Zomato shuts up bigotry, says food doesnt have religion after customer seeks non-Muslim rider
New Delhi: Food delivery company Zomato is winning the internet after it on Wednesday refused to resolve a customer's complaint about being assigned a Muslim delivery executive for his food order.
"Food doesn't have a religion. It is a religion," the company tweeted in response to the customer's request for change of the rider.
On Tuesday night, a man tweeted about cancelling his order placed on Zomato as the designated rider was a "non-Hindu".
"Just cancelled an order on @ZomatoIN they allocated a non hindu rider for my food they said they can't change rider and can't refund on cancellation I said you can't force me to take a delivery I don't want don't refund just cancel," Amit Shukla, a resident of Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh tweeted.
In a series of tweets, he also shared screenshots of his conversation with Zomato's customer care, saying he would take up the issue with his lawyers.
The company stood its ground and flatly refused to change delivery executive.
Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal echoed his company's stand, with a firm message. "We are proud of the idea of India - and the diversity of our esteemed customers and partners. We aren't sorry to lose any business that comes in the way of our values," he tweeted.
Zomato's response won it many admirers.
"Respect. I love your app. Thank you for giving me a reason to admire the company behind it," former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah tweeted.
Former Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi tweeted: "Salute Deepinder Goyal! You are the real face of India! Proud of you."
Goyal had in an internal message to his team at Zomato applauded the customer team for "upholding our values and not discriminate on basis of caste or religion for sake of growth (or customer satisfaction)".
Sources said he told his team that they should not succumb to any demands of a customer, partner, or even an employee on racial grounds or grounds of any form of diversity.
A Twitter user who identifies himself as Pandit Amit Shukla, and with the username @NaMo_SARKAAR, tweeted on Tuesday evening that he had cancelled his order after a delivery executive called Faiyaz was assigned to deliver his food. Shukla shared the order status with a map from a locality in Jabalpur.
He also shared a screenshot of the app's chat support, through which he requested for a different delivery executive. When asked why Shukla said: "We have Shravan and I don't need a delivery from a Muslim fellow."
The customer care executive responded that cancelling the order would cost him Rs 237, and then said: "At Zomato, we don't discriminate on basis of riders, I hope you understand."
Shukla tweeted that he cancelled the order without refund, and said that Zomato was "forcing us to take deliveries from people we don't want".
He claimed he was uninstalling the app as the company was not cooperating and he would discuss the matter with his lawyers.
His tweets received angry responses from several users with one asking Shukla if he had ensured that the person who cooked his food was a Hindu, while another pointed out that Shukla's vehicles run on "Muslim fuel" -- alluding to most of the oil India buys coming from Gulf nations.
Just cancelled an order on @ZomatoIN they allocated a non hindu rider for my food they said they can't change rider and can't refund on cancellation I said you can't force me to take a delivery I don't want don't refund just cancel
— पं अमित शुक्ल (@NaMo_SARKAAR) July 30, 2019
This is my objection pic.twitter.com/U4DjaHONoo
— पं अमित शुक्ल (@NaMo_SARKAAR) July 30, 2019
Food doesn’t have a religion. It is a religion. https://t.co/H8P5FlAw6y
— Zomato India (@ZomatoIN) July 31, 2019
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
