An Ajax woman caught part of an altercation on video in which a TTC employee can be heard calling her a derogatory name.

In a statement the TTC said it is investigating the incident to better understand why the expectations of its dignity and respect policy “were not seemingly met in this case.”

“The language used is very concerning,” said TTC spokesperson Brad Ross.

Brittany Rattray, 26, was on her way from Ajax to Lamport Stadium on Sunday to enjoy the Toronto Caribbean Festival with her two-year-old son when she approached the TTC collector’s booth operator at King Station to ask for directions.

The TTC officer said he could not provide directions and asked her to look at the wall map, she said. When she couldn’t find the stadium on the map she asked to see a paper fold-out version, thinking it might include more detail.

Rattray said she got upset when she couldn’t find Lamport Stadium on that version either. She crumpled the map and pushed it back through the opening in the collector’s booth.

Then she started recording, planning to complain to the TTC about the way its employee had spoken to her.

In the video she is heard explaining the situation, while the TTC employee is speaking with another customer. Towards the end of the video the employee says “lady, get out of my face, man, get out of my face, retard.”

“I just don’t even think that’s a word that should exist,” Rattray said.

At that point Rattray stopped recording because her phone battery was close to dying, but the conflict continued, she said over the phone Wednesday.

Rattray said he also called her a “dummy.”

In a second video Rattray can be heard saying “I’m a dummy? Say it in the mic.”

The employee then says “Yeah, yeah, what do you think, you think that hurts me?”

Rattray called the experience frustrating and upsetting.

The employee should apologize to her and her child, she said.

A representative for ATU Local 113, the union which represents Toronto transit workers, said the collector’s behaviour was “inappropriate.”

“While we still need to learn more about what happened before and after the video footage, plain and simple, the collector’s behaviour is inappropriate,” Kevin Morton, secretary-treasurer for ATU Local 113, said in a statement.

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“Under no circumstance should a passenger be subjected to insults and we apologize for this individual’s behaviour. It is important to remember this individual’s behaviour in no way reflects the hardworking transit workers of our city, who themselves are increasingly subjected to abuse and assaults.”

The TTC said the employee would not be made available to the media.

“This is now an employee-employer matter,” Ross said. “The TTC has a respect and dignity policy that it expects all of its 14,000 employees to embrace and adhere to. It also expects its employees to be courteous and professional with customers and the public at all times. The vast majority of TTC employees, of course, do this day in and day out.”

Rattray said she encountered at least two other TTC employees on that trip who were both polite and helpful, and has never had a problem with the TTC before.