Source: Lianhe Zaobao and Michelin Guide
A woman’s plan to celebrate her aunt’s birthday with popiah culminated in disappointment after the popiah that she pre-ordered and queued for 40 minutes ended up getting refunded instead.
The woman, 69-year-old Mdm Tan (name transliterated), told Shin Min Daily News that she encountered the above incident on 17 Nov at a popiah stall in a coffee shop at Block 823A, Tampines Street 81, as reported by Lianhe Zaobao.
Mdm Tan had pre-ordered and pre-paid for the popiah that she wanted to bring for her aunt’s birthday celebration. She reportedly ordered from this specific stall as it served large servings of popiah for S$33.
She initially thought that the popiah would be ready for pick up immediately as she had pre-ordered days before.
However, when she came to the stall to pick up the order, the stall owner asked her to queue up instead and wait for the popiah.
Source: Lianhe Zaobao
“When I went to pick up the food at 10:40am, the stall owner asked me to queue,” Mdm Tan said.
“As I was in a hurry and there were more than ten people in the line, I asked for a refund instead but she refused.”
She shared that the stall owner had a “bad attitude”. As the owner refused to refund her, Mdm Tan said she had no choice but to queue up.
However, when it came to her turn to pick up the popiah — a full 40 minutes of queueing later — the stall owner said that she didn’t want to serve Mdm Tan and refunded her instead.
Mdm Tan felt that the stall owner could have just refunded her immediately if she didn’t want her business, instead of making her queue for 40 minutes.
She said that she had purchased large servings of popiah in the past but never encountered something like this.
“I feel like she doesn’t respect her customers and I feel like I’ve been made fun of.”
As it was for a birthday celebration, she had to order takeaway elsewhere.
Source: Michelin Guide. For illustration purposes only
The stall owner told a Shin Min Daily News reporter that a female assistant had handled Mdm Tan’s order.
The female assistant had pre-empted Mrs Tan that there would be a queue during the collection time, which Mdm Tan reportedly knew and acknowledged as she had ordered from the stall before.
However, on the day of the collection, the stall had to cater to many customers, leading to a longer waiting time for the collection of pre-ordered popiah, including that of Mrs Tan.
As such, Mrs Tan was asked to queue.
However, Mdm Tan became upset and demanded to get the order immediately or get it refunded.
The stall owner said: “I thought she would be unhappy eating it, so when it was her turn, I refunded her.”
The owner also admitted that she had also become angry at that time as Mrs Tan insisted on getting refunded when the owner had already prepared the ingredients and the order was only waiting to be packed and registered.
The owner thus had to throw away the pre-prepared ingredients.
The owner works alone at the stall and hopes that customers can be more understanding.
Also read: ‘Grumpy’ Lucky Plaza Chicken Rice Stall Owner Opens New Outlet At Toa Payoh Kopitiam
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Featured image adapted from Lianhe Zaobao and Michelin Guide.
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