A cruel attack on social media by a tourist against a sunbed service employee on Canyamel beach in Mallorca has caused outrage on social media who have come forward to defend and show their solidarity with the worker. The message was shared on the public Facebook group “Playa de Canyamel”, which has 3,808 members. ‘He’s too old, he only speaks Spanish’ and ‘he looks dirty and has missing teeth’ are just some of the unfortunate comments the woman included in her post.
The comment, written in German, has been responded to and harshly criticised by other members of the group, many of whom are also tourists. In her post, the tourist claims that she has noticed a reduction in the number of sun loungers compared to previous years, and directs her complaint directly to the person in charge of the service: “And then there’s that man who distributes the sun loungers. I don’t like him. He’s too old, he only speaks Spanish, he doesn’t understand German or any other language.”
The language issue is one of the central points of the message, to which she adds that her husband had an altercation with the worker during a week-long stay in June, allegedly because the man did not understand what they were saying to him. But, the criticism goes beyond language. The tourist also comments on the man’s physical appearance: ‘He looks dirty and has missing teeth. He gives a bad impression.’ She accuses him of not doing his job properly: “Instead of supervising the beach, he drinks beer several times a day at the bar. He should retire.’
To conclude, the woman says she will not rent sun loungers there again and asks the rest of the group for help in identifying the worker so she can speak to his superior: ‘Has anyone else had a similar experience with this man? Do you know his name? I want to report his behaviour to his superior.’
The post has sparked a rapid chain reaction from other members of the group. The responses have been unanimous in emphasising that this is a man who has been doing his job for years and deserves respect.
‘We are in Spain and we speak Spanish. He has been doing his job well for years,’ replied one of the users in German. ‘What do you want to say to his boss, who doesn’t speak German?’ asked another ironically, adding: ‘I wouldn’t tell you his name for anything in the world!’ Some of those outraged did not hide their anger at what they considered prejudice based on age, language and appearance. ‘People like that should stay in Germany!’ exclaimed one woman. ‘Please don’t come back’ and ‘He’s a great guy, I’ve known him for at least 20 years’ were among the other responses.