Epitome of Stupid, Rude Singaporean
If you read the Sunday Times today, you would probably know what I am about to say. If you have not, go get a copy of the Sunday Times, turn to page 4 and read the story on "Customer forced out of restuarant after spat with chef".
Mrs Ang Ai Min is truly the classic example of the stupid, rude Singaporean customer. For starters, all restaurants or food establishments have the right to set their house rules. If you do not agree with the rules, as customers you have the right to just leave quietly and go to another restaurant. Not allowing outside drinks is a common and reasonable house rule. Even if Mrs Ang felt slighted at being told not to consume outside drinks in the restaurant she could still politely inform the restaurant staff her children did not consume the drinks they brought in. There was no need to make a molehill out of an anthill to the extend that even the chef was provoked to force her out of the restaurant.
Her behavior is sending the wrong message to Singaporeans and to the younger generation (who knows what kind of moral values she passes on to her students). In her own words, "I want people to know that such behavior is unacceptable. How can anyone lay his hands on another person, not to mention using brute force on a customer?" True, it is not acceptable for the chef to grab her arm and shove her out of the restaurant, but she is not a saint either. It is equally unacceptable for her to make a big ruckus in the restaurant and disturbing the dining experience of other customers, but she did not apologize for her behavior did she. I am apt to think that it is possibly due to teachers like Mrs Ang that we have youngster like the 2 mentioned in my "A Coffee Bean Story" post.
These 2 incidents serve to remind me that all the talks and campaigns to improve service standards in Singapore are nothing but crock. It is improving slavery industry not service industry. Service is not uni-directional. It involves interaction between 2 or more humans, and if it is an interaction it cannot be about one side giving more and more to the extend of giving in to an obnoxious party, which is the case with service industry in Singapore. Improvements need to be made on both ends in order to truly raise the service standards; boorish customers like the protagonist need to learn to respect others and be empathetic (what am I talking about here, a teacher needs to be taught basic human respect?!), and service providers learn to serve with a heart. In addition, I think it would be good to make it a standard practice to allow service providers the right not to serve rude customers. If UK can tolerate this practice why can't we?
Mrs Ang Ai Min is truly the classic example of the stupid, rude Singaporean customer. For starters, all restaurants or food establishments have the right to set their house rules. If you do not agree with the rules, as customers you have the right to just leave quietly and go to another restaurant. Not allowing outside drinks is a common and reasonable house rule. Even if Mrs Ang felt slighted at being told not to consume outside drinks in the restaurant she could still politely inform the restaurant staff her children did not consume the drinks they brought in. There was no need to make a molehill out of an anthill to the extend that even the chef was provoked to force her out of the restaurant.
Her behavior is sending the wrong message to Singaporeans and to the younger generation (who knows what kind of moral values she passes on to her students). In her own words, "I want people to know that such behavior is unacceptable. How can anyone lay his hands on another person, not to mention using brute force on a customer?" True, it is not acceptable for the chef to grab her arm and shove her out of the restaurant, but she is not a saint either. It is equally unacceptable for her to make a big ruckus in the restaurant and disturbing the dining experience of other customers, but she did not apologize for her behavior did she. I am apt to think that it is possibly due to teachers like Mrs Ang that we have youngster like the 2 mentioned in my "A Coffee Bean Story" post.
These 2 incidents serve to remind me that all the talks and campaigns to improve service standards in Singapore are nothing but crock. It is improving slavery industry not service industry. Service is not uni-directional. It involves interaction between 2 or more humans, and if it is an interaction it cannot be about one side giving more and more to the extend of giving in to an obnoxious party, which is the case with service industry in Singapore. Improvements need to be made on both ends in order to truly raise the service standards; boorish customers like the protagonist need to learn to respect others and be empathetic (what am I talking about here, a teacher needs to be taught basic human respect?!), and service providers learn to serve with a heart. In addition, I think it would be good to make it a standard practice to allow service providers the right not to serve rude customers. If UK can tolerate this practice why can't we?
posted by Yamosh at 10:25 AM
2 Comments:
I was at Chung Hwa Medical Institution yesterday to see an acupuncturist (let's call her A. A was instructing 6 students, who were seeing 5 patients in a 3x5m room when I went in. A had set the students to treat their respective patients in various corner of the room & was keying their records & medication into a PC as I waited for her beside the consult table after consulting with a student.
A then called for the next patient (no. 8). When 8 came in, she tried to drag her Indian friend (no. 9) in as well. A told her no, only 1 person can come in as the room is too cramp. 8 then demanded in chinese (with no funny English accent), saying that she need to translate for her friend and asked sharply if the A can speak English. A replied "Yes, of course", so 8 could only sit down for a student to look at her, stating that her own Chinese isn't good.
As the student questioned her, 8 couldn't answer how exactly her arm is hurting, so A interrupted and said that pain comes in different ways and asked for 8 to try to explain how it is like, to which she replied "I don't know how to say". So ok, the student asked whatever he could and left 8 sitting behind the table while we all waited for A to finish keying in.
All of a sudden, 8 stood up, mumbling that she "can't stand it, buay tahan", grabbed the piece of paper the student wrote her symptoms on, tore it, & stormed out of the door.
Minutes later, she stormed back in again & started shouting "You are very rude. I have never seen someone as rude as you... blah blah... bad attitude, blah blah blah...". Took a long time shouting before she turned n left the room, leaving all 12 people in the room in shock.
Tell me, who's ruder? The moment she walked in she started looking down on people, thinking that people are 3rd/4th class residents who are probably too dumb to learn English & have to treat her as the queen. Please. If people can muster Chinese, TCM and acupucture, how hard can it be to learn English?Eceryone else in the room can probably curse her 3 languages while she struggles for a reply in her well-beloved Singaporean English (i.e. no foreign accent, which means she's likely to be Singaporean for her whole 30/40 years)
As sinseh A was saying later, if 8 wants top quality service with next to no waiting time, why did she bother coming to a public clinic that gives free/heavily discounted services?
If she's royalty/high-class/whatever, why go accept charity n make a big fuss about it. Think being Singaporean gives her that right? In that case, I am really ashamed to be from the same piece of land as her. Hey, maybe I should be glad that people mistake me for being from China.
Tian
That's the problem with Singaporeans, and I wonder if it was because I am a little different that's why people kept thinking I'm a Malaysian.
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