Stall employee claims dead gecko in customer's soup is 'anchovies'
A food court customer who found a dead gecko in her spinach soup was told by a stall employee that it was "anchovies".
"The gecko was in the soup, its body was still intact. It was filthy and disgusting," said Mr Zheng, whose daughter bought the soup from a food court stall at the Lazada One building along Bras Basah Road.
He told Lianhe Zaobao that his daughter, who works nearby, made the purchase at around 1pm on July 18.
She discovered the gecko halfway through her meal.
However, when she took the soup back to the stall to ask for an explanation, a stall employee told her that it was merely anchovies.
"My daughter insisted that the employee look carefully. The employee eventually stopped saying it was anchovies and refunded her $6.90."
Stall employee Nguyen Thi Luan (transliterated), 41, confirmed that the incident took place, telling Shin Min Daily News that the gecko must have fallen from the ceiling, but staff did not notice it at the time. "We don't know where the gecko came from, but geckos don't usually appear in the stall. This is the first time I have seen one."
She expressed her deep apologies and said that she had immediately refunded the customer and bought a cup of lemon tea for her as an apology.
"We had originally intended to give her our contact information so that she could contact us if she felt unwell, but we were so busy at the time that we forgot," added Ms Nguyen.
