Hawker Centre ≠ Restaurant

[Edit: Video's in. Was just because of a misplaced spacing. Sigh.]



In the light of the recent mishap of a group of American tourists being charged nearly $500 for a meal at Newton Food Centre, Stomp's Point Blank hooked up a spy camera whilst ordering a meal at Newton Food Centre. Call it intrusive but if you managed to stomach the horrendous 'interview' from the reporter, eye in from 13 minutes where the executive director of Consumers Assosiation Of Singapore, or CASE, describes how both parties are at fault here.

As a consumer, you have the right to know the details of the product/item. As a shop owner, you have the right to answer any queries consumers have towards your products. HOWEVER, it's not really mandatory to bring consumers into light about how important for example, the weighing process, is and how things can change when such an area is not supervised. A consumer could just be told about it but in a chaotic and buzzy environment of a food centre, he might not really give much thought. Many shop owners play the 'Never ask lor' game. It includes of pushing the blame to the consumers because they fail to query anything questionable. Of course this is malpractice since the shop owners have the obligation to notify them about the minor details. But what details shall CASE decide that we should be know about? And if CASE decides that it should supervise business practices, won't we all exploit this? And who will supervise CASE? Who will supervise CASE's supervisor? But also remember, consumers too have the responsibility to ask.

I'm sure this is all a misunderstanding. The American consumers failed to query about the weighing process and the shop owners failed to shed light on that process. Both parties are at equal fault since no one wants to be responsible. So what CASE should, and preferably do, is to reinstate the rights of a consumer and shop owner. This is because it's hard to point fingers to blame the downfall of social values in our society where many couldn't care less, especially, for being responsible?

That's what makes human minds so captivating. No machine will replicate us. We live in deep mind dynamics that no matter how many processors you put in a super computer, a human is best. (And also at worst.) Our 'engineering' capability supersedes any computer.

Get everybody to remind themselves that there's no foolproof way of solving this. There's a responsibility in everyone. That is what makes a good person. My only advice, ALWAYS ASK ABOUT EVERYTHING as there's a fine line of what's right and wrong.