Service. The word instantly bring about pictures of smiling faces, laughing voices and an all around good feeling. Right? WRONG! A few things have happened to me in the last few days which I need to tell you about for the sake of your own safety. Lest you expect better from these places and get your heart broken.
Lets start with the little confectionary/bread shoppe at Yishun MRT. It was called something else before and I cannot remember what. But now, it has undergone renovation and is called...... You ready?....... "Thousand Taste." On the scale of dumb names. This ranks pretty high. So I go into "Thousand Taste" expecting the bread experience of my life. I bought my favourite, the vintage tuna bun. I placed two on my tray, looked at them lovingly and went over to the counter for payment. I pay $3 and step outside. As soon as I'm out, I take a bite. A rather large bite. TUNA BUN MY FUCKING BALLS! The bun was the size of my hand. The amount of tuna in it, was the size of a bottle cap. Yes yes, I am exaggerating a little but trust me. There was so little tuna in there I was left feeling like a fool. And I do not like feeling like a fool. Look, I know some of you are gonna say, "The fuck did you expect for $1.50?" I expected a lot more thats what. If you need to charge me $2, or even $2.50 to make a better damn bun, do it! But don't make your customers feel like you just cheated them. I'm never going there again. The feeling of being made a fool of is not a nice one.
Next up on this service agenda. This restaurant called Shiu Yakiniku. Ok what happened here was someone bought a Groupon voucher and had a really bad experience at the restaurant, and put it on Stomp. Now things on stomp are really one-sided and you will never know the full story. Here's the link for the complaint.
http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/stomp/sgseen/got_service_or_not/906460/we_dine_at_restaurant_with_groupon_voucher_but_get_treated.html
Like I said, we really can't judge this one as one can say anything on Stomp and get away with it. Just the nature of the platform. But what we CAN judge is the response the restaurant gave. Also through Stomp. Here's the link for the response.
http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/stomp/sgseen/got_service_or_not/909724/patrons_who_dined_using_groupon_voucher_werent_treated_like_dirt.html
You know when you write a response letter to a complaint, you would think the most important thing was placating the disgruntled customer and also preserving the sullied name of your establishment. Not here. Whoever wrote this letter went into battle to refute each point the customer brought up. Shields out, swords drawn. This is the way you write a response to a complaint? It achieved nothing. It made every one who read it feel that the restaurant had no class. No class. Multiple commenters on Stomp said they would never step into this restaurant. Was that the aim of your letter? To push your name further into the mud? Where's the service?
Lastly, on this rather long post which is not a waste of time because YOU need to know about these places. I was sick on sunday night. Which was the eve of Chinese New Year. I went to the clinic in Sembawang MRT. Guess what. Consultation charge alone WITHOUT medicine. $80. WHAT THE BLOODY FUCK??!! How can they do this? Are they living in their own little make believe society? How can a DOCTOR do that? People are sick. Everywhere else is closed. So what if you're the only one open? Is that how a doctor thinks? That fucking heartbreaking man. So no, I didn't see the doctor. And I was sick until Wednesday. And I had to miss a day of work. One of the lines in the classic Hippocratic Oath states that, "I will keep them from harm and injustice." I don't think that fee was justice.
So there it is.
1. Put tuna in tuna buns.
2. Respond to complaints with heart. Not your sword. Which in this case was blunt as fuck.
3. In certain professions, when you make it all about money, you look like a very bad person.
