Teen staffer racially abused for refusing to sell alcohol at Dunedin store

CCTV footage shows a woman (right) abusing staff at Moyle's FreshChoice on Tuesday night.

Staff at a Dunedin store are reeling following the racial abuse of one of their colleagues earlier this week.

Moyle's FreshChoice owner John Moyle said an 18-year-old part-Cambodian secondary school pupil, working part-time at the store, was called a "n..." on Tuesday night when she refused to sell alcohol to two men.

She had asked one of the men for identification but he could only provide a community services card - he did not have one of the three forms of ID the store could legally accept.

Mr Moyle said the man then tried to get another man to buy the alcohol for him, but the staff member again refused to sell it because it was considered a group purchase.

"She got called a n... . This is a school kid. In this day and age, that term is considered very, very derogatory and disgusting.

"The way it was racially toned was pretty poor. She doesn't deserve to come and do her six to eight hours' work a week and get abused by someone who had a bad day."

He said the store superviser then became involved and also turned down the customers because they looked younger than 30 and did not have appropriate identification.

"A woman that was with the men then came in and just ranted and raved and shouted abuse.

"They spat on the windows, spat in the store, called my superviser a [expletives] - it was ridiculous. It was horrific.

"I've grown up in this industry and I don't ever recall seeing such a violent or racial episode like that. It was just so blatant.

"It's a sad state of some of our moral behaviour."

He said the 18-year-old and other staff working on the night were shaken by the incident, but were pleased to have support from each other and other customers in the aftermath.

He said he was so angry about the abusers' actions, he put photos of them on social media, and members of the public were quick to identify them.

They have since been trespassed from the store and a formal complaint has been laid with police.

"People should be safe at work," Mr Moyle said

Police were investigating and would decide whether to lay charges.