Not only do delivery riders have to work through rain or shine, they have to deal with the occasional difficult customer.
One Foodpanda delivery rider, who goes by the name Chan Okada SJ on Facebook, shared one such encounter.
Asked rider to cancel order
Chan had accepted an delivery order of McDonald's from Bugis Village on the morning of Feb. 20.
He was about to head to the customer's location after picking up the food when the customer asked him to cancel the order, abruptly telling him "don't ask why".
Foodpanda riders are unable to cancel orders on the app, as there is no such option available, something which he explained to the customer via the chat function.
The customer however, did not take to this kindly, and told him to "ask your dispatch la dumb".
Photo from Chan Okada SJ / FB
She then proceeded to call him "sotong" several times.
Chan decided not to engage and eventually called the Foodpanda dispatcher to cancel the order.
Photo from Chan Okada SJ / FB
Speaking to Mothership, Chan explained that customers are typically the ones who cancel their orders, not riders.
There are no penalties if riders cancel the orders on their end.
However, the entire incident took around 30 minutes to resolve, which Chan said resulted in lost time that he could have used for carrying out other orders.
He said:
"This takes quite some time for the process to complete, depending on the chat traffic with the dispatchers. Which in turn, takes up rider’s time to continue with their order as they will be stuck there."
Facebook users sympathetic
Facebook commenters were largely sympathetic to Chan's plight, and praised him for his patience.
Some even said that he should have simply ate the food the customer had ordered.
Another commenter claimed he had encountered the same customer before.
Top photo from Chan Okada SJ / FB