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The most shocking service from Sports Cafe

I recently received what could easily be described as the absolute worst customer service ever provided to me… and I’ve had my share.

Here’s what happened…

We arrived at Cape Town airport at around 7am - in time for our flight back home to Port Elizabeth. We had some time to spare so we went into the Sports Cafe. We put our stuff down and waited for someone to come give us menu’s or serve us… I gave it 3 or 4 minutes and nothing happened…

I got up and walked into the closed off bar/smoking area where I saw a waitress.. I asked if they were open and she said they were. I asked if we could please have a waitress for us and the couple that arrived just after we did. She never verbally acknowledged my requested, just turned and walked into the kitchen - I assumed to call the waitress in charge of our section.

Another few minutes later, just before I was about to get up again, a waitress came to our table. “Have you been helped?” “No”, I replied, “Can we have some menu’s please!?”. She fetched menu’s, dropped them on our table and walked away…never to be seen again.

Another 3 minutes went by and still nothing… Behind us waitresses were laughing and joking with each other, and I must add, in the foulest of language. Words like “f*kken* were being thrown around like nobody’s business. Do they not realise that people can hear them?

Still nobody had even acknowledged us. Then a waitress appeared at the restaurants computer just behind our table. I said “Sorry, could we have some service please?”. She just looked down again and continued doing what she was doing… Then, she turned and walked off without even looking at us.. I called after her “Hello!??”… She just continued walking…

By this time, we’d had absolutely enough and we walked out. I couldn’t resist saying to the waitress who was standing there looking at us, “I’d hate to bother you with serving us, so we’ll go somewhere else.”

I honestly couldn’t believe the blatent disregard for us. I’m actually amazed that ACSA and the Cape Town airport is happy to have such a restaurant on their premises that treats their customers in this way.

The language used by the Afrikaans waitresses was vulgar and disgusting. Despite asking 3 times for service of any kind, we were purposefully ignored by all the staff at The Sports Cafe. It honestly shocked me beyond words.

I’d really like to hear a response from The Sports Cafe headoffices and also from ACSA or the Cape Town International Airport on the behaviour of the staff at this restaurant.

@ACSA/Cape Town Airport: Are you happy to have such a place on your premises? … A place that treats customers in this way and sullies the otherwise impressive service of your establishment?

@The Sports Cafe: Are you aware of the behavior and utter disrespect that your staff are showing to their customers? Where are the managers?

And then finally to both ACSA/Cape Town International Airport and The Sports Cafe: What are you going to do about this situation?

I hope to hear from all parties concerned either here in the comments, or you can contact me.