Facebook user Edroos Alsagoff recently took to Facebook to voice his frustration after he and his children faced an alleged treatment which he considered was discriminating. What shocked him the most was that the staff rejected his plea for a table for him and his family but offered a table to a white lady and her daughter instead.
Here is the full story.
My family and I made our way to Platform 1094, a Harry Potter themed cafe in Serangoon Road. We attempted to make reservations via calling and through fb but to no avail and decided that we’d give it a shot and try our luck by heading there. Our children were dressed up in their robes and scarves, and we were there for my son’s birthday.
Upon reaching the cafe entrance, we were greeted by a staff named Yuling and were told that there were no tables available as the cafe was fully booked. According to her, weekends are always busy for the cafe and we should have made the reservations if we wanted a table. Reservations are to be done through the phone or online, and the fastest way to get a response was through facebook.
Prior to us coming by the cafe, we had left a reservation request through a facebook message but it was not responded to. We also called in at least 10 times that morning but nobody picked up our calls. Hence we decided that the only other way to dine there was to walk in and queue for a slot. We totally understood that due to covid restrictions, we may have to queue for a while before getting a seat and we were okay with that. It is not our first time patronizing a themed cafe and we know how busy and overly occupied it gets on weekends.
We did enquire with the employee Yuling if there could be any other alternative arrangements since we didn’t manage to reserve a table. Since we have made our way there, we were hoping that by some wizadry magic they could assist us. Yuling kept turning us down claiming that there are no other alternatives and she really can’t assist us in any way. This all happened with my children dressed up in harry potter gear (no less!) and it seemed pretty evident that there clearly was no exclusions that could be made for a) this birthday boy and b) patient customers whk were ready to wait and queue for a open slot.
Obviously we were disappointed and were just about to leave the premises, when a gentleman and his child, behind us in the queue approached Yuling. They too had made no reservations just like my family and I. Yuling immediately attended to him and mentioned that the cafe is full. HOWEVER, if he is willing to wait, she can offer him a table outdoors if he was willing to wait. This immediately caught my attention as this solution or alternative was not offered to my family in the span of the 10 minutes that was spent bickering over reservations and overlapping time slots. Yuling was clearly very adamant to make us leave without a chance to dine at the cafe at all. She appeared flustered and left no room for any form of dining options despite our pleas.
The gentleman who was offered the seat felt equally horrible that we were treated that way and very nicely offered us his seats instead saying “dont disappoint the child. I have a child who is a fan of harry potter too.” Clearly the patron was more empathetic than your staff who for some reason just wanted us gone.
Another lady and child came after with no reservations and was offered an alternative by another server.
This comes to some thoughts:
Why weren’t we given the same treatment?
Why the double standards?
Was there a criteria that we somehow overlooked to be a diner at the cafe?
Was your employee Yuling discriminatory in any sense by turning us away but offering the next few patrons a table?
For the record, she went into hiding the moment we called her out for her unfair, unjustifying and unnecessary treatment.
It is not fair for me to assume any reasons behind us being turned away at the door while others are being given preferential treatment. So I am reaching out to Platform 1084 on what basis were we turned away? What boxes did we not check as a paying customer of your cafe. I hope you will make the necessary investigation and i demand an explanation for this unnecessary treatment by Yuling.
You can see from the photos how “overbooked” they are from the empty tables.**And just for your feedback, are walk-ins not allowed and only reservations are allowed? Then why is there not an allocated staff to handle reservations either by your online social media portals or via calls? I hope this is better mentioned in your social media platforms for your future patrons.