Woman queues for pre-ordered popiah but hawker refuses to sell to her

A woman’s birthday celebration plans for her aunt ended in frustration after her pre-ordered popiah went unserved.

Madam Tan, 69, told Shin Min Daily News that she pre-paid a large popiah order of $33 from the stall at Block 823A Tampines Street 81 several days in advance for her aunt’s birthday party on Nov 17. 

She arrived at the stall at 10.40am to collect her order but Madam Tan was instructed by the vendor to join the queue, which had over 10 people in line.

As she could not wait, Madam Tan requested for a refund.

“The popiah vendor kept telling me to queue up and her attitude was bad,” she recounted.

“She refused to refund my order, so I had no choice but to join the queue.”

Madam Tan waited for 40 minutes for her turn, only to be told by the vendor that no popiah would be sold to her. The vendor then refunded her money.

“If she didn’t want to sell me anything, she should have refunded me in the beginning and not waste my time queueing for so long,” said Madam Tan, adding that a simple explanation by the vendor would be sufficient and felt the vendor’s actions were “disrespectful”.

Scrambling to find a replacement for her aunt’s birthday feast, Madam Tan resorted to ordering food elsewhere.

The owner of the stall, who didn’t want to be named, told Shin Min Daily News that it was her assistant manning the stall when the incident happened.

“Madam Tan told us she was a repeat customer but should know she still had to queue up,” said the stall owner, adding that incident happened on a Sunday, which was an exceptionally busy day.

“When Madam Tan saw the long queue, she became agitated and demanded a refund right on the spot. However, the ingredients for her order were already prepared.

“I thought she would be unhappy eating it anyway, so when she reached the front of the queue, I just refunded her and decided not to sell to her."

The hawker admitted feeling upset as the prepared ingredients had to be discarded.

A few days later, Madam Tan called to complain and was still unhappy after hearing the hawker's explanation.

"I run the stall alone and it's really hectic. I hope customers can be more understanding," said the stall owner.