AUDACIOUS ENCOUNTER WITH A MANAGER IN COUNTRY ROAD WATERFRONT, WARREN JABOBS

I am writing this review concerning a rude encounter I endured with a Country Road stand-alone manager in Waterfront V&A Mall, namely Warren Jacobs. On Good Friday, 29 March 2024, my wife went into the Country Road store to exchange a dress for the Country Road bags, the cashier called the manager, Warren, informing him that my wife wanted to do an exchange but did not have a till slip. Warren then responded that he couldn’t do the exchange because my wife did not have a till slip, and further questioned her how she received the item, my wife then responded that it was a gift, and then he demanded a gift receipt for the dress, all in while with an alarming attitude. My wife then left the dress there, informing him that she would return with me, her husband, so that Warren and I could speak man-to-man. My wife also told me that before she left the store, Warren was conversing with another manager, and she approached them telling Warren, in front of the other manager, that she also owns a business and she wouldn’t like to lose a customer, even if it was worth only R20 because R20 makes a huge difference, and he doesn’t mind how his attitude affects customers because Country Road does not belong to him, and at the end of the day, whatever he does- he will still be paid his salary. She continued to tell him that she bleeds the same as white, coloured, Indian and other people, red blood, and that she was no different from them. She said this because she was being undermined and discriminated against, by Warren. After all this, she ended up not doing the exchange because Warren denied her the exchange, and so she bought the two bags for R1998,00. I then returned to the store with my wife and I asked for Warren to appear before me, I told him I heard my wife’s side of the story and I wanted to hear his side of the story. This Warren boy, emphasis on boy because he was immature and very ill-mannered even towards me, told me that my wife was rude towards him and that she swore at him, I asked him how she swore at him and he couldn’t respond and tell me how she swore at him. My wife raised her voice in protest and demanded Warren to call the other manager who was present when my wife was allegedly swearing at this boy, Warren. He did not call for the other manager. She then asked the cashiers if she had swore at Warren and they couldn’t respond because they do not remember hearing my wife swearing up a storm at Warren, simply because she did not. There was a white customer, a white man accompanied by a white woman. My daughter and wife heard and saw Warren speaking to this white customer and saying “Here is this customer I was talking about”, which is absurd to me because it is immature for a MANAGER to gossip about a customer to another customer, especially gossiping a black customer to a white customer, which gives me the idea that Warren is trying to make himself seem as the good guy around white people, at the expense of black customers, as a coloured man. The white guy then responded to him “Good, you handled that well like a BOSS”. My wife then responded to the white customer telling him that of course, he would say it was good and appropriate because he is white and he never experienced that behaviour before in his life because of his privilege. Which is being a white man in South Africa, especially in stores much like Country Road. Going nowhere with Warren, we ended up returning those bags my wife bought because Warren was very audacious and ill-mannered and we wanted nothing with them. Warren, your boy manager, exited the store and followed the white customer, continuing to gossip about his altercation with my wife. That was very unsophisticated of him and even though he was working he chose to exit the store and take a stroll in the mall to further gossip with this white couple about my wife. Please inform me, in any way, if Country Road compensates their employees to take a stroll around the mall and gossip about customers to other customers, while on the job.