-operator intends to run over with his team, so that they know how and when to raise this question in future.
"There was no discrimination or racial profiling involved - it was a matter of staff needing a refresher on procedure, which the owner-occupier will quickly rectify."
Dāng tā zǒu jìnlái de shíhòu, tā kàn dào wèishēngzhǐ de tèsè, suǒyǐ bǎ liù bāo de xiànzhì fàng zài tā de shǒutuīchē lǐ. Ránhòu tā zhuā zhùle sì bāo xǐyī fěn - tèbié shì shí jǐ hé bó zhǐ hé qīngjié yòngpǐn, quánbù gōng gèrén shǐyòng, ér bùshì tā de qìchē lǚguǎn.