It take two hands to clap.

Jan 21, 2008

Bad salt experience at Terminal One food court

I RECENTLY patronised the food court at Terminal One upon arriving in Singapore on Jan 13.

You would never have imagined the customer service that I experienced on the very first 15 minutes upon arrival.

I ordered a can of coke from the food court at Basement 1. After I made payment, I asked for salt and the staff told me that there wasn't any. It seemed strange to me that a drinks stall did not have any salt.

I tried approaching her again to check if she could get the salt elsewhere but before I could do so, she stared at me and told me: 'Don't have means don't have".

I did not want to start an argument with her and decided to purchase fruit juice from the adjacent stall for my girlfriend instead. And right in front of that stall was a container of salt. Then it dawned on me why Singapore's world ranking is starting to decline.

There are three points that I would like to highlight:

1. There is no necessity for the staff to stare at me.
2. It was totally unnecessary for her to use an angry tone with those harsh words.
3. She didn't even have to take the salt for me. She could have just told me that the neighbouring stall had what I wanted.

The main objective of this e-mail is not to penalise the staff or request an apology. What I'm concerned about is the reputation of the nation.

Janssen Tham Kwok Onn

I am actually quite surprise that this kind of letter got published by ST Forum online. I believe ST got better letters with REAL complaints to published like “GST, Taxi Hike, Civil Service Pay rise, etc etc”

Firstly to put things straight, the Terminal One Food Court is actually a staff canteen. It main purpose is to serve the staff working in the airport but it does open to the public.

What service Janssen expect when he visit a Food Court? Does he demand the hawkers serve him with a smile everytime?

I agreed that the staff was rude but what you expect with an underpaid long hour job worker.

To answer Janssen three points:

1. How to define a stare? Were you staring at her too?
2. This is true but what to expect from a hawker? You are not paying for any service. Must you really have salt in your coke and since you said the salt is right in front of the adjacent stall, can’t you see it? Did you try looking for a salt first before you ask her again? Need to be spoon fed I see.
3. Maybe she really don’t know the salt is there? You just assume she don’t want to help you.
   

The reputation of the nation are already tanished by several other more important issue,(Human Right, High Cost of living, Hopeless Public Transport, World most expensive Cars……) so don't worry too much.

Not to worry Janssen, even MM said we are not gracious.