A netizen who goes by Kuan Kuan on Facebook appeared to be nostalgic for Singapore’s good old hawker days “when hawkers can provide food at every corner of Singapore.”
He posted his “lament” over how times have changed for hawkers and their customers over the years in a post on Complaint Singapore Facebook page on Saturday (Sept 17).
“I miss the days when hawkers can provide food at every corner of Singapore. So convenient. Then they started to control n move hawkers into Food courts so they can manage them n prevent all of us from eating bad food,” he wrote.
He added that also misses the time when “hawkers manage their own plates, forks n spoons.”
Back then, they “protected” their plates and utensils color-coding or marking everything, and would “rush” to clear these when customers finished their food so they could get them back.
“They will hire their own cleaner to clean their plates forks n spoon. All tables were immediately cleared of plates forks n spoons. All cleaned properly,” he wrote.
But things changed when this part of operations were turned over to food court management “all in the name of economies of scale.”
He added, “All hawkers have standard plates forks n spoons. Then nobody became interested in cleaning or ‘protecting’ their plates forks n spoons anymore.”
But after this came the point when “Nobody became interested in clearing tables or washing plates forks n spoon except for hired cleaners.”
Mr Kuan Kuan then complained that tables were left unclean with utensils were left on the table, and even when they were washed, they were “not properly cleaned n always wet.”
“Nobody was motivated to clear n clean tables anymore .. why ? Because the economies of scale became a reduction of cost – poorly paid n lack of staff .. resulted in even the cleaners also don’t want to clear table on their fixed pay,” he added.
He also seemed to find fault withe new laws that “force customers to clear their own plates for who – the food court management who now save cost of clearing.”
This, he wrote, was not a win for hawkers, whose costs have gone up.
Neither is it a win for customers, he added,
“Customers do not win too – looks like we just got scammed with no reduction of price n now must clean n clear table …
Winners are – for you to decide..”
Netizens commenting on his post were puzzled about the point the poster was making about customers clearing tables themselves after they eat.
Others encouraged him to “move on with the times.”
But others seemed to agree with the poster on the points he had raised.
/TISG