A shopper felt “immense pressure” looking at items in a kids’ toy store after allegedly being told by staff not to touch items.
“I’m not opening any packaging, plastic wrapper, just hold and see only,” explained a Facebook group Complaint Singapore member on Saturday (Aug 27).
She was shopping at Happy Kiddy at Toa Payoh Interchange when the incident happened.
“I do understand no one wants to buy things that look old on the shelf; I’m not doing anything that depreciates the value of the product,” said the concerned individual.
“And this happens every time I step foot here, very sian.” The original poster added that the items were also overpriced, as regular stickers were S$3.90 a piece.
It appears that this was not an isolated incident as others have also been told not to touch anything by the store staff.
“Yah…This shop which is located in Toa Payoh bus interchange, has been there for many years,” said Facebook user Julie Lei.
“No business one but can survive many years one. The staff there seems not happy to serve customers whenever (I) step in. They seem like feeling you have been intruding their privacy. I feel funny whenever I pass by as they would visually pressure you until you left. I thought I’m being sensitive, but somebody here also felt it. Lol.”
One Geraldine Soh used to be a regular at the shop but stopped patronising it after similar treatment from the staff. “Not sure if it’s still the same staff, but ya, when you touch a single thing, there will be eyes looking at you. At times, you will hear, ‘Don’t touch, don’t open, or don’t pull.'”
“They better close their physical shop and go online. Too many restrictions like we are in a museum,” advised Facebook user Min Yi.
Meanwhile, there were a few who did not experience such behaviour from the store staff.
“You must be damn lucky. I went there. I touched, asked price, didn’t buy and walked off. No one said anything even after I repeated the same old process,” said a netizen.
Perhaps shoppers need to time their visit to avoid such warnings from the staff./TISG