"I have suffered from sharp abdomen pains, endured episodes of panic and anxiety, and experienced numerous nightmares"
An Asian woman who was assaulted by another female customer in Topshop NYC was given no sympathy by the store’s staff.
An Asian woman was the victim of an unprovoked attack by fellow customer in Topshop’s Fifth Avenue store in New York City but the store manager sided with the assailant.
Teresa Yolanda Cheung posted on Facebook about the incident, urging other Topshop customers to “reconsider doing business with a company that treats its customers with such total disdain and disrespect.”
According to Cheung, on 24 June 2018 at 5:30pm she was “viciously struck by a close-fisted punch in the abdomen area” by another female customer “for no reason whatsoever.” Cheung was on the phone at the time.
The assailant was accompanied by two male friends and claimed she attacked Cheung because she had “bumped into her’ – a claim which Cheung refutes.
After experiencing “excruciating pain for several minutes,” Cheung found the store manager to report the incident.
However, the store manager, known only as Tyrone, sided with the assailants and proceeded to “chat, laugh and joke” with them whilst Cheung was “squatting in pain”. Eventually the store manager allowed the assailants to leave and chose to believe that they did not strike Cheung.
When she asked for Tyrone to review the video surveillance footage of the incident, her request was ignored. Instead, the store manager decided to eject Cheung from the store.
Meanwhile, a couple who overheard the exchange, tried to help Cheung. However, Tyrone “angrily demanded to know whether we were all together, knew each other, and proceeded to eject them from the store as well”.
Tyrone, who refused to provide Cheung with his full name, said she and the couple had to call and wait for the police outside.
The police told Cheung to wait for officers to arrive inside the store. A female member of staff who told Chung she could not “even stand in an area outside of the store” proceeded to push her through the front doors.
Cheung has since “suffered from sharp abdomen pains, endured episodes of panic and anxiety, and experienced numerous nightmares.”
She was also prescribed with anti-anxiety medication by her doctor, who advised her to rest and heal from the abdomen muscle damage. Cheung was unable to work for several days as a swimming coach.
Topshop has not responded to the incident, despite Cheung reaching out formerly to the chain and its parent company.
“Given the above, I believe I am well within my rights to file formal complaints regarding the completely unacceptable matter in which members of the TopShop staff treated an assaulted customer,” Cheung writes in her post.
After receiving no response from the company, Cheung felt that she had “no other choice but to take my grievances public.”
“If this is how TopShop elects to oversee matters of customer assault privately, it is my hope that the power of social media will pressure management to finally act on my behalf in seeking justice and relief,” Cheung says. “I am determined to right this wrong and will consider all options for an acceptable resolution. Thank you for your time, consideration, and support on this matter.”