Singapore – A hawker centre customer witnessed a tired stall owner resting beside a table and provided her with a gentle pat on the back as encouragement and appreciation for all the hard work.
One Jane Lee took to Facebook page Can Eat! Hawker Food to share a touching experience and to urge the public to be more considerate towards hawkers.
Ms Lee visited Holland Drive Market & Food Centre on Sept 22 for a late lunch and saw a hawker slumped over a table.
“I can’t help it but to go over to give her a gentle pat at her back, can tell she is really exhausted,” wrote Ms Lee.
“So please don’t go bargain with your hawkers; the amount of work for a plate of Nasi Padang is literally blood and sweat,” she added.
Ms Lee highlighted coming across customer comments and complaints regarding the more expensive price of Padang compared to Cai Peng.
She also gave a shoutout to Shima’s Kitchen, noting that the food is “truly out of this world, full of spices, bursting with flavours.”
Members from the online community agreed that being a hawker was not an easy job.
“Behind all these fantastic foods we are having are all real hard work,” said Facebook user Henry Tan.
“Sometimes, some soothing words from a stranger does comfort the tiredness. Not easy being a hawker, long hours, stand the whole day,” added Facebook user Fedrick Ng.
A netizen provided a word of caution when patronising the particular stall.
“Maybe because of their rush to move the queue, they might tend to undercharge. So guys, when the total seems a little low, do ask them to calculate,” said Facebook user Love Jungkook./TISG
Read related: KF Seetoh questions why the 34 hawker centres are being closed “as they struggle to fend for themselves”