I do not usually advocate eating out and what is going on out there should not be much of my concern. However, I itch to voice out what I feel about some hawkers serving Chinese food in kopitiams or food courts.
Every year the price of most Chinese cooked food rise by almost 10%. Never mind about the rise because the 'raw materials' are also getting more expensive. However, some hawkers are just too much. The food they serve has become poorer in quality and their attitudes worse.
The other day, the 'pork meehoon' that my husband ordered had too few pieces of pork in the soup. Poor him! I could see him trying to scoop out the pieces of meat out of the bowl as they 'swam' in it. It was full of nothing but soup. For four ringgit, all he got was a few strands of 'meehoon' and a few thin pieces of pork. That was atrocious! He went home still hungry and had to buy a bun later to eat. What did I say, I told him. That pork must be air-flown from overseas, you know, like the Kobe beef. I had told him not to patronise the stall after the first time it had got to be so expensive but he would not listen.
Many hawkers do not serve the food themselves now and they employ Indonesian maids to help them. Often these maids or sometimes they themselves make mistakes but the customers will have to bear with them. If complains are brought to them, they are received with indifference. I remember there was once some news about a lady hawker being very haughty to her customer, and it was much publicised later.
Still these hawkers survive as there are too many people eating out, and some people understand little about good service, good hygiene and quality for money.
There was one chicken rice stall that I patronised last year and after that time, I have never gone back to it again. I was pissed off by the Myanmar worker who served the packet of rice to me. I requested for chicken breast meat and after taking the piece of meat down from the shelf, he started to cut it. He was cutting and slapping the meat on the chopping board as he did it.
Then he wiped his hands on the seemingly dirty looking apron he was wearing and his hands went back to the cut pieces again. He held all of them on his palms and put them into the styrofoam box of rice, pressing them down. I looked uneasingly as he prepared my order and when he handed me the rice, I told him I had changed my mind about buying it. I walked away quickly while putting back my money into my pocket. Of course, in return the Myannar shouted a stream of profanities after me. I was so embarrassed that I wished I had not decided to buy 'outside' food that day.
Besides that incident of the Myanmar 'playing' with the chicken meat, there was another bad antic of the 'beverage man' in a particular kopitiam . There was one whom I encountered when I went there for breakfast. A couple of times he had served my tea in a cracked cup and I only noticed it when I almost finished half of the drink. The hairline crack was very thin at the top but got thicker at the bottom. I was furious and immediately summoned the Indonesian maid to come and explain it. The reply made me even more furious. What is wrong with that, she asked. The cup had been cleaned and everybody used it without complains, she said. That was enough. I swore I would not step into another kopitiam again. I am not going to have substandard cleanliness spoil my day!
