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2010-04-22
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Sai Wan Ho has little tasty restaurants. The ones that are good in taste or good in price are always crowded and very difficult to get a seat especially for a family with kids.Tung Fai is relatively eaiser to get a seat because it is not so crowded. It only gets crowded when there is no more choice because the nearby restaurant at Tai On Building are all full and over-flowing. People who don't want to wait finally come into Tung Fai - not because it is especially tasty or good price but because
Tung Fai is relatively eaiser to get a seat because it is not so crowded. It only gets crowded when there is no more choice because the nearby restaurant at Tai On Building are all full and over-flowing. People who don't want to wait finally come into Tung Fai - not because it is especially tasty or good price but because it is easier to get a seat and they don't want to wait anymore.
Why is it easier to get a seat? It likely because the waiters and the owner have a bad attitude. There is no "customer comes first" or "customer is always right here".
There was a woman occupying a table with 4 seats. The owner walked past and asked if she was ready to order. She said she is still waiting for friends/family to come. After 5 min, the owner walked past and asked again and the lady said they are coming. The owner said to her that she is occupying a table for 4 but the rest are still not here. The lady said again that they are coming, quickly ordered something and make a phone call again. Meanwhile, the owner walked a little away from the lady's table and purposely said it loud enough for the everyone to hear: "Sigh. Ordering only a 24 dollar tea set and occupying 4 seats - so difficult to do business". I can see the lady is embarrassed and make the phone call again and finally, a maid and 2 kids arrived and she looked relieved. The owner immediately ask one of the waiter to go over to take their order.
The lady obviously feeling embarrassed asked the children to order quickly. When the order came, they ate quickly and left.
Later, things got more explosive:
A man, his wife and son went into this restaurant. A waiter removed the "reserved" sign at a table and asked them to sit down. They were happy at their good fortune that they can get a table all to themselves and quickly look at the menu and ordered. They seem to be in a hurry.
Meanwhile, another man and his pregnant wife came in. A waiter directed them to a table to be shared with two other customers who are already. There was a side table with 4 seats but it has a reserved sign.
I can understand that the owner wants tables to be free in case there are more customers coming in - perhaps 4 in a group etc. Well, most local restaurant will do this. They may even asked you to move if you are just 1 person to may space for a bigger group. But of course, usually they ask politely and thank the customer for cooperating.
Anyway, the woman started to look up and around. She then asked a lady waiter if the air-cond can be adjusted. The lady waiter answered bluntly - "it's fixed and can't be adjusted". She then continued "you can move there but it's even more windy". A customer somewhere said something which I cannot hear. But the lady waiter then said loudly "other customers are complaining it's hot and you are complaining it is cold". The owner who is sitting at the cashier the loudly commented "our air-cond cannot adjust. asked you to move but you don't want to". The lady waiter shouted back across the restaurant "ai.. very difficult to please, already told her that she can move but she doesn't want to move"
Suddenly, the husband slam on the table - obviously getting very annoyed and announced in a loud voice "We are not going to eat", got up and said to the owner loudly "your staff has very bad attitude, we are going to leave".
The owner was quick to reply "you can leave but you must pay - you can take out". The man now obviously getting angry and said " OK take out. I'll pay. But look at your staff, your staff has such bad attitude". The lady waiter ran back out and said "what do you mean I have bad attitude. I already told her the air-cond cannot be adjusted and she doesn't want to move".
The man turned to the owner and said "look at your staff's attitude. this day how can staff have such bad attitude". At this time one other customer came up to the cashier and paid and I can only hear him said "... Lau Tak Wah ..." (Andy Lau). The owner smile and said "yeah Lau Tak Wah". The man took this opportunity and continuity to say in a loud voice to the owner " ... as Lau TAk Wah said on TV, how can we accept this kind of service this days". The owner then replied loudly "Don't make so much noise, you are disrupting my business. Call 999 if you want to complain. I'm not afraid as I have done nothing wrong".
The man angry at this reply said " It's a matter of your staff having bad attitude". The lady waiter came back out and said in a provoking voice "Ya, my attitude is bad. Sorry lor." - obviously in no sincere apologizing tone. This of course caused a reply from the man to say ' Look at you. Look at that attitude. It is better to keep quiet and to have made that unsincere apology." Turning to the owner he said "Look at your staff's attitude".
The owner said something and I can only hear the word "cemetry". The man quickly reply "Then I'll come back to look for you". The owner then said "It that a threat? Are you threatening me?"
The man didn't say anything - maybe he was considering if he did make a threat or not. By now the food is already packed the waiter came and said "here's your food. go and don't obstruct our business". The man took out his wallet to pay. The owner said "your wife has already paid. you don't know what you are doing. you are not thinking clearly".
The man put away his wallet and pick up the food to go. The man said "I was going to pay you double but you didn't want it". The owner replied "go away la, look at your hands - they are shaking. If you can't argue - don't". The man, woman and boy walked out with the food and the lady waiter shouted "beggars".
The man outside said someting to the woman and then throw the whole pack of food into the rubbish bin outside the restaurant.
If I were him, I won't eat the food either after a "fight". Who knows if the food contains something extra.
The owner continued and said " ordered that little food and expecting this and that. if you can affording it, go to a hotel la ..."
I won't expect very good service from a "Cha Chang Ting" but strange that this owner doesn't seem to value his customers. He could have calm the customer down early and stop all the trouble early with some polite words explaining that their air-cond system is not sophisticated and cannot be adjusted. I think the customer has sense that this is no 5-star Michelin restaurant. They are just trying to make a request. If the waiter or the owner answered nicely that it cannot be done, they would have not made such a scene.
Maybe the owner saw that the customer is willling to pay, so there is no loss, so he didn't bother to calm everyone down. He seems to want to provoke the customer.
He also didn't seem to care about his staff having good manners and value their customer's patronage. Maybe that was his daughter. Well, if the owner has bad attitude, how can we expect the staff to have a good attitude to the customer.
I have finished what I've eaten and quickly left. I am not interested hearing the owner and the waiters continue to talk about this incident loudly.
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