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Andy Lau‘s well-known advertisement promoting quality customer service in Hong Kong
Screen capture from the Hong Kong Tourism Board promotional video
than its record last year and way be- accusing them of lacking courtesy and named herself as Mary Little Two has
low the global average of 80. patience. been working in the catering industry
Meanwhile, the Consumer Coun- for more than a decade. She says res-
cil told Varsity that the number of Where have all the smiles gone? taurant workers are under huge pres-
complaints from Mainland tourists While visitors say poor customer sure, as they often have to put up with
surged by 93 per cent in 2018. Among service is casting shadows over Hong customers’ disrespectful behaviour
the more than 4,000 complaints from Kong’s image, workers in service in- and unreasonable demands. Most
Mainland visitors, over 300 were com- dustries say intense pressure at work of them are also frustrated by their
plaints about “Quality of Services”. In is hindering them from delivering heavy workload.
a survey conducted by PTT, the big- quality service. Established in 2015, “Restaurant workers in Hong
gest online forum in Taiwan, netizens “The Beggar in the Restaurant” (乞客) Kong are often considered as ‘Super-
voted Hong Kong as their most hated is a Facebook page which has been men’ considering the amount of work
city in the world. Taiwanese visitors posting creative cartoons inspired by they are loaded with. For example, I
who joined the poll were upset with common grievances shared by restau- often have to take care of a full house
shop assistants and waiters’ attitude, rant workers. Page administrator who of 75 guests with only three other co-
workers,” she says.
Smiling Score of different regions Tsoi Chung-kin, chairman of the
Retail and Wholesale Trades Em-
Ranking Region Score (out of 100) ployees Association, agrees that over-
1 United States 93 whelming workload has adverse im-
pact on service quality.
2 Bulgaria 92
“Nowadays, man-
2 Iceland 92 power shortage is
4 Brazil 91 a common prob-
lem for restau-
5 Latvia 90
rants. A waiter
... now is responsi-
ble for taking care
26 Hong Kong 56
of 10 tables of cus-
Source: Smiling Report 2019 by the Better Business Worldwide tomers, compared Tsoi Chung-kin

Restaurant workers in Hong

Kong are often considered

as “Supermen” considering

amount of work they are

loaded with

Many shops in Hong Kong have long business hours