Thursday, August 2, 2007

It was a hassle.

The other day, on the way to the East Coast, I stopped over at a big petrol station which has a small convenience shop, a so called restaurant at the back and a small coffee corner by the convenience shop. It was a convenient place to stop for lunch I thought. The petrol station is almost in the middle of nowhere, by the side of the highway, and dozens of cars stop there. A place for a small leg stretch I would say.

It was already lunch time but I was in no mood for curried food, which were served in the restaurant at the back, a variety of such food, say about 2 dozen dishes of them. Instead I went over to the soup corner where they serve hot souped food like concoctions of noodles and also hot and cold drinks. Looking at a picture,


I was attracted by the picture of a souped dish with a couple of pieces of cut up chicken pieces on top. I thought I would enjoy that.

But when I got what I ordered, I was most disappointed. The chicken pieces were not there. I complaint to the cashier (who looked and spoke like an Indonesian, in fact the whole restaurant seemed to be minded by Indonesians, and even some of the customers looked like Indonesian workers) but she sort of shrugged it off. She tried meekly to comfort me by asking the person who made the souped food why there was no cut up chicken as shown in the photo. And the response was very negative. I felt that I was short changed. I tried to eat what I bought but the taste was not to my expectations so I left it unfinished.

I knew that at the front, near the convenience shop, there was a coffee corner where they serve good sandwiches. So I went over to the front into the coffee corner. I was served by a very pleasant young lady, and I asked for tea and a pre-packed cooked food which looked good.

The trouble started when I tried to take a photograph of the coffee corner.


I was told that I should not take a photograph, a private area of some sort I was told. I could not understand such rules so I asked to see the Manager. The Manager was away but a Supervisor came. 2 in fact. I asked them why I was not allowed to take photograph, and I asked them to show me a document stating such rules. They could not produce that document I asked for. So I sat for my meal and took a photo.

I was awaiting for someone to arrest me but no body did.

It was really a hassle. First I was short changed on the food I ordered. And then I was not allowed to take a photo of a public place like the coffee corner. I think someone should have their brain examined for making such ridiculous regulations. And I felt that I have not committed any crime, even a light crime.

2 comments:

yamin said...

Hi Mylias,

I understand your predicament. I also don't understand why even in KL there are some shopping complexes and hypermarkets putting the no-camera signs and prohibiting taking of pictures.

I was recently stopped by a hypermarket guard (a Nepalese) from taking my camera in.

So I asked him why he didn't stop all those people who are already inside. Ninety percent of them have cameras in their phones.

Since he couldn't answer, I went in with my camera and didn't have problems.

yamin

mylias said...

You give the 'uneducated' a fancy uniform and they think that they are your Lords.

Yes, I agree, most phones now have camera. Imagine if they have to collect all handphones............. they will not have space to store them ............. and they might loose a few. So they target on object that they recognised as cameras ..... more or less using their discretion ............ sometime not very good discretion at all.

I understand their predicament in this case. Supermarket sales very much depend on the arrangement of their shelves and their products, not so much as their pricing. The most popular (and the most expensive) are at your eye level. The others are priced differently and depending also on the lanes, that is whether people will most likely to go there or not. Those near the enranvce are items that they wish to sell in volume, or most likely the target of their customers, and those further back are those which the customers will search for if they really want the product. Thus if you take photographs, you will see what their trading strategy is like. There is cheating and there is psycology some where. Nak hidup.