The Slippery Choppies Of Injuries

By Monkagedi Gaotlhobogwe
Staff Writer | Monday September 15, 2008 00:00

 

But the Choppies supermarket along the Old Lobatse Road is fast carving a negative reputation thanks to its slippery floor. A good number of customers continue to sustain injuries after slipping and falling in the store.

Assistant manager at the outlet, Neo Modise said she has been a victim of the slippery floor. 'I slipped and fallen the other day. Some of the workers have also slipped and fell recently,' she told Monitor as if the slipping and falling are so common that it is no longer news.

'We are aware that some customers fall at the entrance. But no one has come to officially report the accidents. Many of them after falling just stand up, rub dirt off their clothes and proceed without even reporting.'

However, it appears the days of customers falling, standing up and going without reporting the incidents might be over. In the latest slipping and falling incident at the supermarket last Thursday evening, an aggrieved customer told Monitor that she intends to sue for injuries and negligence.

Nami Sekao-Seboni said she is disappointed by poor customer service at the store after she fell and injured her hip, back, head and arm.

She said she was sprawled on the floor for a while until fellow customers helped her to her car. 'I could not even drive my car because my back was hurting. You should have seen my hand, it was swollen and had turned green!.' On Friday, she was looking for Consumer Affairs offices to report the incident. She consulted a private doctor at the Main Mall who told her to go back today for X-ray if the pains still persist.

The elderly Sekao-Seboni complains that after she fell so badly, only customers and a security guard seemed to care about her while the Choppies management did nothing until she demanded that the managers be summoned over.

'They did not seem to care. After what happened, they made me wait for a truck which was still on its way to deliver stock. They offered to take me to the nearest clinic. I was not impressed, and I told the Motswana manager there that I am pursuing other options. The Indian manager did not even want to come near me, yet he is the store manager,' complained a visibly irritated Sekao-Seboni.

Manager at Choppies, Kagiso Motlhane told Monitor that they are doing something about the slippery floor. He explained that the floor is sloping to enable trolleys to move in and out with ease. He admitted that something must be wrong with the manner the exit-entrance was built.

'Some customers have suggested that we lay a carpet there, but we think that would result in even more problems,' Motlhane said. He claimed Sekao-Seboni refused to be driven in the van or to be taken to the clinic. 'I think she wanted to be taken to Gaborone Private Hospital. We have never done that before. It was not going to be easy. She said a lot of stuff to us, along with other customers who were not happy on the day.

But we remained calm as management,' he told Monitor. For Sekao-Seboni, the matter is not over yet. She said she intends to go to court.