‘Customers don’t pay to be your punching bag!’: Netizen calls out grumpy service staff and drivers

SINGAPORE: A netizen has recently sparked conversation online after reminding customer service staff and drivers that personal frustrations should never be taken out on the very people they are meant to serve.

In a post on a local forum, the individual wrote that “grumpy local employees or disgruntled non-local employees” who are unhappy with their work should simply quit or “leave their work to someone else” instead of taking it out on customers or passengers.

“Customers don’t pay to be affected by a bad attitude, unprofessional service, or a resentful face, and definitely not to be your punching bag,” the post read. “Why torture yourself and, in turn, torture your customers? It’s delightful to come across happy stallholders/friendly shopkeepers, drivers, etc.”

The netizen also asked, “Why must customers/passengers bear the brunt of your mistakes?”

“Honestly, it goes both ways. Just be decent.”

The post has since drawn strong reactions online, with several users sharing their own encounters with rude or unprofessional service staff.

One user said, “Yes, pay money to get a bad attitude. I was at a company D&D, and the non-local waitress was not interested in working. My colleague asked her to change the glass because of a lip mark. She insisted it was new and refused to change it, so she walked away.” 

“Next, when we confirmed our table would be just eight of us, we requested that she clear away two sets of cutlery so we could space out. Again, she refused with a grumpy face, ‘We don’t do that here.’ So we cleared it ourselves. It’s MBS, yo!”

Another shared, “Some taxi drivers. Oh my goodness, they are so spiteful even when you’re not doing anything wrong. Normally, I would just ignore them, but in some instances, they could be too much.”

Not all responses, however, sided entirely with the netizen. Some argued that courtesy and professionalism should go both ways. One user commented, “Honestly, it goes both ways. Just be decent…regardless of your job or stakeholder status (customer, supplier, seller, etc.).”

In other news, a man’s unfiltered list of dating “deal breakers” has sparked a fiery debate online after he openly declared the physical traits that would immediately disqualify a woman from his interest.

Posting on a local forum, the man laid out his criteria in painstaking detail, insisting that he would not date women with short hair, larger body types, or what he bluntly described as “ugly feet.”

Read more: ‘She can’t be fatter than myself’: Singapore man’s dating deal breakers slammed online