Eat here or take away?

Well, I have waited very long to write this post as I was convinced by my Mum that this person's service is due to his character and that we should be more forgiving.

Forgiving or not, I think bad service is bad service. It's no excuse. Where am I talking about? I am talking about the Han's at Novena Square. I usually eat a late dinner there and this Filipino guy at the cashier is not one of the most polite person in the world. There is no discrimination intended here. I am just reporting as the situation unveils. Today, if it were a local who has given bad service, I would have wrote it down as it is.

The very first time that I felt that this guy's service was not good, was when my Mum ordered vegetarian bee hoon about a month or so ago. She is Chinese-educated and has a little difficulty speaking English, let alone decipher accents.

After she has ordered, this guy asked her, "Eat here or take away?" His voice was loud but because in his environment, it was necessary. I heard him speak the first time, but even I could not really make out what he was saying.

My mum said, "Huh?" and he repeated his question in that same monotonous tone and in his own accent. I do not blame anyone for having an accent but a person with the slightest idea of an average service standard would realise that the customer does not understand and he/she may need to slow down or change the way that he/or she was asking the customer.

He repeated his question a third time, without any "would you" or whatsoever and finally, my poor Mum got what he was trying to get at and told him that she was eating in. You know, it was rude, a little humiliating and unnecessary. Luckily my mum had a thick skin. If it were me, I would be so embarrassed that I would have flipped or given him a piece of my mind. Then again, I might be a little too thin-skinned. Haha!

The second incident came about a week ago. I had a late dinner with Mum again. This time, another lady (she seems like the maitre d'hotel as, unlike others, she was wearing black) took my order. But she went back to her station (as I read their body languages), which was the coffee station and allowed that guy to take over his station, which was the cashier.

He did not look up to acknowledge my presence or give me any sign to ask me to wait. He was too engrossed with some previous receipt at the cashier, even as I held out the money for him. The maitre d'hotel had to tell him the price of my dish (which was turkey ham set meal) before he keyed in and took my money without so much as a word of thank you.

The last straw came when my Mum could not finish her fried rice and I had gone to the counter to ask him to pack it up for me. I went to the counter, smiling and asked whether he could pack "this" (the plate of fried rice) up for me. He took the plate and told his staff "da bao, da bao". I went back to my seat.

Now I know Han's is a no frills, value-for-money place for Western cuisine. Most of the time, it is a self-service place. I had thought that packing the food up would take some time and had gone back to my seat to wait. Instead of calling me when the food was packed, I had to peer to see whether it was ready.

I saw this packet at the coffee station and not being sure, went to ask him whether that was my packet. I was still all-smiles and politeness, but what did the guy do? He was counting some receipts or other, did not life his head up and just used his hands to point in the direction of my packed food.

I do not know about you. If it was dry humour, I did not find it funny at all. If you tell me he was shy, then I would tell him not to work in this line. I was totally flabbergasted by his action and did not know what to say.

Yes, Han's is a no-frills (now) not-so-cheap place to eat, andthey have never known to have good service but curt questions and replies. But I think that basic service standards should be met.

I do not even need a smile. How about some eye contact? I do not even need you to say a "please" or "thank you". How about giving me the right tone of voice and body language? If it was not for the fact that they open till 12 midnight I would not have eaten there.

That said, there are other Han's that have better service and their food remains OK. Don't expect to eat like you were at Jack's Place, but to me, it is still comfort food whenever it is needed. Their Hor Fun is exceptionally nice too, but with service like that, it really discounts the whole eating experience and I would think twice about going there.