YOU can’t miss the crowds, the congestion, lines to automated teller machines and mall counters, and restaurants and other eateries enjoying heavy foot traffic from hungry shoppers.
Mall congestion and families eating out are regular sights this Christmas season, as employees get their 13th month pay and yearend bonuses.
Here are some of my pet peeves when dining out this holiday season:
Greatly watered down liquid soap that do not even give you bubbles to wash out the dirt. In some restaurants, sinks are dirty and there’s no dryer or paper towel to dry your hands.
When they lay out the plates, there’s usually just one paper napkin to go with the service. One napkin, that’s it. You have to ask every time you need another.
Condiments are another story. Either there are no condiments at all or there’s a station where you help yourselves to soy sauce, hot sauce or salt. I guess that is one way of cutting operations costs. Hold the condiments. If you want some, you’d have to ask. If you find the food bland, you either take it or you raise your hand to call the server’s attention.
There are also counters that do not respect the queue. Even when people line up to place their orders, some of these restaurants do not respect their own lines. I hate it the most when they give priority to a foreigner or someone fair-skinned. Several times I’ve had to call the counter person’s attention to giving priority to those who are foreign-looking.
Not giving the exact change. It is unthinkable that even the more popular and big-business food chains do not give their customers the exact change. Whether it is 10 centavos or 29 centavos or any other small change, restaurants are supposed to give their customers change.
Imagine how much they would earn unlawfully from keeping a few centavos per customer. With hundreds of people patronizing their restaurants, that means a lot of money. Republic Act 10909, or the No Shortchanging Law, makes it unlawful to not give consumers their exact change. The law protects the public who are shortchanged by sellers or service providers. It said businesses cannot give the excuse that they do not have loose coins. It added that it is the duty of businesses “to give exact exchange to the consumer without waiting for the consumer to ask for the same.”
Businesses range from vendors to corporations and government-owned entities to jeepney and taxi drivers.
What irritates me are businesses that do not ask or explain or apologize for their lack of coins. They simply assume it is fine to not give the exact change. What gall!
To fellow consumers, feel free to add to the list to let these business people know of the complaints. Action can be taken against erring businesses. This holiday and buying season, consumers have to be on alert for violation of their rights.