Stomp reported yesterday that a man and a woman were caught on camera creating a ruckus at a Best Denki store in VivoCity in Singapore, Harbour Front (“Couple shouts at Best Denki employee, woman slams table: ‘You everything also don’t know’“, 28 Sep 2022).
The couple visited the store last Saturday (24 Sep) in the afternoon. They were seen reprimanding a retail staff at the store.
According to the witness who captured the whole ruckus in the video, the couple was demanding that their Dyson light, presumably defective, be replaced. It was said that they had bought the product from the store. However, they weren’t able to produce any hardcopy receipt.
“Best Denki staff handled the situation calmly despite loud shouting from the couple. A few other staff were on standby just in case the couple got aggressive or physical,” the witness said.
In the video posted on Stomp, the couple were heard shouting with a strong Chinese accent. The woman can be heard hitting the table multiple times and scolding the staff member loudly.
She was heard shouting, “How to settle, you also don’t know.”
“You (…) everything also don’t know,” she added while slamming the table.
The Best Denki staff can be seen keeping his cool throughout while trying to explain things to the couple.
However, it appears that the couple’s shouting did succeed eventually. According to the witness, Best Denki threw in the towel and gave the couple a new Dyson light as a replacement, despite the couple not being able to produce the hardcopy receipt.
And the witness added, “Before leaving with their new replacement light, the woman even made a smug remark to the staff and said, ‘Thank you for your patience in receiving our long lecture.’”
Laws to protect retail staff?
Last October, the Singapore Parliament passed a new law to protect security officers from abuse. It introduced new offences and tougher penalties for those who harass, assault or hurt security officers carrying out their duties.
The bill was introduced after cases of verbal and physical abuses against security officers in condominiums increased in recent times. One such incident went viral on social media with a resident verbally abused a security guard at his condominium.
Viral video of resident berating security guard
Mr Ramesh Erramalli, 44, was issued with a stern warning by the Police for “intentionally causing harassment” to the security guard.
An average of about 150 cases of such abuse have been reported each year from 2018 to 2020.
A separate survey by the Union of Security Employees (USE) and the Singapore University of Social Sciences also found that four in 10 security officers had faced some form of abuse while working.
Perhaps to protect retail staff from facing similar abuses, similar laws can be passed in Singapore too in the retail industry.