Customer complains AMK stall rejected her request to buy 1 drumstick, hawker explains it's to keep meats fresh

A customer and a roasted meats hawker got into a dispute over the latter's refusal to sell a single portion of drumstick, with the customer complaining that this restriction was unreasonable.

Customer's complaints

According to Shin Min Daily News, the customer took to social media to complain about her unpleasant experience at "Ho Bee Roasted Food", located at 628 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 4.

"Ho Bee Roasted Food" is a popular stall and often sees long queues.

According to the customer, she patronised the stall at around 2pm on Sunday (Nov. 8) with the intention of getting a single portion of drumstick.

She waited in line for some time, only for her request to be turned down by the hawker.

She also complained of the hawker's bad attitude.

The hawker had apparently told her that he wanted to sell portions of meat that were already sliced before cutting up new portions.

She found the hawker's explanation to be unreasonable.

"There were 15 to 20 whole ducks left. There's plenty to go around," she retorted.

She also retorted that it was not near closing time and there were other customers left in line, so the hawker should not have turned down her simple request.

Hawker's side of the story

Explaining his side of the story, the hawker, Lin Jian Zhong (transliteration), 60, emphasised to Shin Min that it was not that he refused to sell drumstick portions.

Instead, he had already opened for business for three hours and had accumulated seven to eight large portions of sliced duck meat waiting to be sold.

At that time, it was past the lunchtime rush.

Once he slices up a whole duck, the meat quality will start to change. After half an hour, the duck meat will turn dry, Lin explained.

As such, he was unwilling to slice up another whole duck just for the drumstick.

"In order to keep the meat fresh and preserve its juices, I turned down her request," the hawker said.

"I understand that many customers prefer drumsticks. However, there are only two legs per duck, if only three or four pieces without drumsticks are left unsold, I will definitely cut a new duck," he added.

Lin also clarified that he had spoken to the female customer nicely from start to end.

He added that she was waiting behind only three to four customers and was not sure how long she had waited.

"I explained to her nicely, but she retorted, 'Why won't you sell me a drumstick?' You're open till night, you should be able to sell out'," Lin recounted.

The customer left after several minutes.

Lin also said: "If there’s business I’ll definitely do it, and I wouldn’t deliberately keep it unsold."

Used to put up a sign

Lin has been running the stall for 26 years.

He pointed out that demand for drumsticks has increased over the past few days and that every now and then, he would run into customers who are displeased at being turned down

However, he noted these kinds of customers were rare.

Most customers are regulars who understand where he is coming from, Lin told Shin Min.

He also shared that he once had a sign informing customers about the temporary unavailability of drumsticks, about five to six years ago.

"I used to put up a sign, so customers won't be disappointed after waiting in line for a while," he explained.