Filled With Angst

(Breathe in breathe out.)

Firstly, I must congratulate my team for making it this far on this journey we have undertaken. Over the course of 13 weeks, this arduous path had been filled with obstacles and unforgiving hurdles. It was not easy, and we could have given up. But we did not. I am thrilled to announce that we have reached a milestone in the aspect of "service". This hellish subject had been a bane to many of us, which include the early hours, the terribly mean and sarcastic service instructors and the many ounces of gel we used, not to mention the fatigue we experienced at the end of every day. Finally, it's over.

Back to topic. Why I had to include (Breathe in breathe out) at the start was so that I could keep my composure and not blow my top. On my way home, many thoughts were racing through my mind. The recurring thought was pure sympathy for my headwaiter ziying. An incident happened during operations, and it went something like this. In the morning, there were three types of potpies, namely vegetarian, chicken and curry chicken. The vegetarian one looks exactly like a normal meat-based potpie, except for the sesame seeds on its crust. However, due to the overwhelming demand, production started to falter and when the new batch of potpies were placed in the counter, the student chef did not mention a word to us about any change in the ingredients. Therefore, we went about our operations as per normal. However, a vegetarian guest complained about there being meat in the potpie. Finally ,we realized that the new batch did not even contain any vegetarian potpies. How were we to know that when the student chef did not even say anything?

Then came the hurricane after the storm. Apparently, this girl whom I shall call A was so enraged about her friend having eaten the meat potpie that she immediately asked to see the headwaiter. In plain view of the service instructor, she spewed vulgarities and derogatory remarks towards my poor headwaiter. I understand that we are the first line of service, which meant that any feedback would be directed at us first. However, A did not spare any thought for ziying's feelings and gave her a thorough dressing down. Not only that, her two sidekicks joined in. Three on one poor soul who was not to blame? I find that cowardly. Because:

1. My headwaiter had no idea of the situation until the complaint.
2. A was not even the victim!
3. A is also from HTM, couldn't she have understood our plight?
4. Why must she use vulgarities and make nasty remarks?
5. We have already apologised and offered to provide refund/exchange.
   What more could we have done?
6. She did not give my headwaiter the chance to understand the situation.

One thing I am unsure of is whether she had acted this way based on the nationality of my headwaiter. I understand that she is a foreigner, and the language she speaks may not be perfect. But what right do you have to speak to her like that? This does not epitomise the true meaning of friendship, but instead, it proves how shallow some people can get. The end point of this incident is how to help the victim, not ultimately, who is to blame. Tired and dying of fatigue, we are humans and we do make mistakes. Furthermore, SSM is an avenue for us to learn. Being a HTM student yourself, all the more you should understand! I know that religion is a sacred subject. Ignorance cannot be used as an excuse. I accept our mistake but I hope we can move on. I truly regret I was unable to be at the scene to have been of any help, let alone lend moral support and mental strength.

What goes around, comes around.

Oh right, a big thank you to the following people for lending your support.

Mum, Dad, Daniel, Huaiying, Weichong, Chingyi, Jinlin, Vera, Rayner and many others.
And of course, not to forget my hardworking SSM team.