A dispute at chicken eatery Nando's over a request for hot water
had popular actress Joanne Peh walking out in a huff to applause
from wait staff. And she has taken her unhappiness online.
On Monday and Tuesday, the Mediacorp artist, 28, tweeted about
her bad experience at the mid-range restaurant, which serves
grilled chicken and has three branches in Singapore.
Tweets such as 'Somebody please save this restaurant. They have
no idea what service and initiative means' and 'The collective
applause fr ur staff is outright disrespectful. Fix the attitude.'
went out to more than 20,000 followers of Peh's account,
@JoannePeh.
In response, Nando's tweeted an apology the following day: 'We
saw ur tweets abt ur experience and would like to sincerely
apologise for this incident.'
Representatives of the company also called the actress to
apologise, according to Peh.
But the actress was still fuming when she related the incident
to Life! in a telephone interview on Tuesday.
She had gone to the Tanglin Mall branch of Nando's on Monday for
dinner with her deejay boyfriend Bobby Tonelli, 36.
After placing their orders, Peh asked for hot water but was told
by wait staff that this was not possible. She then asked to speak
to the manager, who again said that Nando's does not serve hot
water.
'The conversation started out cordial, but after a while, I
started raising my voice in bewilderment. The manager actually told
us he once got into trouble for serving hot water, which I have
never heard of before,' says Peh.
The actress says the couple were eventually told that hot water
would cost $3.90, which is the price of a cup of tea at
Nando's.
After Tonelli pointed out that a bottle of water costs only
$1.80, the manager agreed to charge them that price.
This agreement was apparently not conveyed to his staff, who
were still 'dumbfounded' when the couple asked for hot water again.
The couple then decided to leave, about half an hour after they
walked in.
Peh claims that when they walked off, the wait staff, including
the manager, clapped. The actress stresses that her unhappiness was
not over having to pay for the water, but the 'poor communication
and lack of initiative'. She also finds the applause
'disrespectful', calling the entire incident a 'bizarre
experience'.
When asked, Peh says she was aware of Nando's policy not to
serve water and that there was no verbal abuse or personal attacks
from either side during the entire exchange.
In response to queries from Life!, Nando's regional marketing
manager Fanny Chai says: 'As beverage sales is a key source of
business revenue, it is our corporate decision not to serve water
on the house.'
She adds that staff members usually offer bottled water or a hot
beverage such as tea as an alternative, when customers request warm
water.
This was not clearly explained to Peh at the time, resulting in
a 'misunderstanding', says Ms Chai.
She declines to comment or confirm if wait staff had clapped
when Peh walked out, saying that internal investigations of the
incident are ongoing.
Charging for tap or hot water is not an unusual practice. A
check with 15 restaurants here revealed that eight of them charge
for tap water or hot water. Costs and practices vary. Bali Thai,
which serves Thai and Indonesian cuisine, serve complimentary tap
water but charges 50 cents for hot water. Barcelos Flame Grilled
Chicken charges $2.45 for a 600ml bottle of mineral water and does
not usually serve hot water.
When asked if Nando's will now consider serving free water, Ms
Chai says: 'We are still assessing the situation at this point and
will take this into consideration.'
