Pants on fire

June 30, 2007

Atrocious manners from Max Brenner staff and supervisor

ON MAY 30, my friend and I decided to patronise the Max Brenner Cafe at the Esplanade at around 10pm.

However, upon our arrival, we noticed that the cafe was packed and decided to wait behind a signage that was placed in the middle of the entrance which had a notice with instructions to wait to be seated.

After waiting for five minutes, I decided to go in to enquire if it was closed as no one attended to us although a lot of eye contact was exchanged between me and some of the staff who were not or seemed to be doing nothing.

Another reason we thought it might be closed was due to the placement of the signage in the middle of the entrance. Upon asking, I was informed that it would be closing at 11pm and after thanking the female staff for the information, I went back to wait with my friend.

After a further five minutes of waiting and with plenty more eye contact, my friend and I went in to ask the same female worker if we were going to be served.

She said she thought that I was going to leave after I had found out the closing time. I told her that if that were the case, my friend and I would not still be standing there and exchanging glances with her for five minutes.

To defend herself, she kept insisting that she thought we would be leaving and that it was a full house.

We requested to speak to the supervisor. To our horror, the supervisor had an even worse attitude then the worker.

After hearing what we had to say, he made some comments, such as: 'So what do you want me to do now?', 'I have observed you two since just now and I know you guys just came here to make a scene', 'Sorry ah! You want me to kneel down in front of you?' and the worst of all, 'I know you guys just want complimentary drinks. If you want, just say so and I will give to you'.

Seeing that there was no point in trying to explain to either supervisor or staff, my friend and I decided to leave.

I e-mailed this incident to the manager and his solution was to offer the usual 'Please allow us to make it up to you with a complimentary drink/meal' excuse as well as an investigation.

I did not take him up on his offer and, after two weeks of investigation, the manager has still not even got back to me.

Ong Weisheng

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July 4, 2007
Customer who complained of service was unreasonable

I AM writing to clarify Mr Ong Weisheng's letter ('Atrocious manners from Max Brenner staff and supervisor'; ST Online Forum, June 30) pertaining to an incident at my shop on May 30. Following his initial feedback, I conducted an investigation. I also had an eyewitness account from another customer present that the situation was entirely provoked, resulting in the unpleasant exchange between my supervisor and Mr Ong.

I had told Mr Ong he would be updated on the outcome of my probe in an earlier e-mail reply. However, I am not surprised at his lack of patience in allowing due process in the matter as he displayed the same impatience while waiting outside my shop on May 30.

My CCTV recording paints the full picture as follows:

Mr Ong and a friend arrived outside my shop and waited a grand total of 48 seconds before approaching staff who were all busy with a full house inside. Mr Ong and his friend then returned to the queue post and waited a further two minutes before approach the same female employee and that is when the exchange took place with my supervisor joining in to assist the female employee.

Despite Mr Ong's inflated claim of how long he waited and the eyewitness who came forward to vouch for my employee's behaviour, I have asked both staff to resign in view of the fact that we are, after all, in the service industry and that means good service to all - regardless of the situation. Mr Ong has been told of the outcome of my investigation in an e-mail reply.

Kenning Koh

Managing Director

Max Brenner Chocolate Bar