PUBLISHED ONMarch 12, 2023 4:41 AMByWong Dao EnIt takes two hands to clap – and this can be said for hawker-customer relations as well, especially when disagreements over sensitive topics like pricing arise.
Writing to Facebook group Hawker United – Dabao 2020 on Friday (March 10), a man known as Lim Foo Choong shared an unpleasant experience his stall assistant had with a group of customers.
"I wrote this post in response to an incident we met today by my auntie's hawker assistant," he wrote in the post.
"It reflects the difficulties met by many hawkers today."
The man, who owns a dessert hawker stall at Ang Mo Kio, said that a female customer had bought two bowls of dessert at $3.60 and asked for an empty bowl, which her stall assistant had passed to her.
The lady had also helped herself to the disposable spoons at the counter.
Another person from the same group came up afterwards and requested for four additional takeaway bowls, which the assistant had declined due to a "limited amount" of containers they had that day.
The assistant then offered the customer an additional 20-cent surcharge each for the extra bowls if she really needed it.
It seemed that the surcharge riled up the customers, who proceeded to stand in front of the stall and "shame" the stall assistant in what the man calls an "ugly sight that involved screaming".
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According to Lim, the customers had repeatedly said told his assistant that "nobody does business like this" in Mandarin and had demanded for the number of the person in charge and threatened that they will make the stall "famous".
"The main reason for me writing this is really to explain the difficulties we face in operating as a hawker," he elaborated.
"We have very limited space to store our bowls, spoon and we can only place two containers for return of used bowls and our price is low."
The man then further explained that the only other feasible option for hawkers would be to wash the dishes after they had closed.
"If the bowls are all used for the day, we will need to give out takeaway containers which will cut deeply into our profit as the average selling price is $1.80".
The hawker then pleaded for customers to only "take what you need and request only what is reasonable", stating that it would hurt their profit even more if they have to wash seven bowls for $3.60.
"All the bullying we may encounter when we refuse [to give out more bowls] is depressing," he concluded.
Speaking to 8days, he said that such requests are not uncommon, but most will understand the need to charge more and can take "no" as an answer.
However, he felt that asking for five more bowls was a little too much as they'd normally be happy to oblige if the customer had only asked for one more.
According to 8days, he was not present when the incident occurred and had learned about it after his stall assistant told him about it.
While customers may find it exasperating to be charged more for takeaway containers, this isn't the first time a hawker has jumped in to explain their side of the story.
Back in December, a new hawker centre at Sembawang opened, and while diners were anticipating its opening, many were taken aback by its unusually exorbitant surcharges for takeaway containers.
According to Shin Min Daily News, a Korean hawker stall at Bukit Canberra Hawker Centre charged up to 80 cents for a takeaway container, with an employee at the stall saying that the high surcharge had affected their business.
However, the reason behind these charges were because the hawkers there are required to use biodegradable containers, which cost around 50 cents each, according to a ban mian stall owner.
Joey Tan, managing director of Canopy Hawkers Group, said then that they have been alerted of the public's feedback and have also worked together with stallholders "by sourcing and introducing vendors who offer bulk-buy programmes for takeaway packaging to keep costs low".
"All takeaway packaging will now be no more than 30 cents," she said.
ALSO READ: Some hawkers at new Sembawang hawker centre lament losses with 30-cent cap on takeaway packaging
wongdaoen@asiaone.com
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