If you’ve ever eaten out before at a food court, you will see several hawker stalls providing disposable utensils for customers to take as much as they need.
However, several pairs of disposable chopsticks became a source of dispute between a customer and a hawker in Singapore, where the former was accused of theft for taking the chopsticks without permission.
Gets confronted for taking disposable chopsticks without asking
In a Xiaohongshu post shared on Dec 27, the customer wrote that she and her boyfriend went to the Maxwell Food Centre on Christmas for lunch, where they ordered Hainanese chicken rice.
However, they were unable to get utensils from the stall itself so they took two pairs of disposable chopsticks from the next stall. To her surprise, the owner of the stall stormed towards her and demanded that she return the chopsticks.
Since we had already used it, I offered to pay back the cost of the chopsticks, but he refused and insisted on getting the chopsticks back.
“We didn’t want to create a scene during the busy lunch hour so we offered to buy something from his stall. Instead, he became angrier and threatened to call the police on us.”
At the end of the post, the OP wondered whether she had done something illegal by taking the disposable chopsticks as she wasn’t familiar with Singapore’s laws.
‘Taking things without asking is stealing!’
When 8world News went to the stall to get the other side of the story, the owner named Lin recounted that he and his wife were busy operating the stall when a man in his 20s rushed to his stall and left.
It turned out that he came to take the chopsticks and left. Of course I was angry because he took my things without asking me and that’s stealing!
“Worse part was, the couple never offered an apology when I confronted them but instead offered to pay for the chopsticks.
“To me, it’s not a matter of money. It’s extremely rude to take other people’s things without asking,” he said.
As for the couple claiming to offer to buy food from his stall, Lin denied it ever happened and added he didn’t call the police but merely told them that they could “report the theft to the police”.
In the end, Lin said he finally got the chopsticks back after the couple finished their meal and returned to the stall to resume the dispute.
Not the first time
According to Lin, this isn’t the first time customers patronising other stalls have taken large amounts of disposable chopsticks from his stall, all of which he has to bear the costs for.
But, he also conceded that stopping customers from using chopsticks from other stalls was the solution as it would only contribute to the impression that Singaporean hawkers were stingy.
This is not a question of how much the chopsticks cost. It is a matter of principles and manners. How can anyone take advantage of others?
“To prevent such incidents from happening, my wife and I are considering to put a sign at the stall warning customers not to take the utensils as they please,” he said.
What do you think of Lin’s explanation? Let us know in the comments!
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