Coffee retailers calls household grieving dad’s dying ‘depressed f****’ then apologises
Hannah Pharoah was left outraged after noticing a vile remark left on a £200 receipt she had been given by a cafe in Dorset, where her dad’s wake was being held
Hannah Pharoah and her mum, Sue, couldn’t believe what they saw (Image: Hannah Pharoah/BNPS)
A family were left disgusted after a coffee shop “callously” printed two insensitive words on a receipt handed over to them during a loved one’s wake.
Hannah Pharoah slammed staff at Crossroads cafe in Poundbury in Dorset, branding the incident a ‘sick joke’ after her dad Steve’s funeral. Her mum Sue had chosen her favourite cafe for the two-hour gathering, paying more than £200, along with tapas and drinks, for around 30 mourners.
The family claim the atmosphere was uncomfortable from the start, alleging staff were cold and dismissive. Hannah, 34, said it felt as though employees saw the wake as an inconvenience and were keen to get the group out so the shop could reopen to the public.
At the end of the wake, she asked for a printed receipt and slipped it into her mum’s purse without looking at it. It wasn’t until the next day that she checked it and saw the party name had been entered as “depressed f****”.
She showed the receipt to her widowed parent before ringing the coffee shop to complain. According to Hannah, she spoke to co-owner Matthew McCaurtie, who had served them, and was told it was a joke by another staff member.
The fuming daughter said he apologised and that the small, family-run business later refunded the bill in full. “There was no warmth, no professionalism and certainly no compassion, something you would expect as a bare minimum when hosting a wake. Somebody got the wrong coffee and they were treated like it was their fault,” she said.
Describing the moment they paid, she observed that the staff member “stood there with his arms crossed and smirked at a colleague”.
Hannah went on: “He gave my mum the card receipt and she didn’t look at it and put it in her purse. The next day I looked at the receipt and our party had been labelled as ‘Depressed f***s’. I found it disgusting and my mother was so upset by it.’
The backlash intensified after the family shared their ‘appalling’ experience online. Hannah wrote on Facebook: “This was my father’s funeral. We were a grieving family and a room full of friends paying our respects.
“To mock our grief and my father’s death in that way is beyond unprofessional, it is cruel, arrogant, and heartless. It shows a complete absence of basic human decency. His behaviour was cold, dismissive, and contemptuous throughout.
“To then discover that he had reduced our family’s loss to a joke on a receipt is unforgivable. It takes a truly callous individual to behave this way toward people in mourning. Disgusting. No compassionate human being could be so cold.”
The coffee shop confirmed that a 17-year-old member of staff was responsible for the message. A Facebook post from Crossroads cafe read: “For a final time, and with complete transparency, I regrettably confirm that an offensive message was entered into our till system by a 17-year-old junior member of staff.
“It was completely inappropriate and deeply upsetting, particularly given the circumstances of the family’s visit. While the staff member’s age does not excuse the behaviour, it does provide context. As an employer of young people, I believe accountability must go hand in hand with education and guidance.
“Appropriate disciplinary action has been taken, the staff member was suspended immediately, and formal procedures have followed.”
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