I feel compelled to write about the treatment of most service based local staffs after twice experiencing what I perceive as tantamount to abuse at dr. CAFE, CityHall Interchange Mall.
After parking my car at the mall last Wednesday, I decided to head for some nice coffee and chanced upon dr. CAFE after one of its staff "enticed" me with his display sampling of some "cookie frappe". As I felt it was tasty and the interior very inviting, I purchased one of it and chilled at the comfy seating. The staff concerned then proceeded to check if the place was clean after tidying up and threw some rubbish at the closest bin while also clearing those that had fallen by the side. An Indian cleaner of the mall saw what this Eurasian boy with blond looking hair did and gave him a good dressing down. She was ranting away to the tune of also wanting him to lose his job after escalating the matter to her CapitalMall management. His superior repeatedly apologised to her but she refused to be pacified. I don't know what happened after as I still saw the same two working yesterday which leads me to the second incident.
They were running the store by themselves as usual when two of their managers appeared to spot-check on them. What followed after really disgusted me to want to stop patronising this chain in favour of Coffeebean which hire even handicapped persons and treat their staffs far better. The manager begin raining them with explicit vulgarities after picking on minute issues which to me as a customer, makes no difference at all so long as the beverages and food are good and hygienic. I pity the staffs as they have to tirelessly serve demanding customers and endure verbal diarrhea by their management committee all with a smile.
This story is about the plight of many Singaporean Service Staffs who brave not only ungracious foreign and local customers but also an uncaring and capitalistic management who will always side with patrons.
Following my email to the site, I received another feedback of how staffs from this similar outlet located at Star Vista have to endure exploitations from church goers on Sunday with a "holy bible" in their hand while lecturing dr. CAFE staffs who do not meet their expectations.
Roman Tan
Contributions