Taman Jurong Hawker Writes Curse Note After Trays Repeatedly ‘Stolen’, Incident Was A Misunderstanding

Hawker Writes Curse Note After His Trays Get ‘Stolen’ By Fellow Hawker

When one’s items are taken without consent, they could feel helpless with anger and turn to rather extreme means to safeguard their own items.

One Taman Jurong drink stall hawker found himself in this predicament as his trays were repeatedly taken from his storefront on three consecutive days.

At his wits’ end, he decided to write a curse note to deter people from taking his trays as it resulted in a shortage for his own customers.

One patron chanced upon this signage while patronising the food centre and took to Facebook to share their incredulity at the situation.

The ‘thief’ turned out to be a fellow hawker, who took them as he thought the trays were not being used.

Hawker writes curse note after trays get ‘stolen’ on three consecutive days

According to  Shin Min Daily News, the Taman Jurong Food Centre drink stall hawker assistant is a 60-year-old who has been working there for about a year.

According to him, the first instance of the trays ‘disappearing’ occurred on 31 Jan, when dozens of the stall’s trays were taken.

He initially thought it was a one-off event, but over the next two days that followed, all the trays placed in front of his stall went missing.

Upon checking the closed-circuit television footage, he found the culprit was a fellow hawker.

He thus placed the signage, which roughly translates to “The whole family of whoever takes (the trays) will die”. This was a means to deter the ‘thief’ from taking any more trays without consent, he explained, as he did not want to directly confront the other hawker.

The drink stall hawker told Shin Min Daily News that he was alright with lending his fellow hawkers his trays if they asked for permission upfront and needed them during the lunch peak period.

However, he was upset that his trays were taken without consent because he takes the effort to wash them everyday.

Fellow hawker mistook the trays as being unused

According to Shin Min Daily News, the tray ‘thief’ took the trays as he thought they were unused, as they were placed outside the drink stall while the stall’s roller shutters were closed.

He explained that the entire incident was a misunderstanding, and that he had stopped taking the trays after realising that the drink stall was still using them.

The drink stall hawker told Shin Min Daily News that he would close the roller shutters when he goes for his break as he was the only one running the stall.

Trays are provided by NEA

According to the Taman Jurong Hawkers’ Association Chairperson Zhang Wen Jun (direct pinyin translation), the trays are shared by the hawkers.

He added that NEA provided each hawker with 60 trays a few years ago, and there are 20 stalls that are currently not in use, so there should be around 1000 extra trays to go around.

According to him, the trays are placed on shelves for the hawkers to self-collect after they are washed.

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Featured image adapted from Facebook.