An Arab woman from northern Israel on Sunday was shocked to find a racial expletive written on her receipt after purchasing a drink at a juice bar she frequents often.
According to her account, Fatma Lakhwani went out shopping at a central shopping mall in Haifa. She stopped by ReBar — a popular juice bar that has dozens of branches across Israel — to buy a drink. After taking her order, she noticed staff began laughing.
"I went up to the cashier and asked for a drink. He asked for my name, I answered 'Fatma' and waited patiently on the side. The woman preparing the order looked at the cashier and laughed. I still did not realize what had happened," she told Ynet.
"Then I saw many people looking at the order that was pasted on the machine where the drink is made and looking at me strangely. I felt that something was off, and then I checked the receipt and saw that it said 'Fatma ahusharmouta' [Arabic for "brother of a whore" and Hebrew slang for "as fuck"]. I was shocked, I did not know what to do. I took my drink and went crying to my friends. I did not even know how to explain this to them."
Fatma's friends became furious upon learning of what happened and expressed their displeasure to the juice bar's staff, who apologized for the profanity-laden check.
Fatma said that she later received a call from the franchise offering her an apology and a refund for the drink she bought, which cost NIS 36 ($12).
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The ReBar receipt which contained the expletive displayed at the juice bar
(Photo: Fatma Lakhwani)
"Thirty-six shekels to make up for the distress they caused me. I feel like they're laughing in my face," she said.
ReBar said in response that the chain was deeply sorry for the incident and that the employee responsible had been dismissed.
"From the moment we learned of the incident, which completely goes against the company's values and guidelines, we conducted an in-depth investigation, at the end of which the employee was fired immediately. We emphasize that this is an unfortunate behavior of an employee in violation of the guidelines of the franchisee who operates the branch in question and in violation of the chain's policies. We show zero tolerance to insults and condemn the incident outright... Since 2006, we have served hundreds of thousands of customers and such a freak incident had never happened before in any of our 80 branches across the country. We employ workers from all sectors and religions and encourage wide diversity in all sections of the population. We are sorry for this unusual incident that does not in any shape or form reflect our ways."