In a Facebook post on Sunday, 19 June, Alex Hooi told netizens to be wary when visiting Pizzeria Dihyang because if they ever feel under the weather while dining, the staff at the pizza place would “probably charge you for medical service”.
The incident began after he puked all of his dinner out of his system at the restaurant's restroom.
Feeling uncomfortable, Hooi exited the restroom and asked staff whether he could get a glass of water to clear his throat.
“The waitress, without skipping a beat, [said,] ‘Sorry sir, we don't have water here. We only have bottled still water — Sole L'italiania Still 1L priced at RM23.50 per bottle,'” he wrote in the Facebook post.
“I said I don't need so much, just a bit to clear my burning throat.”
“They still tried to sell me the bottled water, insisting that they don't have any other source of water aside from the RM23.50 Sole L'italiania Still.”
Hooi related that it was unlikely that he puked due to the food at Pizzeria Dihyang as they had high hygiene standards.
Annoyed by unaccommodating service, Hooi returned to his table and managed to get some water that his friends had brought themselves
After Hooi and his friends paid for their dinner bill, he gave feedback to the restaurant's manager, suggesting that their staff should not try to upsell bottled water when a customer is feeling unwell.
Instead, Hooi told the manager that their staff should have asked about the welfare of the customer and offered a glass of water, hoping it was not their food that caused the queasiness.
“When I asked the manager if they could have provided boiled tap water in this kind of situation, the manager had the audacity to explain, ‘Sir, if you needed tap water to clear your throat, we have tap water in the toilet',” he recounted.
“Holy sh-t, that's not the point!”
“At this point, there was no point talking to Dihyang anymore. We left, wondering, ‘Man… did she really just say that?” he said, adding that he was disappointed at the restaurant's poor hospitality despite being recognized by an association in Italy.
Hooi told SAYS the staff did not shout nor raise their voice during the encounter, but it was their lack of empathy and duty of care that disappointed him.
Hooi also attached screenshots of a Facebook status, allegedly written by the manager of Pizzeria Dihyang
Even though the alleged manager did not mention Hooi in writing, one of the scenarios that she brought up about customers giving her a headache on the Facebook ranting post is similar to what Hooi experienced.
Referring to herself as ‘lao niang' (Chinese for old mother), the alleged manager said, “Lao niang‘s place does not have tap water. What do you expect?”
“Lao niang (insists on the rule of) one table, one dish. You want me to give you a glass of water and ice cubes for free so that you can sit all night?“
The alleged manager's Facebook post garnered over 40 comments, many of them criticised her and said she is unfit to be a manager in the service line.
