Muslim customer calls out Red Ribbon over staff’s Islamophobic ‘time bomb’ joke

While Morales was paying, the buzzer from the milk tea shop started ringing, prompting a male cashier to ask if it belonged to him.

Morales confirmed, and a female crew member allegedly interrupted with the remark, “Kay basig TIMEBOMB! HAHAHAHA!” (It could be a time bomb!).

“After dropping that disgusting statement, she laughed out loud with absolutely NO REMORSE,” Morales wrote. “There was no hesitation, no realization that she just crossed a line, and zero respect. She looked straight at me and laughed hysterically, as if branding a Muslim consumer as a terrorist was the funniest thing in the world.”

He said the crew member continued laughing while he gave what he described as a respectful smile despite being shocked by the comment.

According to Morales, the male cashier appeared to try to defuse the situation, but he left the store feeling insulted and singled out because of his Muslim identity.

“I walked out of that store feeling completely DISCRIMINATED, DEGRADED, and INSULTED,” he added.

The post has since drawn attention online, with the customer questioning whether such a joke is acceptable in a customer-facing setting and calling on Red Ribbon management to address the incident.

“Customer service training is completely useless if your employees lack basic human decency, cultural sensitivity, and respect for minority groups,” Morales said. “Sobrang nakakadismaya at nakakaagrabyado. We are just normal citizens trying to buy food. We pay the exact same prices, yet we are treated like second-class citizens and safety threats.”

Morales also used the hashtags #StopIslamophobia, #DiscriminationIsReal, and #JusticeForMuslimConsumers in his post.

radar Business reached out to Red Ribbon for comment but had not received a response as of publication. Red Ribbon is part of Jollibee Foods Corporation.

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