A McDonalds outlet on JM Road, Pune reportedly denied entry to a street kid, who wanted to have a soft drink at the fast food joint. The incident was described in detail through a Facebook post, by a customer, who had brought the child with her into the restaurant.
The woman, in her post, explained how the McDonalds staff misbehaved with the child by physically pushing him. The woman in her post also alleged that the employees were rude to her as well for bringing the kid into the joint's premise. The staff of the JM Road outlet, however, refused to comment on the issue.
This is the second such incident at the outlet, which has been reported in the last six months. In September last year, a group of homeless children had gone to the restaurant for a meal. Although, they had allegedly paid the bill, the staff struck up an argument with the group and insisted that they leave. Officials from Shivaji Nagar police station were forced to intervene and settle the matter. Such incidents of high-handedness displayed by the restaurant and mall employees have sparked a furore among citizens of Pune.
Screenshot of the post
"On New Year eve, I wanted to take a kid, who was selling stickers on the street, inside Kumar Pacific Mall to buy her a donut. But the mall security did not let the girl in, instead they insisted that I buy the donut and give it to her outside. This kind of discrimination is outrageous and it is about time such instances must be brought to light," said Chaitali Sarda, 23, a resident of Sadashiv Peth.
Stating that the street kids, who linger around malls and restaurants, cause unnecessary chaos, which is a disturbance to other customers, the security head at Kumar Pacific said, "These kids come in and make a lot of noise and chaos. If we allow them to enter once, they will badger every other customer to take them inside the mall. We have to keep such aspects and other security concerns in mind."
