‘No legacy is so rich as honesty.’- renowned English playwright, poet and actor William Shakespeare
I had roti canai kosong (a type of pan-fried flatbread), nasi lemak (fragrant rice cooked in coconut milk) and hot teh tarik (popular hot milk tea beverage) for lunch at an eatery recently.
The food and drink were good. The roti canai was crispy and the nasi lemak came with the usual sambal (chilli condiment), dry sambal belacan (another type of chilli condiment), cucumber, salted fish, groundnuts and a fried egg.
Roti canai tastes best when you dip it manually into the accompanying curry sauce while the cucumber and sambal belacan taste better when you use your hand.
After I finished eating, I washed my hands at a sink in the middle of the eatery. I went to the toilet before leaving the premises. As I walked out, a waiter was busy clearing the table where I sat.
Then I went shopping and visited at least two supermarkets. When it was time to pay for the items I bought, I noticed I had a lot more cash than I expected after my sumptuous lunch.
“How can it be?” I asked myself.
Two hours later, when I was about to take a nap that afternoon, I suddenly realised I hadn’t paid my bill at the eatery. I guessed it would have been less than RM20.
Now, my friends, what would you do if you were in my shoes?
Although I was sleepy, I got up quickly from my comfortable bed, grabbed my handbag and immediately drove back to the eatery. Luckily, it was quite near my house.
After parking my car properly, I headed straight to the counter where the cashier was.
She was one of the three persons who had served me earlier on. I deduced she was more senior than the other two workers — a young man and a young woman — who had served me in terms of her working experience and age.
The younger waitress must have been new to the job because she had earlier on given me two spoons instead of a spoon and a fork. The senior staff had quickly rectified the mistake when I pointed it out to her.
At the counter, I quickly apologised for forgetting to pay my bill earlier that day.
“Your staff should have reminded me or stopped me before I left,” I told the cashier.
Glancing at me, she replied, “Oh, you were the customer who sat at table no. 4. Sometimes this thing happens when we are very busy and short of staff.”
After paying my bill which amounted to roughly RM12, I went home quickly to continue my nap.
That was the first time I forgot to pay my bill at an eatery.
Now, I can understand why many coffeeshops and food stalls now practise a pay-on-delivery policy.
If a customer forgets to pay for his food or drink, there is very little they can do unless they have his handphone number. Since this world is full of people with different characters, I am not surprised if some dishonest customers conveniently forget they have not paid their bills.
My younger sister, Lan, who works in a restaurant in Johor Bahru, had to chase a customer all the way down to the car park because he forgot to pay his bill. He came with a friend and he thought that friend had the paid the bill. His friend, on the other hand, assumed he had settled the bill.
I pity my sister. Sometimes, if her colleagues forget to charge a customer for the food they serve, all of them have to pay for the bill themselves. In a restaurant, the food is not cheap and can run into hundreds.
Once, when their cashier forgot to charge a customer RM200 for an empurau (freshwater fish) he ordered, my sister and all her colleagues had to use the money in their tip box to cover the cash shortfall.
Usually, at the end of a month, all the staff in my sister’s restaurant will share the money in the tip box. Sadly, at the end of that particular month, they had nothing to look forward to. Everyone had to pay for the cashier’s carelessness.
I don’t know why her restaurant did not chase the customer and explain that the cost of the empurau was not included in the bill and ask him to pay for it.
I understand from my sister if the customers leave their phone numbers behind, the restaurant will try to contact them in many such cases.
Some customers are naturally angry to learn they had been billed incorrectly for meals they enjoyed. Many regular customers, however, will, albeit grudgingly, transfer what they owed to the restaurant.
In my case, I was happy to go back to the eatery to pay for the food and drinks I enjoyed. I am an honest and law-abiding person. I think if anyone forgets to pay before leaving an eatery, he or she should go back as soon as possible to settle the bill.
That afternoon, when I met the senior waitress cum counter cashier at the eatery to pay my bill, I recalled my younger sister’s face and remembered particularly her stories of the empurau and how she had to quickly chase a customer to the car park.
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of New Sarawak Tribune.
