Earlier yesterday, Penang-based Seng Thor kopitiam quickly gained the ire of netizens after they had allegedly been found naming and shaming elderly customers for refusing to order a drink or pay their surcharge for occupying a seat at their premises. According to reports by Sin Chew Daily, the shop had notices which stated customers that don’t order any drinks will need to pay a RM1 fee.
Viral Penang kopitiam explains their side of the story
Following the post that has now been deleted due to major backlash, the third-generation owner of the coffee shop, surnamed Mr Lim, has since spoken to members of the media to reveal his side of the story and what had occurred between his staff and the elderly man prior to the post going viral. While he understands that he is unable to control the opinions of social media users over the incident, he wanted to emphasise that the elderly customer had been rude to begin with.
“Many of you didn’t see what happen on that day. When my staff spoke to him, he didn’t bother answering my staff and my wife even went up herself trying to speak to him but he didn’t even acknowledge”, said Mr. Lim.
Source: Sin Chew Daily
Mr. Lim expressed that he was frustrated that the man refused to acknowledge any of them as they’ve stated clearly on a sign plastered on the wall that a RM1 fee will be imposed on customers who refuse to order anything to drink. He mentioned that he is fine if the old man decides to not order anything as many customers would end up just paying the surcharge instead.
“My staff asked if he would like a cup of warm water as it was only RM0.50 but he still ignored us”, recalled Mr. Lim.
Source: Sin Chew Daily
No intention to close their business
He then revealed to local newspaper Sin Chew Daily that the shop has no intention on closing down the business, following allegations that they would be doing so from another Facebook page that has been masquerading as the kopitiam‘s.
“I didn’t post on our page saying that we will be closing down our business. We have hawkers to take care of as well and it’s irresponsible of us to just shut our business down due to this”, he said.
Adding on to that, he stresses that they have since apologised for naming and shaming the elderly patron, but said that the incident was blown out of proportion by ’emotive’ social media users.
“We’ve temporarily deleted our Facebook page as we’ve received major amounts of backlash, but rest assured that we’ve apologised to the old man before doing so.”
He also denied claims that this entire saga had been orchestrated as a marketing ploy to drive up sales, as his kopitiam has been around for 71 years, and they do not need to resort to doing such promotions.
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