Atawhai Tuki sees her experience as having a positive outcome following an incident at a Havelock North bar, where both her and her partner were denied entry because of their facial moko.
What made matters even worse was that Tuki and her partner were advised by the bar security to put make-up on to cover up their moko.
“I was about to lose it aye, but my family said 'no lets just go', so we left,” says Tuki.
The bar owners were inside when the incident happened last Saturday and were unaware of it until family members notified them after Tuki went live on Facebook about her experience.
She was very pleased with the way in which they dealt with the incident, inviting Atawhai and her partner to the bar, not only to apologize but also inviting her to a staff meeting to educate staff regarding moko kauae and mataora moko and the tikanga associated with such facial tattoos.
“The apology was huge from them and what made it more significant was the fact that the bar owner's wife said she would never step on anybody's whakapapa or tikanga," says Tuki, "We look at it as turning a negative into a positive."
Although their experience had a good outcome, Tuki hopes that such situations can be avoided altogether by hospitality establishments reviewing their policies regarding facial moko and making sure all staff, especially security are informed of such policies.