A man reached out to The Independent Singapore after an incident at Hawker Centre at Our Tampines Hub.
He felt that he had been ganged up on by some employees at the hawker centre, and subsequently filed a police report.
The letter-writer, who has asked to remain anonymous, said that the incident occurred on March 10 at around 9:30 pm.
When he was there, he saw an acquaintance, whom he described as a Chinese man in his 70s, who was working at a coffee stall.
The letter-writer then approached the Chinese man and told him that “a lady,” who is also allegedly a staff at the stall, had said he is “an idiot.”
When asked why he felt compelled to say this to his acquaintance, he simply said that his relations with the woman and a few others working there had “soured” and that the woman “frequently demonised” that man.
At first, the Chinese man seemed undisturbed and told the letter-writer, “don’t be bothered with it.”
But as the letter-writer was walking away, the Chinese man “raised his voice and said, ‘go f**k yourself.”
The letter-writer then sat down for a while, but later went back to the stall where the Chinese man was and told him in return, “you go f**k yourself.”
However, the Chinese man then took the metal rod used for pulling down the gate of the stall and proceeded to bang loudly on the basin counter multiple times.
And when the letter-writer began to walk away, the Chinese man ran outside as well, still holding the metal rod.
At one point, when the letter-writer turned to look back, he saw that the Chinese man was not following him.
The letter-writer then went to an area where there were more people “to ensure safety.”
But some friends of the Chinese man, “a night shift cleaner and a fish ball stall staff, demanded that” the letter-writer “leave immediately.”
However, the letter-writer did not leave but spoke to a manager who was sitting nearby. The manager told the letter-writer he could eat there, which he proceeded to do.
But one of the friends of the Chinese man, the night shift cleaner, took a photo of the letter-writer and told him in Mandarin, “since you like to take pics, now, i taking a pic of you.”
And when the letter-writer asked the cleaner if there was a problem, the cleaner blamed the letter-writer, as he “was siding his friend.”
After the incident, he filed a police report.
The letter-writer told TISG that he felt “bullied” and “outnumbered.”
On March 15, a representative from Fair Price Customer Service Team responded to the letter-writer with an apology, saying that the staff involved had already been spoken to. They also said that they would increase its frequency in monitoring the area.
The letter-writer received the following response from a Ms Pauline Tan, who is with Food Services of Fair Price Customer Service Team.
/TISG