A mother’s account of being asked to pay $4.90 after her child accidentally touched a piece of cheesecake displayed on the shelf in a bakery has sparked debate online.
The incident was shared on Threads by user @Dinahnahnah, or Dinah, on Monday (July 20).
The incident took place on July 19 at Paparch's Arab Street outlet, a local brand known for its Basque burnt cheesecakes.
According to Dinah, a mother of two who is in her mid-30s, she was asked to pay $4.90 after one of her children accidentally touched a display cheesecake, damaging it.
Dina told AsiaOne that she gone to the counter to choose her cake flavours, with her back facing her children, and did not see what had happened.
When she offered to buy the display cake, which is inedible, she claimed that staff told her she could not do so.
While she acknowledged that every brand and store has the right to set its own policies, Dinah told AsiaOne that she believed the issue was not the policy itself but how it was communicated.
She claimed that the staff informed her about the payment requirement while she was still choosing cakes, which led her to believe they had already noticed her children, but did not warn her when they were near the display.
She added that she would have told her children not to touch it had she known the display was there.
Dinah further claimed that the staff appeared reluctant to pass her feedback, such as placing a lid over the display cakes, on to their manager because they felt it would not change anything.
She also suggested that staff could benefit from better customer communication training directed by management.
In her exchange on Instagram with Paparch, screenshots of which were shared in her Threads post, Dinah suggested several improvements, including placing display cakes out of children's reach or covering them.
The screenshots also showed that Paparch offered to refund the $4.90 as a gesture of goodwill, but Dinah declined the offer, saying she wanted to take responsibility for her child's actions.
"We're truly sorry to hear about your experience, especially as it happened on your birthday," Paparch wrote.
"We would like to refund the $4.90 as a gesture of goodwill."
Dinah said the focus should be on prevention, as she believed other children might also touch the display cake in future.
She added: "The set up was meant to fail in the first place. Every kid will likely touch something no matter how many times we remind them prior."
Dinah told AsiaOne that she would continue to frequent the bakery, as she likes their cakes.
Some netizens criticised Paparch's lack of preventive measures.
"Even McDonald's does that for their Happy Meal gifts," one comment read, referring to the covered display sets used by the fast-food chain.
Another commenter said Paparch appeared to have missed the point, adding that offering a refund as a gesture of goodwill suggested the company "doesn't quite get it".
However, another commenter, who claims to be a food and beverage owner, said that children had previously opened his covered tea leaves display and made a mess, pushing back on comments that squarely place the onus on businesses.
AsiaOne has reached out to Paparch for more information.
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helmy.saat@asiaone.com
