Boost has responded to student criticism of a senior employee at the ANU store, who was accused of rude and disrespectful behaviour.

A local Boost employee posted online, saying that a reminder of store code of conduct policies was sent out nationally in response to social media criticism of the Union Building store.

Instigators of the online petition withdrew it on April 9, after quickly receiving a direct response from Boost’s Operations Manager. Woroni understands that those who launched the petition were pleased with the response from Boost and are not considering further action.

There were previous suggestions of bringing concerns to the Dean of Students and the ANU Union, who own the building in which the store is situated. Of particular concern was Boost Juice’s potential presence in the pop-up village or Union Court development.

Criticism was swirled online, as the ANU Stalkerspace and the ANU Women’s Dept Facebook pages featured posts outlining allegations of rude and disrespectful attitudes towards patrons of the store from one employee.

Many students provided statements attesting to discriminatory behaviour, such as repeatedly calling one first-time patron an ‘idiot,’ and another feeling he was treated with more respect than female patrons. Students spoke about being patronised by him with names such as ‘sweetie’ and ‘darling,’ others described being winked at or receiving lewd comments.

Edward Jin, who made the initial Stalkerspace post, suggested that there was a pattern of discrimination.

‘I changed my order prior to payment and was told “Oi Idiot, make up your mind”,’ he said. When he brought up his treatment with the man, he was told to leave.  

A petition was started on 25 March to attract the attention of Boost Juice’s higher level management to the manager’s attitudes. It attracted 387 supporters from the ANU community before being temporarily deleted following negotiations with Boost.