A tourist complained on social media that she was accused of "stealing" when she took two pairs of disposable chopsticks from a steamed fish stall, which she didn't buy food from, in Maxwell Food Centre.

The stall owner clarified during media interviews that he felt insulted when the tourist offered to pay for the chopsticks after he confronted them.

Bought chicken rice but took chopsticks from steamed fish stall

The tourist said in her Xiaohongshu post that she was at Maxwell Food Centre on Christmas Day with her boyfriend and had ordered Hainanese chicken rice from a stall.

However, she didn't want to use the forks provided by the stall and decided to take the chopsticks from the neighbouring "Fish Village" stall instead.

She thought she could do the same as she did at Changi Airport where she claimed the disposable cutleries were shared between stalls.

'Is it a crime to take chopsticks?': Tourist

The tourist claimed that the stall owner angrily stormed over, demanding they return the chopsticks.

She said they had already started using them, so they offered to buy the chopsticks instead, but the owner refused.

She claimed she offered to buy something from his stall and thought the stall owner would then "cave in" to letting them use the chopsticks.

Instead, beyond what she expected, the tourist said the stall owner started shouting at them and threatened to report them to the police for stealing his chopsticks.

"Is it a crime in Singapore to take disposable chopsticks?" she concluded with the question in her post.

Tourists showed rude and insulting behaviour: Hawker

In interviews with Shin Min Daily News (Shin Min) and 8world, the stall owner, surnamed Lin (hanyu pinyin), said that he and his wife were busy serving customers when they saw a man in his 20s take the chopsticks before swiftly leaving.

"I was angry that he just took the chopsticks without even asking. That's stealing!" he told 8world.

Lin added that it was "not about the money" but said it was their "rude behaviour".

He told Shin Min that he approached the pair to tell them that each stall's cutlery at the food centre is meant for their own customers.

Lin claimed that the pair didn't apologise but immediately replied, "How much is it? I'll pay you".

He said he felt "insulted" by their attitude of "thinking money could solve the problem".

He also admitted that he was so angry he didn't control his words.

Not a rare occasion

"I've had quite a few diners who patronised other stalls but took handfuls of disposable chopsticks from our stall. All these cost money and cut into my stall's operating costs," Lin told 8world.

After the incident, he and his wife have considered putting up a notice to remind customers not to take cutlery if they aren't buying from the stall.

Other hawkers at Maxwell Food Centre told Shin Min that they've also encountered customers taking their cutlery without buying from their stall.

One stall owner said this happens twice to three times a week for her.

Another stall owner, surnamed Lee, said he observed that they were usually tourists.

"Perhaps it's because they don't know our local practice. I will remind them if they take too much," Lee added.

Top image from Desmond Koh / Google.