An employee at Havelock North McDonald's has been told by his manager to lessen his use of 'kia ora' at work, saying "some people might not like it".
Photo: 123RF
The 15-year-old's father, Renata Nepe, was left saddened when he heard about his son's encounter.
"It really hurt me because one, that's who we are as people. We are actively using te reo Māori in our homes, in our whānau spaces, and it was really demeaning to hear that my boy had to be submitted to that situation and for me, it was racism disguised in sugar-coated words."
Although his son was not distressed by it, Nepe encouraged him to continue using te reo in his workspace.
He believes things came down to the manager's personal preference.
"My first reply to him was, you carry on me haere tonu koe, me te whakamahi te reo Māori. Kaua e aro ki ngai kūare me ta rātou whakahē i to tātou reo, i to taua reo," Nepe said.
"So don't worry about [what] your manager's instructed to do because it wasn't an instruction from the point of a manager, it was a person insisting another person to not use the language and it was done very quietly, it was done so no one else could hear."
Nepe posted on social media to highlight his son's experience and had a huge response. The manager has since apologised, saying she didn't intend to be racist.
But Nepe said the remark was a reflection of casual racism in Aotearoa.
"It's ingrained in our culture, it's ingrained in our society that we live in, that this is the type of attitude and behaviour that's acceptable and unless we speak up about it - and to the people who are on the receiving end of it - it's huge because it's a day to day thing, this is something as Māori have to put up with and have put up with for centuries."
In a statement to RNZ, McDonald's said it supported the use of te reo Māori by staff and customers in its restaurants.
The fast food chain said it was unclear who made the comments toward the 15-year-old employee when management became aware of the social media post.
"They immediately investigated, including speaking with the staff member and his father. Unfortunately, the staff member was unable to identify the person who made the comments, and management spoke with other staff and reviewed CCTV, and it is still unclear who might've made the comment."
Race Relations Commissioner Meng Foon was disappointed by the incident and agreed with Nepe's response.
"He said look hold on to your culture, hold on to your reo and speak more of it actually, so I encourage that talk of his father of encouragement and not to belittle their own culture and their own language."
He believes McDonald's should investigate further and provide more training to managers to help them understand the importance of te reo.
"Often it's good [to provide training] because new staff come into organisations all the time and I think it's incumbent. Maybe it could actually be promoted in their health and safety notices in the beginning of the day. They could say that we value te reo Māori in McDonald's - just to remind everybody."
Te Taura Whiri i te reo Māori say they support all New Zealanders' right to speak te reo including Nepe's son, who they are keen to speak with.
It also stated McDonald's NZ is a supporter of te reo and is in touch with them.