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CAPE TOWN. – A Twitter user posted a photo of the mugs she saw in a Pick n Pay store in Observatory in Cape Town. One was inscribed with ‘The Maid’, the other with ‘The Gardener’.

Twitter reacted saying these mugs were outrageous and tone deaf in a country with a history of apartheid where separate crockery was left outside for gardeners and domestic workers to use.

Myrtle Witbooi, general secretary of the South African Domestic Services and Allied Workers Union, told Business Insider South Africa that the mugs were “very degrading”.

“This takes us back to apartheid when utensils for gardeners and domestic workers were placed outside for (the workers). This takes us back as a people and we demand a public apology from the store.”

Janine Caradonna, Pick and Pay spokesperson, told Business Insider that the mugs were only sold at one of its franchise stores.

“We have asked him (franchise owner) to remove them from sale immediately – which he has done,” says Caradonna.

However, not everyone on social media thought the mugs were offensive. – Business Insider