A worker at a Sylvia Park food outlet has been assaulted by a man apparently unhappy about the cleanliness of a nearby table.
The incident happened at Poké Bar Sylvia Park on Friday.
It's understood a man was upset about a table at a nearby Subway not being clean enough, and then focused his attention on a young worker at Poké Bar, claiming he'd looked at him wrong.
He grabbed a sample dish from the counter and threw it, striking the worker in the head.
The man then throws a steel bell, the type used to ring for service. The employee ducks and turns just in time to avoid being hit again in the head, but the object still makes contact with his back.
Police and mall security were called but the man had already left the area.
Sylvia Park's centre manager, Susan Jamieson, said she had seen the footage and "it was somewhat of a random event".
"Our security team were contacted and attended straight away. Police were involved. And, as always, our security cooperates with police and provides any information so that we can decline that individual's request to visit Sylvia Park again."
Asked how often such incidents happen, Jamieson said she didn't believe there was a wider issue.
"We have over 15 million customers a year at Sylvia Park so from time to time there are isolated, random events. That's why we have a team onsite, so they can capably deal with them."
A police spokeswoman said a staff member from Poké Bar called police after 4pm on Friday, and advised there had been an incident. He told police he had no serious injuries.
"The alleged offender had left at the time of the incident and was no longer in the area. The staff member advised he was about to finish work but was happy to be contacted via phone later or when he was back on shift another day. Police will be following up the incident and making enquiries."
The Sylvia Park incident comes soon after a clip of a brutal fight at a McDonald's in Las Vegas emerged. The clip shows a customer hurling a milkshake over the counter at an employee. The McDonald's staffer retaliates, punching the customer and tossing her onto a table.
And in 2012 David Junior Ilolahia was given community work after flipping tables and attacking a police officer, after his order at a Wendy's in Lynfield was botched. A can of pepper spray was emptied into his face and it took five officers to eventually subdue him.
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