A tea shop in Chennai is getting hammered on social media for its lack of empathy for a couple who sought the shop's help for an eye injury.

It emerged through a Facebook post that the lady had approached the shop, Cha Republic, after her husband incurred an eye injury during a visit to Phoenix Market City on Radhakrishnan Street.

The shop allegedly responded coldly to their request for some ice cubes that would have helped ease his discomfort.

The lady then decided to buy one of their drinks in order to get the ice. But the shop acted crudely again by making the drink first instead of handing over the ice she had agreed to pay for.

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Krish Ashok, the man who suffered the injury, writes in his post to Cha Republic:

“I don't want to blame any individual involved in this because this utter lack of humanity is a breakdown in process and empowerment more than anything else. Perhaps reassuring your staff that providing ice cubes for a medical emergency will not cost them their jobs will go someway in restoring some basic human courtesies at your outlet.”

Cha Republic has not responded to the barrage of angry comments on its Facebook page. We have reached out to them for their version of the event.