A Melbourne cafe has shared a shocking video of a random attack that left a staff member with a chipped tooth.
Footage posted online on Tuesday afternoon by La Vallee in Essendon shows a woman walking past the Keilor Road premises just before 1pm on Friday.
Dressed in a black jumper and jeans and wearing large sunglasses, the “grown woman” comes close to colliding with a staff member carrying several plates.
The woman instantly and violently knocks the plates from the waitress’s hands, chipping her tooth in the process, before continuing to walk down the street as if nothing has happened.
“We are beyond shocked at the abhorrent behaviour of this grown woman,” staff wrote on Tuesday.
“If you know her please send us a private message — we need assistance in identifying this individual.
“This incident led to one of our beautiful staff members CHIPPING THEIR TOOTH from the plate she pushed into her face.
“We love being part of the community in Essendon, and we hope our followers can share, tag and suggest this to local friends so we can get some justice AND hold this person accountable.”
Speaking to news.com.au, a manager said the staff member was “okay but obviously shaken”.
“The lady did say some expletives to our staff member. Sadly this isn’t the only issue we have recently experienced.”
Speaking on the radio after the incident one staff member said the waitress was “pretty traumatised”.
“She was in pain, she was covered in egg and she had blood coming out of her mouth. Her top three teeth, the first one was broken and the other two were out of place so she had to get those top three fixed,” they said.
Commenters, including billionaire Adrian Portelli, rushed to condemn the woman’s actions.
“This behaviour needs to be stamped out. It doesn’t belong here,” he wrote.
“Absolutely shocking behaviour, so sad to see,” one person wrote.
“Totally not okay. Hopefully someone recognises her,” another wrote.
Kindness also came through in the comments with a Brazilian jio jitsu studio offering a “12 month self defence membership free of charge” and a local dentist offering to fix the tooth at no cost.
“We attend there on a regular basis and they’re absolutely shocked. Absolutely grateful for the dentist who is actually offered to fix the staff’s tooth for free. What a beautiful kind gesture,” one woman wrote.
Random and unprovoked attacks on hospitality staff in Melbourne are not new.
In July last year, Eleven: 11 cafe owner Moustafa Saoud was attacked by a hooded man inside his Buckley Street premises.
CCTV footage captured the moment his attacker walked behind the counter and threw a punch that hit him in the mouth.
In the vision, Mr Saoud could be seen scrambling for safety but the assault carried out.
When his attacker was done, he calmly walked back out the door.
Mr Saoud told this reporter that the most chilling part of the attack was that not a single word was uttered.
“He didn’t say anything. Even when he left he didn’t say anything.”
He said what happened the next day was worse. It was what tipped him over the edge and confirmed his decision to close permanently.
He told news.com.au that he made a police report on the Friday night that the attack took place, but the man who attacked him returned to the cafe the following morning.
“He came on Saturday morning to my cafe and asked for a cigarette. I gave him one and he stayed outside. But after 10 minutes I went to check if he was still hanging around.”
Mr Saoud said what he saw when he went outside was horrifying.
“He had cut himself with a knife and there was blood everywhere. Police and ambulance came. I saw him on the floor, there was so much blood.”
More violence descended on diners at a cafe in Oakleigh last week when a gang of masked youths stormed Vanilla Lounge around 7.30pm on April 17.
Video from the popular Eaton Mall location showed diners flee as two members of a large group wielded machetes.
An 18-year-old man suffered a stab wound in the altercation.
A survey of the impact of crime and antisocial behaviour on Melbourne businesses, carried out last year by the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, showed that 92 per cent of employers reported growing staff concerns about their safety.
The survey of 1400 businesses found that 35 per cent said they faced incidents weekly and 15 per cent said they faced incidents every single day.
Those included customer aggression and threatening conduct, break-ins, drug-affected behaviour and property damage.
The human roll included rising stress, mental health leave and workplace injuries, a spike in WorkCover claims and staff resignations due to safety concerns.
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