Appalling discrimination at KONG nightclub: iLIVE

15 April 2014 - 15:17 By Anonymous
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Kong Rosebank nightclub's Facebook page.
Kong Rosebank nightclub's Facebook page.
Image: Kong

South Africa’s nightlife is synonymous with that of international nightlife standards.

Party-goers often regard Johannesburg nightlife as diverse and non discriminatory.

However, it is with huge disappointment that I experienced the total opposite to this at KONG nightclub in Rosebank.

On Saturday, April 12, 2014, two of my friends and I decided to go to KONG nightclub in Rosebank to have a good time celebrating our graduation, not knowing that we would leave there felling totally inferior as well as being extremely frustrated.

We had been put onto a friend's guest list (who is a regular, as well as works at KONG and has a guest list there every single Saturday evening) beforehand and she advised us that if we had any trouble, we should speak to the door manager who knows exactly who she is.

The nasty ordeal started by us standing in a line for almost 45 minutes (which I know is common for a club), but we got to the front of the line only to be ignored and completely disregarded by an extremely rude door girl with an unpleasant attitude, who then purposefully chose to let through two girls standing behind us in first.

We managed to finally get her attention, which seemed totally all over the place, and then politely told her we were on guest list and asked if we could go through, she scanned us up and down from head to toe with a look on her face like we completely did not belong there and told us callously that she doesn't have a guest list for that person and we cannot enter.

We then had to ask for the door manager who had the exact same attitude and response as the impolite door girl and that was when we were utterly shocked at what had just happened turned around and left immediately.

I have never experienced such appalling, inferior and upsetting service at any nightlife venue in Johannesburg before. It is disappointing knowing one goes to a place recognised as an upmarket high-end club and receives such low-class treatment.

No one should ever get treated like they did not belong or given such bad attitude by people, who think they have that much authority at a door of a club.

I personally know that I will NEVER support places or clubs that treat their clients with such disrespect, subsequently, I will never go back to KONG, knowing how terribly I was treated before even getting a possible chance to enter the venue.

After taking my awful incident to social media, there were responses by various other people who received the same unpleasant treatment that my friends and I had experienced.

Some comments on my complaint, and on the club's Facebook page, as well as word-of-mouth stories even referred back to incidents from last year, which seems like it is an ongoing matter at KONG.

Many people have complained about racism toward Indian customers, including being asked to change a pair of already formal shoes, and being told that their 'type' was not accepted. Another poster said that she and her friends were turned away, the club's reason being that there were too many Indians already in the club and that would turn away their white clients.

I believe that this club does not deserve the recognition it gets and the higher management of the club need to be aware of what is going on.

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