A Bangor University student has quit her job at KFC in Bangor after she alleged she was told not to speak Welsh with customers.
Ceri Hughes, a first year History student, was working at the High Street takeaway in June this year, when she claims a supervisor told her only to take orders and speak with customers in English.
She said: “The supervisor told me I had to take every order in English and to speak in English with customers.
“I carried on speaking Welsh with customers who spoke Welsh to me and the same supervisor reminded me to speak English with customers.
“It is not acceptable I should be told to speak English only with customers.”
Shortly after the incident, Ceri decided to leave her post, but not before submitting a complaint to the restaurant manager. She is now considering making a complaint to the Welsh language Commissioner.
Llyr Gruffydd Plaid Cymru AM Tweeted KFC about the incident, he said: “A KFC worker in Bangor was told not to speak Welsh with customers. Unacceptable.
“Welsh is an official language in Wales, & many of your customers prefer to speak Welsh. But the main point: workers have the right to speak whatever language they want.”
In response a spokesman for KFC said: “You’re right; this is unacceptable. At KFC, we want our staff to speak the language they and the customer are most comfortable interacting in so we were saddened to hear of this.
“We’ll relay this message to our restaurants to ensure this doesn’t happen again.”
