'Taking without asking is stealing!' Maxwell Food Centre hawker chides tourists who helped themselves to chopsticks

After neglecting to collect their cutlery alongside their food, a pair of tourists decided to take some disposable cutlery from another hawker stall, a move which saw the stall owner allegedly threatening to call the cops on them.

In a post on Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu on Dec 27, the tourist recounted her dispute with the hawker and asked if her actions were illegal, reported 8world.

Using a pseudonym, Ye told 8world that she and her boyfriend had purchased some Hainanese chicken rice from Maxwell Food Centre for lunch on Dec 25, 2023, and had taken two pairs of disposable chopsticks from Fish Village, a hawker stall nearby.

"We are not locals and thought that this food centre is similar to the airport where disposable cutlery are shared [among stalls]," explained Ye. "We didn't expect the stall owner to angrily come over and tell us to return the chopsticks."

Feeling embarrassed as they had already used the chopsticks, the tourists offered to pay for them — to which the hawker allegedly declined, insisting that they return the chopsticks.

They claimed that they then proposed to purchase the hawker's food as a compromise, only for the hawker to yell and allegedly threaten to call the police to arrest them for stealing his cutlery.

Ye's post was shared on Facebook a day later, where it has since garnered over 500 likes and 400 comments.

Hawker clarifies he did not call the police

However, the owner of Fish Village told 8world that he was angry that the tourists did not inform him nor ask for permission before taking the cutlery.

"Taking without asking is stealing!" he exclaimed.

Regarding Ye's accusation of him wanting to call the police on them, he clarified he told the tourists that the act of stealing can be reported to the police, but did not say that he would call the police.

When AsiaOne visited Fish Village at Maxwell Food Centre on Thursday morning (Jan 4), the hawker, who wanted to be known as Lim, said that the tourists did not apologise when confronted, and merely asked how much they should pay for the chopsticks.

"To take [our cutlery] without asking is very rude," said Lim.

"I just needed to hear one word — 'sorry'. If he had apologised, I would have let it go."

As for the tourists' suggestion that they would purchase food from Lim's stall as compensation, Lim told 8world that they said no such thing. 

Speaking to AsiaOne, Lim and his wife also revealed that they face many instances where patrons of the food centre would carelessly swipe their cutlery and even the packaged chilli placed outside.

To circumvent this problem, the hawker has placed a silicone cover atop his cutlery tray since yesterday.

Other hawkers that AsiaOne spoke to also said that it is common for patrons to covertly take cutlery without informing them.

One hawker who runs the Korean cuisine stall at Maxwell Food Centre was spotted setting up a similar cover on her cutlery tray.

However, she told AsiaOne that the cover was to keep out dust and insects, and not to prevent other diners from taking the utensils.

Two diners, who declined to be named, told AsiaOne that they believe it is "not ethical" to take cutlery from stalls they did not patronise without informing and seeking permission from staff.

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lim.kewei@asiaone.com