In a now much-shared Aug 3 post on Facebook, one man wrote that a hairdresser told him he didn’t want to cut his hair if he would not speak Chinese to him.
“SORRY TO SAY. This is my first time that I felt like i’m a foreigner in my own country.”
Mr Abdul Salam Salim also posted a photo of the barbershop, which is called QC House.
“Went to have a simple hair cut at this shop today. Hair dresser is a Chinese national man. Insisted that he didn’t want to cut my hair if I couldn’t speak chinese with him.
So had an argument with him for a few minute.
Die die keep telling me to speak chinese with him if not he didn’t want to cut my hair.
Told him nicely in a basic english ‘just cut short okay already.’”
He even showed the man a photo of the “basic” haircut he wanted, but the barber still asked him to leave the shop.
“I stand firm with him that I’m not leaving until he get my hair done,” Mr Abdul added.
The hairdresser relented but appeared to be unhappy about it.
“End up cut my hair with a black face. Thank you for the 5 star service,” the poster, who AsiaOne reports is a 33-year-old massage therapist, wrote.
“Everyone deserves to be treated equally in this country, and I will not let any foreigner bully the locals, that’s why I chose to be firm with him,” he told AsiaOne.
Mr Abdul’s story has been shared on the COMPLAINT Singapore page, where many commenters said that those who are in service professions should at least learn basic English.
“We are multi-racial here n if he insists on Chinese only, he should not be one of us,” wrote one commenter.
Another pointed out, “How can that hairdresser expect you to speak Chinese also, absurd.”
And while one netizen tried to excuse the man’s behaviour by saying the barber’s lack of English skills could cause communication problems, others refused to accept this.
/TISG