Customer is king, not!

Our dinner over the weekend was a pleasant one. When he set his eyes on the cherub, our chirpy Chinese server quipped, '真是个漂亮的小姑娘!'

I had to beam at the remark. Not because someone thinks favourably of my playful darling. Ok, that too. It's just how the way he put it: terribly old-fashioned and yet so very endearing. Never mind if there is any truth in it or not.

Each time he passed us by, he would make friendly comments like, '怎么啦?不让妈妈吃饭啊?' His warm and attentive disposition is a welcome change from the usual malevolent and disagreeable temperament which is the Cantonese server or ex-server, at least I hope.

Which brings to mind a most unpleasant incident involving this particular waitress. It was the first day of the Chinese New Year, some two, three years ago. The few of us, yearning for our own kind, agreed to meet up at the said restaurant with the hope that the mediocre Chinese grub would at least quell our cravings and thereby dissipate our homesickness. Merrily chit-chatting away, we finally settled into our seats. With the menu spread out in front of us, we casually wondered aloud to the server if there were any special dishes for the occasion or any specialties to be recommended. Instead, we were rudely greeted by loud clinks and clanks of table-setting by none other than our leading lady, the unbelievably grumpy woman. She was anything but light-handed when it came to handling the tableware. At one point, I was quite certain one of the cups was about to break from all the deliberate manhandling. Her body language was literally screaming: she couldn't wait for us to leave, let alone take time to inform us of their specialities!! And to think that we hadn't even ordered our food yet! The lot of us was bewildered by the plain hostility and couldn't fathom her dark mood. But once the food issue was sorted, her unconcealed display of sulkiness became a source of curiosity to us. A brief discussion ensued and we came to the conclusion that she must be immensely maddened by the fact that she had to be working on this important day of the lunar calendar. As a result, she must have secretly swore that whoever crossed her path on that fateful day would get it from her.

Other than raising our eyebrows in protest, we stomached in silence the dreadful service which somewhat marred our festive mood. Our inaction is virtually unheard of since we Singaporeans are notorious for our penchant for making our displeasures known. In other words, we love to complain. Yet, in this instance, I suppose we, as much as we loathe to admit, kind of empathize with her. To be fair, we wouldn't be too delighted if we were given no other choice but to work on this day. So we held our tongues.

Still, a service staff audacious enough to unleash her private resentment on customers is an undesirable attendant. Such perplexing work ethic is inconceivable. It is a crime.

From then on, I eye her with misgiving whenever she waits on us. Even when she is all smiles and everything, I resolve not to be fooled by her falseness. First impression lasts forever, so they say.

I see you are wondering what draws me back to the same crime scene and perversely indulge myself in the awful service again and again. Well, the sad truth is, that is the only decent Chinese restaurant to be had in our miserably small city center. And beggars can't be choosers. But lately, word has it that a competitor (a much better one, finally!) has just set up shop next to the said restaurant. It's high time for me to leave the dark side of the force.

And may the force be with the chirpy waiter I mentioned earlier.