26th October - Public Holiday.... yet I suffered from temporary amnesia when I suggested that we eat here tonight.
As we walked from Gurney Plaza towards the hawker centre, it became apparent that I had chosen the worst possible time to eat .
Scream ! Look at the crowd ! All I saw was a sea of heads bobbing up and down, ahead of me. Still we dove in.
Passing the first koay teow thng stall, I witnessed a drink stall hawker forcing a 20 something non customer, off a chair that he said belonged to him. Where did he expect him to sit ? He didn't care if he had to stand eating. Oh boy.
Weaved our way out of this mad sector and finally found a space somewhere in front of Pasembor stall in front of G.P.Soon Rojak ( my fav) . Only problem was, the table was laden with every kind of dish, bowl and utensil which remained uncleared.
A 'looking' match began between us and the drink hawker next door to the pasembor. After a while it became obvious that they DID NOT want to clear the table for us and we had to do it ourselves. Giving up, we used a tissue to wipe the surface clean .
While my partner, joined the queue at Stall no 71 (nice ckt for $5 with 3 huge prawns ), the owner (male) finally came over and showed me the menu.
Still seething over the 'waiting game' which I had lost earlier, I told him I didn't want to order. It was then he unleashed his barrageful of nonsense in Mandarin ( 3 quarter of which was lost on me but not the meaning ).
"You mean after having to clear the table FOR YOU, you now want me to place an order ??? LATER ! I'm waiting for someone to return "
He backed off leaving the menu behind on my table. I must have been loud as the table of Ah Bengs across me had begun grinning, after seeing our 'little exchange' as though I was some Ah Cher about to parang him in half and they were just waiting for action to unfold or tables to topple . Whatever.
Undettered by the promise of fat profit, this time he sent his wife in to eyeball me. I swear she looked deep into my iris to come to some sort of analysis.
" Wait ..." I told her. She swiped the menu. Someone's pissed..... No, She didn't take it out on me since her hubby probably warned her about my ' nice mood ' . Probably she saw the growl in my eyes . Instead, she took it out on a new arrival in front of G.P.Soon.
" Are you ordering any drinks " she asked them . I didn't hear their reply but I soon heard her banging plastic chairs she had pulled from them to stack up . She even went to the extreme extent of folding up the table,right under their noses as they looked on in shock .
Wow....real gangsta this woman. Repulsive behaviour.
It was only later, that I discovered that they had the audacity to compell me to order drinks, even though the table I was sitting on, belonged to the Pasembor stall ....not them. While that explains why they refused to clear the table at the time, it's certainly no excuse for them to force drinks down our throat.
So how'd I not get the short end of the stick ?
First of all , I was sitting on another person's table.But most important of all, when in Penang, you have to show some balls and give a loud rebuff with a good measure of outrage thrown in.
It's perfectly acceptable to show and sound ( don't bang, don't get physical, just use verbal) your displeasure publicly , especially to hawkers or traders who like to shortchange or ill treat their customers.
Or else you will be clearly bullied like that family and man above.
Location : Gurney Drive Hawker Centre
Chowtime : night
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