Mum complains AMK hawker made daughter, 13, buy S$3 instead of S$2 fishball noodles, but girl didn't say her order after being asked 4 times

The hawker accused of selling the more expensive portion has responded.

Belmont Lay | December 13, 2021, 05:27 PM

A woman took to the Complaint Singapore Facebook page to accuse a hawker in Ang Mo Kio of selling her daughter the bigger and more expensive S$3 portion of fishball noodles despite the S$2 option being available.

In response, the hawker at 409 AMK Market And Food Centre told a Shin Min Daily News reporter that the accusation that she was trying to literally make a quick buck off the 13-year-old girl was not right.

Based on the initial post on social media, many who read the mother's account were of the view that the hawker acted in an unscrupulous manner.

The incident is believed to have occurred on Dec. 9.

What happened, according to hawker

In response to queries by the Shin Min reporter on Dec. 10, the person in charge of the stall at the hawker centre, a 44-year-old woman whose surname is Tay, said she tried to ask the girl about her order four times.

Instead, the hawker was met with silence from the customer.

The hawker said: "I asked the girl four times, but the girl didn’t answer, and appeared guarded and quiet. So, I cooked a S$3 portion."

The hawker then tried to clarify after cooking to make sure it was the correct order.

The hawker said: "Afterwards, I brought out the fishball noodles and the girl wanted to pay S$2. I asked again if she wanted to change it to S$2 portion, but the girl still did not respond, and took out a S$5 amount to make payment."

Mother confronted hawker

After the bowl of noodles was served, the girl walked back to her mother and said she paid S$3 for the food instead of S$2.

The mother and daughter were apparently seated within earshot of the hawker, who was then prompted to step forward to clarify that the portion served was a S$3 serving and not that the child was overcharged.

However, this explanation failed to placate the mother, who told the hawker off.

Not wanting to engage in a dispute, the hawker walked back to the stall.

Shin Min reported that the noodles stall has been operating in the Ang Mo Kio hawker centre for 10 years.

The S$2 fishball noodles comes with five fishballs, while the S$3 portion comes with eight fishballs.

A case of miscommunication

Speaking to Shin Min, the hawker said the incident boiled down to miscommunication.

And despite this unsavoury incident and even though the mother and daughter appeared to be new customers, the hawker said she welcomes them back.

The original Facebook post that complained about the stall appeared to have been deleted.

All photos via Shin Min Daily News