Woman Allegedly Got Scolded by Ya Kun Staff for Following Rules Mentioned at Counter

Last Updated on 2023-06-12 , 10:02 am

When you mention the popular bites of kaya toast and coffee, Ya Kun Kaya Toast is probably one of the chains that come to mind.

Unfortunately, it seems that being popular does not guarantee good service standards.

One patron looking to enjoy some food at the kaya toast outlet ended up leaving with a bad taste in her mouth because the staff shouted at her.

Here is what happened.

Woman Scolded by Ya Kun Staff for Occupying a Seat

Earlier this week, a Facebook user by the moniker Suzy Tan posted on COMPLAINT SINGAPORE, a public Facebook group “providing an Arena for Everyone to Vent their Anger & Unhappiness, Share Bad Experiences in Singapore and Most Importantly, COMPLAINT”.

She complained about the poor treatment she received from Ya Kun Kaya Toast staff in City Square Mall.

In her post, she recounted how she “waited around for a table” and swooped in once a customer “got up” but was promptly told by the “Ya Kun cashier…to get off the table”.

The reason? The table was meant for “the person in the queue who is ordering”.

Ms Tan questioned the cashier about why she had to give up her seat since she was following the “rules” set by Ya Kun Kaya Toast.

Indeed, there was a “big sign placed at the cashier counter” asking its customers to find a seat before queueing to order food.

Instead of acknowledging their mistake and moving on to serve other customers, the cashier staff continued to be “very rude and insisted that [Ms Tan] give up her table”.

This was even after Ms Tan pointed out the prominent sign on the counter to the staff.

As Ms Tan did not want to budge from her seat, another Ya Kun Kaya Toast staff member who was “preparing the coffee” joined in and “shouted” at Ms Tan, asking her to “leave if [she was] not drinking”.

Ms Tan shared that she was “shocked and very upset” about what happened and felt that she was treated “unfairly” by the staff.

In a comment to the original post, Ms Tan shared that the two staff in question were “male staff”, and she did not want to “argue too much” as she was afraid that it would get “too heated up”.

There was also the threat of being injured if things escalated since there was “lots of hot coffee and hot water [in] that area”.

Eventually, Ms Tan complained to the branch manager, who apologised and promised to investigate the situation. The manager also offered Ms Tan a $5 voucher as compensation.

Ms Tan did not take up the voucher and hoped Ya Kun would not “confuse the customers” in the future.

Her Father Was Queueing to Order

The most perplexing matter issue from this is not poor service standards from the Ya Kun Kaya Toast staff. After all, Singapore’s food and beverage industry is not famous for its impeccable service.

What left people scratching their heads was that Ms Tan’s behaviour was not acceptable to the Ya Kun outlet’s staff even though she was also “simultaneously” queueing to order.

Or, more accurately, her father, who was dining in with her, was in line. Ms Tan clarified via a comment that she was merely choping (reserving) the table during that time.

Oh man… not the existential question of whether to queue or chope seat first.

Whatever the case, it seems like dividing tasks to do both at the same time is generally accepted behaviour in Singapore, which should not have elicited such umbrage from the toast chain’s staff.

A reply to the comment mentioned above agreed with Ms Tan’s “one person queue, one person chope seat” and said that the outlet’s staff were in the wrong since Ms Tan was alone.

Though we must say, this makes a sorry plight for those who dine alone in Singapore.

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Other Customers Had Similar Experiences

The post’s comments section also revealed that Ya Kun Kaya Toast needs to up its service game.

Many patrons shared their poor experiences dining in at the outlet, with multiple netizens claiming they had been shouted at too.

One of the netizens took to the comments section to commiserate with the original poster’s pain as she, too, had been through the same negative experience at the City Square Mall outlet.

A netizen also shared that they experienced poor service from the same branch and have since boycotted the outlet.

One netizen claims to have been “chased away” from the seat and “asked to queue and buy first” at the Kovan branch of Ya Kun Kaya Toast. This fiasco ended with the netizen being “allocated” that same seat and choping the seat with a tissue packet.

The Punggol Waterway Point branch was also plagued with poor service reviews as the diner, who was alone, was treated as if she had “snatched someone’s seat”. This patron left out of embarrassment.

Another patron similarly left the Chua Chu Kang outlet after experiencing the same poor treatment from Ya Kun Kaya Toast’s staff.

It seems that even children are not immune to being shouted at. One netizen shared how her “niece” was the subject of some loud shouting, to which the netizen retorted that the sign in the shop said to queue after getting a seat.

Other netizens took this opportunity to lament the “black face” of the Ya Kun Kaya Toast staff, which led to a less-than-positive dining experience.