INEXPERIENCED STAFF AT A RESTAURANT CHAIN

I Was out with a visually challenged friend at a restaurant at Hougang Mall for lunch yesterday afternoon. As we were in queue waiting our turn to place our orders he overheard someone order 'hainanese pork chop'. He asked me if it was a new dish on the menu. I told I wasn't sure but if he'd like to try, he can order. He proceeded to order the hainanese pork chop while I order my egg sandwich.

After waiting for a while His food finally arrived. I was aware two plates were being put on the table, but he wasn't. Just as he was about to eat, I told him the plate of rice was on his left while the plate of pork chop was to his right. He remarked, 'how to eat?' I waved and a waiter came to our table. I asked for a bigger plate and requested him to combine the two plates into the bigger plate we requested for. To my amazement, he came with the plate and walked away. I tried to get the attention of the staff for a few minutes but was in vain. I do recognise that it was lunch hour and the restaurant may had been busy. However, it wasn't very crowded during that time. I finally told him that I'd transfer his rice into the other plate before the food turned cold.

A staff then approached and asked what we needed after he started eating and I told him we didn't need anything any longer.

The reason for wanting to put this down was I too am a person who is visually challenged. I had to take a lot of caution that I did not make a mess during the whole process and that I realised unless I helped him, the food will turn cold quickly because the aircon was very cold. I been to restaurants where staff are at hand to assist diner. I believe if a restaurant wants to retain their customers, staff should be more proactive. My friend loves the food there and we had visited the restaurant several occasion at different time of the day. While I acknowledge some staff have been very helpful, paying attention to minor details may help bring more diners to the restaurants as word-of-mouth is the most powerful way of attracting people to visit the outlet.

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