US tourist's encounter with fruit stall auntie in Chinatown goes viral: 'You want to buy or you want to ask?'
An American tourist who visited a fruit stall in People's Park Complex Food Centre in Chinatown was left with a bitter taste in her mouth following an unpleasant encounter with the stall owner.
Instagram user @sophisticated_beauty_868 shared a video of her experience with the owner of How Nguan Fresh Fruit on Feb 10, captioned: "Among SINGAPORE. Beautiful city, lies a BEAST. Welcome To CHINA TOWN. Highly UNRECOMMENDED."
It has since garnered more than 463,000 views and 977 comments.
'You want to buy or you want to ask?'
It starts with the tourist asking the stall owner: "You ready to help me?"
"Yes, now is your turn," the stall owner replies, her posture and tone suggesting they may have got off on the wrong foot before the video was recorded.
The tourist then points at a packet of grapes and asks what it is. "You want to buy or you want to ask?" replies the owner.
The tourist explains that she is asking because she doesn't know what it is.
"I tell you, if you got money…" says the woman before an elderly man intervenes, gesturing to her to calm down and explaining to the tourist and her friend, neither of whose faces can be seen in the video, that the packet contains seedless grapes.
The tourist sees that the packet of seedless grapes cost $25 and asks if they come in a smaller pack, to which the stall owner says dismissively: "No, no, no, the whole bag."
"OK, we don't know, we want to know," says the tourist. The owner then adds that the man is "very free for you", before retreating, which annoys him.
"You're very rude," he tells the stall owner. "You're very good," she retorts. They raise their voices in turn until the man points at her and tells her in a mix of English and dialect that they're tourists and that she shouldn't shame Singapore with her rudeness.
The tourist's friend can be heard saying, "Don't spend your money here, turn around, let's go." They thank the man and as they retreat, he resumes his shouting match with the stall owner.
"I'm recording, that is disgusting," says the tourist as they move away from the stall.
'Downright rude'
Netizens expressed disappointment at the stall owner's rudeness, with some apologising for the tourist's unpleasant experience.
"As a Singaporean, I'm so sorry you had to experience this. We do not claim her," said one netizen.
"The fruit seller is downright rude! Sorry you had to experience that," said another.
Others praised the elderly man for stepping in. "The uncle is the hero! I am so sorry for your experience. This woman does not represent Singapore," wrote a commenter
Some netizens were surprised that the tourist needed help with identifying the grapes, to which she replied: "I'm coming from the US, the size of the grapes was questionable as many other things. The question was for knowledge before buying. (Something we thought was Apples wasn't even apples). The point of the matter is her behavior was uncalled for hence the young man stepped in."
Not the first time?
Some commenters claimed that How Nguan Fresh Fruit's stall owners are no strangers to such controversy, with one calling the stall owner "super rude".
Another wrote: "THIS LADY IS VERY RUDE! SHE IS RUDE TO ALL CUSTOMERS, tourists and locals alike. She thinks she has to engage in a battle with all her customers."
O ne netizen complained of being verbally abused, while another said she was rudely told she couldn't examine the fruits.
Stomp has reached out to the tourist for more information.
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