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Coffeeshop Chit Chat - Staff can't speak English in food court </TD><TD id=msgunetc noWrap align=right>
Subscribe </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE class=msgtable cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="96%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=msg vAlign=top><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgbfr1 width="1%"> </TD><TD><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgF width="1%" noWrap align=right>From: </TD><TD class=msgFname width="68%" noWrap>kojakbt22 <NOBR>
</NOBR> </TD><TD class=msgDate width="30%" noWrap align=right>Apr-30 4:17 am </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT height=20 width="1%" noWrap align=right>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname width="68%" noWrap>ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right> (1 of 9) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft rowSpan=4 width="1%"> </TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>12539.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD>Poor service and non-English-speaking staff leave a sour taste
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->ON TUESDAY evening, my husband choked on rough uncrushed seeds in his soursop juice drink when my family dined at VivoCity's Kopitiam.
I took the drink back to get a new one. There were three service staff at the dessert area. None of them, including the one in charge of drinks, could understand me when I said there were crushed seeds in the drink that caused choking.
The server refused to remove the seeds, although a customer in the queue translated my request for a replacement, backed up by my rusty Mandarin. Subsequently, I asked the server in charge to provide crushed ice with soursop. She ignored me and served the other customers behind me.
After serving them, the server turned to me and replied in Mandarin that there was a procedure to blend soursop juice, to which I invited her to try drinking soursop juice filled with half-crushed seeds. All this happened because the poor service was compounded by an inability to communicate with non-Mandarin-speaking customers.
It is important for front-line service staff to communicate in a language all Singaporeans understand.
I shudder to think what would have happened if a non-Mandarin-speaking Singaporean were in my shoes. He would have had no choice but to suffer the poor service - and a drink that gags rather than gurgles smoothly down one's throat.
A foreigner may leave Singapore with the impression that he is not in an English-speaking environment. Sarah Sum-Campbell (Ms)
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->ON TUESDAY evening, my husband choked on rough uncrushed seeds in his soursop juice drink when my family dined at VivoCity's Kopitiam.
I took the drink back to get a new one. There were three service staff at the dessert area. None of them, including the one in charge of drinks, could understand me when I said there were crushed seeds in the drink that caused choking.
The server refused to remove the seeds, although a customer in the queue translated my request for a replacement, backed up by my rusty Mandarin. Subsequently, I asked the server in charge to provide crushed ice with soursop. She ignored me and served the other customers behind me.
After serving them, the server turned to me and replied in Mandarin that there was a procedure to blend soursop juice, to which I invited her to try drinking soursop juice filled with half-crushed seeds. All this happened because the poor service was compounded by an inability to communicate with non-Mandarin-speaking customers.
It is important for front-line service staff to communicate in a language all Singaporeans understand.
I shudder to think what would have happened if a non-Mandarin-speaking Singaporean were in my shoes. He would have had no choice but to suffer the poor service - and a drink that gags rather than gurgles smoothly down one's throat.
A foreigner may leave Singapore with the impression that he is not in an English-speaking environment. Sarah Sum-Campbell (Ms)
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