It was previously reported that a customer allegedly picked up $334.50 worth of seafood from a seafood restaurant The Morning Catch Seafood at New Industrial Road, without paying.
However, it has since been revealed that the whole thing was a misunderstanding, and the owner of the restaurant has since reached out to the customer to apologise, after damaging his reputation.
What happened?
Speaking to 8 World News, the boss of The Morning Catch Seafood, Serene Qin, said that a new staff member had apparently misheard the regular customer’s name; he heard “Jia” instead of the man’s actual name “Jiang”.
Jiang picked up $334.50 worth of seafood and said that he would pay the bill later, and added that he knows the owner.
Jiang actually knows the owner, and apparently recognised most of the staff at the restaurant, but was not familiar with the staff who had misheard his name.
That particular staff member had only started working at the eatery for less than a month, and the misunderstanding came about after the new staff noted Jiang’s name as Jia, which Qin didn’t recognise.
Her husband, Desmond Lim, then shared photos of the customer’s car and bill online, and lodged a police report.
Customer responds
Jiang posted about the incident on Facebook after it blew up on social media, and Qin then saw his response to the incident.
She felt bad and wanted to apologise for the misunderstanding, and she understood why Jiang was upset at having his reputation damaged.
Lim’s post on Facebook was then taken down and Jiang has also since made full payment for the seafood.
Recap
The boss of a seafood restaurant The Morning Catch Seafood at New Industrial Road, spoke to Shin Min Daily News about how a man ordered $334.50 worth of seafood and left without paying.
The incident happened on 19 September at about 7.50pm.
The boss of the restaurant, shared that she was not around on the day of the incident but heard about what happened from her workers.
The customer known only as Mr Jia, had ordered 3 lobsters, 9 mantis shrimp, 9 abalones and 1kg of red flower crab, with the final charges being $334.50.
Jia then told them that he knew their boss personally and would transfer the money to her, and the employee who was writing the bill tried to get his contact details but the man left in a hurry, saying that he was “in a rush”.
The worker only managed to get a photo of his car, as the man drove away.
A police report has since been lodged by the owner after 5 days and the police confirmed that they are investigating.