A condominium security guard was seen throwing a customer's bubble tea delivery order on the ground, after the delivery rider left it on a chair at the guardhouse.
This apparently took place on Sep. 15, at the Central View condominium complex in Hougang, at about 4:40pm, according to a video recorded from the delivery rider's point of view and uploaded to the SG Road Vigilante YouTube channel.
The incident appears to have stemmed from the customer not indicating their unit number for the delivery address, and being uncontactable when the delivery rider arrived.
The video was taken from inside the condominium complex's gate.
The delivery rider wanted to leave the customer's order at the guardhouse for the customer to pick up.
However, the security guard grabbed the bag of drinks and, pointing outside the gantry, can be heard saying: "I throw ah? Put here I throw already ah."
"Guardhouse cannot put"
The rider calmly told the guard not to throw away the order.
The security guard replied: "Guardhouse cannot put! Understand or not?"
The rider then told the security guard that he had sent the customer a text message telling them to collect the order from the guardhouse.
Screenshot from SG Road Vigilante/YouTube.
The security guard then gestured to the rider that he was about to throw the drinks:
The rider then explained to the security guard that he had already tried contacting the customer.
"I call the person, the person never pick up, I ask the person [for their] unit number, the person never give unit number," the rider said.
The security guard then shouted, "Wait for the person to come ah!"
The security guard continued insisting he would throw the drink.
"Throw you responsible ah, I tell you nicely," the rider can be heard saying, explaining that the customer had paid for the drinks.
The rider can also be seen slowly backing off from the guardhouse during the exchange.
The rider repeated his explanation to the security guard, but the security guard replied: "That's your problem!"
"I call, the customer never pick up," the rider insisted.
The security guard then said: "That is his problem, not my problem. Understand or not?"
The rider then said: "Sir, you cannot throw ah."
Just as the rider finished his sentence, the security guard tossed the bag at the rider, causing the contents of the drinks to spill out onto the road:
GIF from SG Road Vigilante/Facebook.
An awkward silence ensued, as the pearls and milk tea rolled out of the plastic cups onto the road.
Against regulations
A Shin Min Daily News reporter went down to the scene to speak with the security guard on Sep. 16.
The guard told the reporter that he did not want to throw away the milk tea, but the delivery man had repeatedly ignored his warnings making him furious.
"This is not in compliance with (the management office's) regulations, and for safety reasons, I can't let him leave the goods anywhere he wants," the guard said.
The security guard added that he would be more cautious in the future and would not even let delivery riders enter the condominium complex if they did not know the exact delivery address.
Grab protocol
Based on the order receipt seen in the video, the drinks appear to have been ordered via GrabFood.
According to the GrabFood guide for delivery riders, riders who cannot locate the right delivery address must call the customer and chat with them through the Grab Driver App.
If the customer remains uncontactable after at least three calls and is not responding via chat, and the rider has waited for at least 5 minutes after the chat or call attempt, there are a few things the rider can do.
If it is a cash booking, they can contact Grab's hotline for assistance.
If it is a cashless booking, Grab's guide instructs them to take photos of the attempted calls and messages as proof of contact, leave the food at a safe place, and take a photo of the food left at the safe place as evidence to send via chat to the consumer.
Examples of safe places provided by the Grab guide include a reception area, guardhouse, grille, shoe rack, and chair.
If there's no safe place to leave the food, riders are instructed to dispose of the food.
They are also instructed to send a photo of food disposal if the customer requests it.
Top photo from SG Road Vigilante/YouTube.