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A hawker stall assistant was yelled at after she refused to give more bowls to a group of customers.

The stall's owner, Foo Choong Lim, put up a Facebook post on March 10 to recount the incident, as provided to him by his assistant, and sought the public's understanding.

He shared with Mothership that he has been a hawker for 20 years and also has another stall at the Chong Pang market in Yishun.

The hawker assistant, a 65-year-old woman, is his mother's friend.

The incident took place at Foo's other dessert stall at a hawker centre in Ang Mo Kio.

What happened?

According to Foo, the incident, which took place earlier in the day at around noon, started when a female customer ordered two bowls of dessert for S$3.60 and asked for an extra bowl.

She was with a group of peers, that included men and women, and she helped herself to "many" disposable spoons.

Subsequently, another person from the same group approached the stall and ask for four more empty bowls.

But the hawker assistant, who Foo hired to run his stall, rejected the request as there was a limited number of bowls and spoons that the stall has for the day.

Instead, the assistant then offered takeaway bowls at S$0.20 each.

However, the group allegedly started yelling at the assistant.

According to his assistant, Foo claimed the customers who appeared to be in their 30s, then got up and stood in front of the stall to yell and "shame" his assistant for a few minutes.

"No one does business like this," they allegedly kept shouting.

The group even demanded the contact number of the person-in-charge and Foo then received a call from one person in the group subsequently.

Foo said he got a call but was told a “twisted version of the incident”.

He claimed the customer also threatened to make his stall “famous” on social media.

Difficulties faced by hawkers

"The main reason for me writing this is really to explain the difficulties we face in operating as a hawker," Foo wrote in the post.

He said there is "very limited space" in the stall to keep bowls and spoons.

The "only feasible time" for hawkers to wash the dishes is after the stall has closed and it can take about two hours to clean up.

He added that the customers paid S$3.60 and asked for extra five bowls, which meant the stall had to wash seven bowls to make that amount of money.

Foo also highlighted how low the prices of the dishes served are, and if all the bowls are used up, the stall had to give out takeaway containers "which will cut deeply into our profit".

Takeaway containers are priced at S$0.20 each.

"Please when making request, for extra chopsticks, chili, bowl, sauces plate etc, please take what you need and request only what is reasonable," Foo urged.

He also said "all the bullying we may encounter when we refuse is really depressing".

Reactions

Many of the commenters on Foo's post commiserated with the hawker.

One even advised him to put up a sign to alert patrons that they can get more utensils if they do not mind paying.

Other hawkers have also commented on the incident and shared their own experience.

One fellow hawker said he once encountered a family of six who ordered one bowl of dessert and requested for five extra bowls.

Moreover, prices for takeaway containers have increased over the years, he lamented.

Other commenters, however, shared their less than ideal experiences when requesting for extra bowls from hawkers.

One customer recounted asking for an extra bowl from a stall that sells noodles, but the hawker behaved curmudgeonly and scolded the customer.

Top image via Google Images.