SINGAPORE – Local bakery chain Prima Deli has dismissed an employee who allegedly told a Malay woman that she wasn’t suitable for a job due to her race.
In a Facebook post on April 28, Sarah Carmariah wrote that she had gone for “a job interview at a well-known Halal bakery for the position of a cake decorator”, adding that her interview with the bakery’s human resources representative had gone “well” and that the representative had expressed interest “to move things forward” after looking through her portfolio.
A subsequent meeting with the head of the baking department was organised.
Ms Carmariah added that during her interview with the head of the baking department, he had “looked through (her) portfolio, flipping the pages very haphazardly”, before asking her if she could coat a cake.
After she had replied affirmatively, they stood up to head to the bakery for Ms Carmariah to do a demonstration.
However, before they could proceed, the head of the baking department turned to her and allegedly made a discriminatory remark. She wrote in her post that the employee gestured at her from head to toe and said: “From what I see, and the way you look, and not trying to be racist ah, but you Malay, I think you cannot lah (sic)”.
Ms Carmariah said she “was stunned” and had just “froze” after this statement, but added that she “didn’t want to lose (her) cool” and “didn’t quite know how to respond”.
He had subsequently continued his diatribe, adding: “You know ah, Malays ah they over promise, promise I can do this I can do that, in the end, cannot make it, after 2 days disappear (sic)”.
She replied: “Sir, I haven’t promised you anything. I think you should give me a chance”.
Ms Carmariah said that “by this point, (she) was extremely disgusted, angry and in total disbelief”.
The man then susequently laughed and said: “Ya ok ok, we will head upstairs and proceed, then we see where we can go from there? Anyways you speak Cihnese not? Cos mostly all my worker speak Chinese (sic)”.
She told him that while she did not speak the language, she “could understand bits and pieces”. She proceeded to the baking room, thinking she “had already come this far” and “might as well finish this off and do this well for (herself)”.
The head left and sent in a colleague who was unable to adequately communicate in English.
Ms Carmariah said she asked him how he “wanted the cake to be coated”, but he simply replied “yes you coat, you coat”.
She stated that she did the job nicely and there had not been “a single crumb in sight” after she had finished coating the cake.
However, when the head of the baking department returned, she gathered from the exchange – which took place in Mandarin – between him and his colleague that she was supposed to have been “shown a sample cake” to recreate.
Ms Carmariah subsquently left after “thanking them both for their time”.
While Ms Carmariah said she did not want to name and shame the organisation, Prima Deli posted a statement on April 29, saying that they had been made aware that an employee had “made discrimnatory remarks to a potential candidate.”
The company said in the statement that they have personally contacted the candidate and later added that they had “immediately dismissed” the employee in question.
prabukm@sph.com.sg
