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A heated argument turned physical between the owners of a hawker stall and a customer, which led to the police being called to the scene at Ayer Rajah Food Centre along West Coast Drive.
The scuffle took place on Nov. 30 during the busy lunch hour.
In a video of the incident circulating online, a couple was seen arguing with a man in black, understood to be a hawker centre patron.
Standing by the stall, the older man was caught on camera pointing at the man in black saying: "Stop swearing!"
The video also showed the older woman closely following the customer, the two in a heated argument.
She repeatedly shouted, "If you scold me again, I'll beat you again!"
The man in black put his hands behind his back and shouted loudly: "Scold ah! Scold ah!"
Man stood in front of the stall while queuing
The other stall owners at the food centre told Shin Min Daily News the woman ended up slapping the man.
The conflict started when the man, who was a patron, happened to stand in front of the couple's cai png (economy rice) stall while in line to queue up for the neighbouring chicken rice stall.
The person who uploaded the video said the man moved forward and tried not to get in the way of those queuing at the cai png stall after getting scolded by the older man.
However, the couple did not let the matter go and continued to scold the patron.
Fed up, he started swearing at them.
From there, things escalated and the three individuals only calmed down when police officers arrived at the scene to mitigate matters.
Man hurled insults in Hokkien
The woman, 56-year-old Wu Ming Zhu (names in hanyu pinyin), told Shin Min that the man was blocking her customers.
"My husband told him to queue properly, but he wouldn't listen," she said.
According to her, when her husband reminded him again, the man insulted him many times in Hokkien.
Filled with anger, the woman stepped forward and slapped him.
"Later, he also called the police. Before he left, he kept giving us the middle finger. I admit I went too far by slapping him, but I won't apologise. After all, he was the one who started it."
The other stall owners told the Shin Min reporter that the cai png couple are often seen scolding customers from other stalls, and have been in numerous conflicts with many of the other stall owners.
The pair have been working at the food centre for more than 20 years, but not many stalls are on friendly terms with them.
One stall owner said: "During peak hours, there are really a lot of people and it is hard for customers to avoid getting in the way of other stalls when queuing. Sometimes when the customers from my neighbouring stall block my customers, I will talk to the stall owner nicely and they will cooperate."
Top images via Shin Min Daily News.