Lady Wants to Make Police Report ‘Coz Char Kway Teow too Spicy

There are many legitimate reasons to want to call the police: your house was broken into; somebody vandalised the wall with a ‘Goody Feed for peace’ sign; the local policeman/woman is hot.

But none of them, in my very honest and unbiased opinion, comes close to this.

A desire to call the police because the char kway teow has way too many chopped chilli padis in it.

…

In a Stomp article published on 27 July, Stomper Sha professed how she requested for her fried kway teow to be extra spicy, and allegedly got over 80 chopped pieces of chilli padi for it.

And all fired up, she actually contemplated making a police report for it.

What exactly happened?

According to Stomper Sha, she had ordered a $5.20 seafood kway teow goreng for herself and a $6.70 Thai fried rice for her husband from 89.7 Supper Club on 22 July, via food delivery service FoodPanda.

In the order, she had asked for ‘extra spicy’.

But by the looks of it, it might’ve been a tad bit too hot for her.

“I didn’t really notice it as first as we were watching a movie while eating. However, by the third mouthful, I felt a burning sensation in my mouth and throat,” she told Stomp.

“I stopped eating and picked out about 20 to 30 pieces of chilli padi.”

She then apparently tried to finish her meal, but it proved to be Mission Impossible 9: Revenge of the Chilli Padi.

“I found that there was even more chilli padi and my mouth was still burning. In the end, I threw the kway teow away even though there was still more than half left.

“My husband’s fried rice was perfectly normal.”

Incidentally, she orders food from the restaurant twice to thrice a week, but never encountered something like this before.

“Sometimes, about once a month, I would ask for my food to be extra spicy to satisfy my cravings. There’s usually 20 to 30 pieces of chilli padi. But this time, there were over 80.”

Well, you know what they say:

There’s a first time for everything.

(Can anyone confirm if the prices of chilli has dropped as much as the prices of durian?!)

Chilli-rage

After the less than taste-aesthetic experience, Sha took to Facebook to unleash some of the spice, as well as message 89.7 Supper Club on their page.

A check on 89.7 Supper Club Facebook Page shows NONONONONONONO.

But anyways, the Page isn’t exactly active, posting just one update every few months. So moving on…

She also complained to Foodpanda about the incident, and they complied with a $5.20 (same amount as her ‘extra spicy’ dish) credit balance for her next order.

But apparently, the restaurant manager, according to her, wasn’t quite as compliant.

“I called the restaurant’s Geylang East branch where my food was delivered from. They referred me to the manager at their head office in Changi Village.

“I tried calling the manager over the next few days but could not reach him as he was not in the office each time.

“When I finally spoke to him on the phone at around 5pm yesterday (July 26), the first thing he said was, ‘What you want? If not happy, make police report.’

“He seemed agitated and I ended the phone call afterwards.

“During the call, he did not apologise nor resolve the issue.”

Restaurant’s side of the story

It was then that Stomp approached the said manager, who gave his take on the entire fiery sage.

“When a customer asks for their food to be more spicy, our practice is to add more chilli padi to it. What happened was this customer (Sha) found that we overdid it.

“I told my staff to tell her that in this case, bring her Foodpanda receipt to any of our outlets for a refund or a replacement. She refused.

“When I spoke to her yesterday, I asked her what she wanted, which she took issue with.

“She kept saying that she wanted to make a police report, so I told her, by all means. She also said she was going to inform the National Environment Agency (NEA).”

He insisted, however, that he actually meant it in a “polite way” when he asked what she wanted, seeing how she allegedly turned down his polite offer of a replacement and a refund. He did, however, admit one thing.

“I found her arrogant so I didn’t feel like apologising.”

CoOol.

Accidental or non-accidental, that’s the question

When asked whether the incident was “accidental”, the manager said: “Just take it as a mistake.”

“The woman even said she was a regular. Therefore, I don’t understand why she is making noise because if she’s a regular customer, then she should understand our style. If she can take out the chilli padi, that means she can still eat the food. After all, it’s not like chilli sauce. I already offered her a refund and replacement. What would you do if you were in my shoes?”

Err, I don’t know. Take it to court, maybe? That would be epic.

Stomper Sha

And back to the main character of the story, the ever-elusive and enigmatic Stomper Sha, who maintained that she had not actually been offered a refund or replacement, and described the manager as “cocky”.

“I just want the restaurant to acknowledge the issue properly,” said Sha, adding that she is “still contemplating” making a police report.

“For all you know, it could have been an act of mischief.

“What if some people who can’t take the spiciness encounter the same thing and end up with a stomach ulcer? I sometimes order food for my grandmother and what if this happens to her? You know what it’s like for old people.”

She ends off by suggesting allowing customers to pinpoint the level of spiciness they crave for in their orders, in a bid to avoid such incidents in the future.

Netizens react to Stomper Sha’s contemplation of a police report

And on this episode of Netizens react, we have some Stomp readers who were, to put it kindly, not exactly in tandem with Sha’s views.

Without further ado, here are their honest answers.

Too honest, in fact.

Well, suffice it to say…

Sha’s Instagram followers aren’t gonna increase by a lot after this.

Neighbourhood Task Force

You know, I’ve always thought that the Police are a serious governmental organisation. But from how Singaporeans seem to perceive it…

I would’ve thought the Police to be some kind of a neighbourhood task force instead.

So moral of the story?

Don’t take all your little issues to the police, because honestly speaking…

Someone’s life could be at stake while you’re rambling on about chilli padis. Just saying.