“Good things come in double” as the Chinese saying goes. However, I’m to discover that unpleasant happenings also strike twice in a row.

In the course of our field work today, we were at Ikeno Power Centre during lunch and so decided to try out their Food Court. My friend ordered claypot chicken rice while I ordered duck rice from the next stall. I expected to get my food before hers as claypot chicken was only cooked upon ordering whereas for roast duck rice, everything was ready. All?s needed was to chop the duck and put on the rice. However, when I paid for the food, the cashier gave me a queue no. which meant I had to wait. Thinking it to be quite fast I stood at the stall to wait. However, when my friend got her food, I was still waiting so I decided to sit and chat with her while waiting for my food.

After a long time, I went back to check on my order and was told that it was still not ready. A guy came to collect his food and I saw his queue no. was 2 nos. before mine. So I decided to wait at the stall rather than walk back and forth since it was only 2 more to go before my turn. Another customer came by to check on her order and commented that she’s been waiting for a long time. I also interjected and asked what’s taking them so long to just cut some duck and scoop up some rice. Well, the cashier was not the least bothered and made no effort to check with the kitchen. I was beginning get irritated. My friend has already finished her whole pot of rice, then went order drinks and came back to the table, and yours truly was still waiting for the duck rice. (I think the duck must have flown away!). By then my patience was running out. I told the cashier to check if my order was ready otherwise cancel my order and give me a refund. He turned around to peeped into the kitchen then told me that it was coming. So I continued to wait but saw the next order served was noodles and the queue no. was after mine. I asked the cashier what happened and he just looked blankly at me! That was the last straw. I asked him to refund my money and cancel my order. He then told me that he didn?t know how to operate the cash register for refund but I insisted to have my refund. Finally he said to wait for the other cashier to come back. After another wait, the other cashier came back and I demanded my refund. He tried to convince me otherwise and said my order was ready. Anyway I told him No! I want my money back. In the end he reluctantly gave me my refund.

The ambience at the Food Court was good but the deplorable service and inefficiency of the food operators has definitely left a stigma on that place which will deter me or my friend(s) from patronising it anymore.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 10th, 2004 at 10:29 pm and is filed under General.