SINGAPORE — After a customer reportedly berated the staff of a pizzeria on Owen Road, the establishment’s management posted a “serious note” on its Instagram and Facebook pages, saying it will not tolerate any abuse toward its workers.
Chooby Pizza wrote on its post that the incident occurred on Friday (Jan 6). Screenshots of the exchanges between the restaurant and the customer were also posted, as well as a poor review from the customer.
After the customer, said to be a foreign male, was late for his 8 pm reservation, the restaurant staff telephoned at 8:30 to say that the last orders were being collected. The customer grew upset, saying he had been in Singapore for six years, and it was the first time he had had such an “awful” experience.
He explained that because he was putting his baby to bed, they could not show up at 8 pm and that they usually go out after the baby sleeps at around 8:30 or 8:45 pm.
“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,” the customer said.
The customer also called the incident an “absolute disgrace” and a “big disappointment,” adding that he hoped the restaurant would “not charge me for no show while you were the ones rejecting us.”
Chooby Pizza responded by reminding the customer that he admitted to being a no-show 30 minutes after his reservation and did not let them know he would be late.
“As a courtesy, our staff contacted you to check if we could help by taking your order before we closed the kitchen for the night,” the pizzeria wrote back, adding, “Our staff too have babies and their families waiting for them at home. It is our responsibility to ensure that they finish their day timely to return home.”
However, when Chooby Pizza wrote, “If your foreign norms and expectations do not align with those here, it is only respectful to adapt and realign them here,” it angered the customer further.
He replied, “Thanks for your racist comment I will let everybody know how bad you people are in this shop and I hope you’ll close shop soon,” the customer replied. “1 more minute and you tell me to go back to my country. People like you are the shame of Singapore.”
The pizzeria declined to return the customer’s $30 deposit, while the customer left a bad review on Facebook, which seems to have been deleted now.
Chooby Pizza has stood firm by its staff and decisions, writing, “I believe we should all be able to work in an environment free from any form of abuse however big or small. Any tolerance against such behaviour would mean being indifferent to the well-being of our staff. We will always call out such behaviour and urge our colleagues in the industry to do the same. The aim is not to shame but in hope that we can have the basic respect we all deserve.”
The posts have since been widely shared, with many netizens expressing sympathy toward F&B workers.
/TISG