A very popular food court with both locals and tourists for its affordable prices (similar to what you can get from the street hawkers) in air-conditioned comfort.
Come lunch and dinner hours and you'll have to walk circles after circles trying to find an empty table. Otherwise, you have to be super sharp in finding one and land yourself next to one within seconds of spotting it or standing subtly next to a table of diners who are finishing up.
There are queues at every stall.
The cleaners are trying their best to clear the tables as quickly as possible. The assistants are taking orders in double quick time and preparing the ingredients so the chefs can cook one order after the next without delay. It's almost like a factory at work as you watch them going through the motion. They do not even have to stop and think what they have to do.
Occasionally, the staff gets a breather when a customer is not sure what to order or has a different request.
Diners are here for the cheap and good food, preferably in double quick time as well.
These workers know that their jobs are to fulfill as many orders as quickly as possible. There's no interaction between customers and staff apart from taking order. In fact, there's no time for interaction. No smile on their face. Expressionless, glum look. If they do not understand you, they just point to the photos on display. No thank you. Anyway, nobody is going to appreciate them for doing all these.
The only time you see them smile is when they are joking with their co-workers.
I started patronizing this mixed vegetable rice stall more often after my cousin told me about it. Vegetable rice is a kind of food where you get to choose from a variety of dishes (meat, fish, vegetable, curry, etc) to go with rice.
We have ordered at this stall together previously and are familiar with the workers' faces.
Usually, we would smile to them but sometimes they did not see it as they were busy waiting for us to point out the dishes we want. However, there is this lady who will usually smile back.
Once, I went to order by myself and as usual, I smiled to her and ordered the same dishes I always order.
After scooping my dishes, she put the plate down on the table instead of handing it over to me.
She then opened a container and scooped cashew nuts on top of the dishes.
I've seen other customers ordering the same dish previously but were not given that.
I thanked her, paid for my food and went off.
From that time onward, whenever I order that particular dish, she would add cashew nuts for me.
Not only that, sometimes when I just order only one dish, she would give me extra portion. And once, she even gave me extra rice (see the photo above). Of course, that was too much for me.
The next time I order, she wanted to give me more rice which I politely declined.
There was once I ordered two boxes of rice to give to a mother and 2 year old kid begging for money at the bridge. The lady thought it was for myself and she was so generous with the servings. After passing the food to the mother and kid, I went back to have my dinner and ordered from her again. That's when I told her why I bought two boxes of rice earlier through Google translate.
After dinner, I bought an ice cream from Dairy Queen for her because her generosity towards me has indirectly given the mother and kid enough food. She was shocked and elated. And her co-workers were all full of envy.
How often do we treat people who serve us as human? How often do we thank cleaners who clear our table? How often do we acknowledge the toilet cleaner standing at the toilet entrance saying "Sawasdee krub" and thanking us as we walk out of the toilet?
Treat people well.
Acknowledge them no matter their position.
Thank them no matter if it's their job.
Appreciate them no matter if you're paying for the service.