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Singapore, September 2, 2010 Reader Fiona and fifteen of her ex-classmates met for dinner on Tuesday. They made a lot of noise in front of a stall, but little did they expect the owner to hurl vulgarities and threaten them with a beer bottle. Read also:
The She wrote to Stomp in an email (Sep 1):
"I would like to bring across an incident that took place on 31st August (Tuesday) at the famous eating outlet at Serangoon Gardens known as Chomp Chomp.
"We celebrated Teachers’ Day on that day, so afterwards, our group of college and polytechnic friends met up at the eating place for dinner around 9pm.
"The place was packed and crowded, and our group of approximately 16 people managed to find two rows of seats in front of a hokkien noodle stall (Number 24).
"As it was a gathering, our group may have caused some inconvenience to stall owner due to the volume of noise we created.
"However it was during peak hour and the following day happened to be a school holiday. Thus, I feel it explained the noise level there.
"In the middle of dinner, around 10pm, the stall owners who were a woman and man approximately in their fifties, hurled abuse at us in Hokkien.
"They claimed we had affected their business due to the noise we had created.
"For five minutes, the man and his wife continuously threw vulgarities at us.
"One of our friends tried to stop him from using vulgarities, but at the instant, the man went as far as threatening us by raising a beer bottle.
"The man even mentioned, 'Ask your gang down and fight me lah!'
"In all that commotion, I felt really shocked that no one went ahead to stop that man even when he raised that beer bottle at us.
"What would happen if that beer bottle had landed on either one of us?
"The consequences would be unthinkable, given that the man looked drunk and did not seem to be in the right mental state.
"Our group may have indeed caused certain noise levels, but how the stall owners acted were far too much.
"Bearing in mind that Chomp Chomp is considered to be a tourist spot, I felt this very act of hurling abuse reflected badly on Singapore's service standards.
"Therefore, I really wish such incidents would be reported to bring about the awareness that service standards here still have room for improvement."
STOMPer Eckhard Justus also experienced a similar incident at the stall.
He relates:
"My friends and I also recently experienced a similar scenario at the very same hawker stall. The hawker shouted at us when two of my female friends started laughing.
"We were sitting at a table some distance from the stall.
"I admit we were generating quite a bit of noise and it was past 12am. However, none of the other hawkers near us seemed to mind as we were having an after birthday celebration at Chomp Chomp.
"The guys, myself included, had our backs facing the stall. First, he shouted at us in Mandarin, 'OI. very noisy, people want to do business one you know?' That was when all the guys turned and gave him an offended look, so he backed off.
"We continued to give him pissed-off glares while he tried his best to avoid our table.
"We left the place afterwards but seriously. I know that some patrons may be noisier than usual but was there a need to shout at us in public?
"Imagine if it was a group of fierce-looking guys, would he have dared to do the same thing?"
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