Having made a booking at an F&B establishment, the onus is on the customer to show up on time. Even if they can’t be punctual, it’s common courtesy to call and inform the restaurant.
Unfortunately, a customer at a pizza eatery at Farrer Park went against all these expectations. Instead of apologising, he allegedly criticised the restaurant for not holding their reservation past 30 minutes, claiming they had to put their baby to bed.
Source; Google Maps
The eatery has since taken to social media to disclose their conversation while urging others to treat service staff with basic respect.
On Monday (9 Jan), Chooby Pizza – located along Owen Road in Farrer Park – posted on social media about an unpleasant ordeal with a customer.
In a Facebook message, the customer recounted the “bad experience” he had with the restaurant.
According to the message, the customer had booked an 8pm slot at the restaurant last Friday (6 Jan).
However, he was apparently unable to make it on time, as he and his partner had to put their baby to bed first.
The customer also said that they’d normally head to restaurants at about 8.30pm or 8.45pm, after completing their parental duties. He explained that he booked the 8pm slot as it was the latest one available.
At about 8.30pm that day, someone from the restaurant contacted the customer, informing him that they had kept the table for 30 minutes.
While the customer did not disclose the content of that conversation, he implied that it was inappropriate for staff at a restaurant to not work past 8.30pm:
If you guys don’t want to work beyond 8.30pm I suggest that you do something else than restaurant and go work in an office.
Claiming that he had not had such an “awful experience” in the past six years of being in Singapore, the customer called the incident an “absolute disgrace”.
Pointing out that the restaurant turned him away, the customer requested that they not charge him for the “no-show”.
In response, the pizzeria stated that the customer was more than 30 minutes late and did not give prior notice about the delay.
As a form of courtesy, a staff member contacted the customer to ask if they could take their orders before the kitchen closed for the night.
However, Chooby Pizza claimed the customer became “incredibly offended” at that point and “lashed out” over the phone.
Like the customer, the restaurant noted that their staff have families to return home to as well. The establishment is thus responsible for ensuring that they end their day on time.
Ending their response, Chooby Pizza said they do not tolerate any form of abuse towards their staff and will not be providing any refund to the customer.
The customer, however, seemingly did not take kindly to Chooby Pizza’s response, describing it as “racist”.
This is perhaps in reply to the eatery’s second message calling for the customer to respect local practices:
If your foreign norms and expectations do not align with those here, it is only respectful to adapt and realign them here.
Source: Chooby Pizza on Facebook
Expressing his desire for the establishment to shutter, the customer apparently also left a negative review on the establishment’s Facebook page. The review, however, is no longer available.
Source: Chooby Pizza on Facebook
In contrast, other netizens have seemingly rallied in support of Chooby Pizza and the way they dealt with the situation.
While the disgruntled customer’s review is no longer up, countless netizens left the eatery glowing five-star reviews.
Source: Chooby Pizza on Facebook
As some parts of the exchange aren’t available for viewing, we’d advise against making speculations about the incident.
Regardless, kudos to Chooby Pizza for standing up for their staff. Hopefully, customers will be more considerate towards service employees moving forward.
Have news you must share? Get in touch with us via email at news@mustsharenews.com.
Featured image adapted from Chooby Pizza on Facebook and Facebook.
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