Hawker in Lavender hurls expletives at diners for eating at vacant table he claims he uses all the time

Table manners.

Fasiha Nazren | April 29, 2022, 11:11 AM

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A video of a man chiding seated customers at a hawker centre has caused quite a stir on Facebook.

According to the post, the man is apparently a hawker from the food centre's vegetarian food stall.

Screenshot from Facebook.

In the two-minute video posted on Apr. 26, the man could be seen hurling Hokkien expletives and talking aggressively to the diners.

'Choped' table for hawker's use

The post added that the outburst allegedly happened as the diners were eating on two tables that he had apparently reserved permanently for his own use.

Screenshot from video.

Here's a quick translation of the incident, which was conversed in a mixture of Mandarin and Hokkien:

Hawker: I want to sit here, why can't I sit here? You don't understand is it?

Diner 1: You are working, why would you want to sit here?

Hawker: Why can't I sit down to eat biscuit? Miss, don't take any video. There's no use taking a video, I don't want to have any conflicts.

Diner 1: I'm also not fighting with you.

Hawker 1: I'm talking to you nicely, you can't sit here, it's for me to sit.

Diner 1: Why cannot sit?

Hawker: Go ask the government lah!

Asked hawker to have "good heart"

The hawker also accused the diners of removing his stuff from the table.

A second diner stepped in to assure him that they will leave as soon as they finish their meal.

She also said that he should be nicer, especially since he sells vegetarian food.

Diner 2: Don't mind him, just let him (the hawker) talk, he's a vegetarian food seller. If you're selling vegetarian food, you should have a good heart. We're going to finish our meal soon and we'll leave soon after. Don't worry, we are leaving soon. Your tone is not very nice also, asking us to remove the stuff from the table. You can sit her when we leave, we're not saying you can't sit here.

Diner 1: Do you sit here everyday?

At this point, the hawker started to lose his cool, uttering several Hokkien curse words that loosely translate to "I'm your grandfather" and "your mother's smelly nether regions".

Screenshot from video.

The video ended with the hawker walking off to his stall and the second diner telling the first diner to not mind what the hawker was saying.

This was after the hawker challenged the diners to settle the matter outside, with the suggestion that they can have duel instead if exchanging words cannot work.

Various reactions

The Facebook post has garnered a lot of reactions from online commenters.

Some observed that it is a norm for most hawkers to occupy a dining table or two for their own use.

Others, on the other hand, agreed that the hawker was in the wrong especially for using such language on customers.

Some hawker centres in Singapore have signs to remind hawkers that diners are at liberty to occupy any tables.

Top image screenshot from video.