Will you pay $3.90 for water?
Monday, June 6, 2011 @ 6/06/2011 06:00:00 PM
To begin this post, I must clarify first that I'm neither a fan or anti-fan of Joanne Peh. In fact, I hardly know much of any Mediacorp artistes since I never really watched a complete Channel 8 drama since "荷兰村"ended.
So when this article came up, I dismissed it without a thought, only to hear my mum debating about it over dinner time with my dad. LOL. Within a few minutes, I got tied into the discussion (why can't I ever eat in peace..) and I totally agreed with my mum at first, its really the restaurant at fault, but my dad do make some sense. Now, I am not so sure of what is what myself.
I know Joanne Peh claimed that it wasn't about the price of the water but rather the attitude/service of the Nando restaurant as a whole but it still strikes me as that was the ultimate tipping point for her - to get pissed, tweet about it and all...
So anyway, in a first look, here are the main reasons why I think Peh is right to get mad:
- $3.90 for water sounds ridiculous, since its not branded or anything. I wouldn't mind paying $5.90 for Coke in a posh place (in fact I did!) but for normal water (not Perrier not Evian) its a little overpriced, taking into account the location...
- She ordered food as well. For a decent drink to come along, how hard can it be?
- The cost of bottled water = $1.80 so why the large difference when its hot?
- Waiting time for food too long, waiting time for water equally long. LOL. No doubt get angry lah.
- People clapped at her when she stormed out. What a sarcastic insult.
- Weighing this economically, its not hard to understand why. Some restaurants simply don't serve hot water. The extra cost of having it is just not worth it. In Shangri-La, I heard if you request for hot water, it comes with kettle and all. Shows how pretty troublesome it is.
- If hot water is not in the menu, it is just not in it. The restaurant reserved the rights to not serve I believe. Whether you ordered food is negligible.
- This is one I admit, is rather absurd. But I guess once again like point 1. - its the trouble of heating it up and extra services I guessed. Asking for hot water is like a special request already and the fact that the restaurant obliged, one should be thankful not thick-skinned.
- I ate at brotezit twice and waited 30mins each time for my baked rice. Mind you, the restaurant was empty too! My theory is this: If the food is really good, it is worth the wait :D.
- Should be misunderstanding lah. Where got such bizarre thing happening one?
Ultimately, I don't think that the customers is always right. Looks like a hungry Joanne is indeed an angry one.