KUALA LUMPUR: ‘Selling curry puff with oxygen filling!’ Some may recall the social media post by a customer who felt duped by a curry puff seller at a Ramadan bazaar because the curry puffs bought were almost devoid of any filling, hence the term ‘oxygen filling’.
The post which garnered huge response revealed that many others suffered similar fate and were generally unhappy with the way roadside food sellers conduct business these days. I recently encountered a similar experience while stopping by the roadside to buy ‘apam balik’.
Apam balik is a griddle pancake common in Southeast Asia. It typically is sprinkled with granulated sugar, finely chopped nuts and corn on top before being folded into half.
Sold by the roadside, in front of shops or at ‘pasar malam’ (night market), apam balik prices range between RM2.50 and RM3 a piece, depending on the location.
“Uncle, one apam balik please,” I told the seller who had set up a stall in front of a supermarket in Damansara.
“Would you like the regular one or with corn?” he asked me back. I was puzzled. Didn’t the regular apam balik come with corn? “With corn? I don’t understand. What is the regular one like?”
I asked him. “The regular one has no corn. If you want it with corn you would have to add an extra RM1.50,” he explained. I stifled my surprise and proceeded to order a regular one, watching in dismay as he made my apam balik without corn. I tried to convince myself that perhaps it would still taste as good as the one with corn.
As soon as I stepped into my car, I unwrapped the apam balik and took the first bite. It tasted off. I was so disappointed. I am not so stingy as to refuse to pay RM4 for an apam balik with corn, but I merely wanted to know what an ‘incomplete’ apam balik would taste like. It was certainly an experience I would not want to repeat.
Several days after the incident, I chanced upon the Facebook status update of a friend on his recent experience buying apam balik off the roadside. It turned out that my friend Farid, who was staying in Shah Alam, had also recently bought apam balik without corn. He was told to pay an extra RM1.50 for a measly bit of corn, making a ‘complete apam balik’ RM4.50 a piece.
To quote part of his status update: “Apam balik bukan memang dijual ada jagung ke? Aku membesar makan apam balik ada jagung. How come? Kena bayar untuk rasa kenikmatan jagung tu?” (Isn’t apam balik sold with corn as a standard filling? That is what apam balik was like, growing up. Why do we have to pay extra to enjoy the corn today?)
Those who responded to his Facebook update described the seller’s business plan as one designed for profiteering. Almost everyone found it difficult to accept the idea of apam balik sold without its standard corn filling.
Although some of the comments were humorous, there were also serious truths behind them.
Firstly, corn has always been one of the standard ingredients for apam balik filling. It is in fact, the reason why many of us buy apam balik. Without it, the apam balik would be incomplete.
Secondly, we are not asking for extra corn to be charged as much as RM1.50. We are buying something that is meant to contain that filling. This is not like us asking for ‘extra cheese’ with our cheeseburger or extra ‘sambal’ or ‘ikan bilis’ with our nasi lemak.
Those extras certainly call for extra charges. But even so, sometimes nasi lemak sellers will not even charge for the extra sambal or ikan bilis because they feel that their generosity will help boost their sales. Sellers needs to exercise more consideration when it comes to charging extra. If a customer is charged RM1.50 for apam balik with corn, then extra corn would mean an extra RM1-RM1.50. In the end, a humble piece of apam balik would cost up to RM5.50!
Other friends have also complained about nasi lemak containing only a sliver of boiled egg. Apparently, the seller had made it a practice to cut each egg into 20 pieces.
There was also a seller who had the gall to sell ‘laksa utara’ containing only the noodle and a diluted soup, without the basic accompaniments of sliced onions, cucumbers, salad leaves and boiled egg.The excuse given was that he had ‘run out of ingredients’ but when visiting the stall on later days, my friend found that it was in fact a practice to sell the laksa noodles only with its thin soup.
I understand that cost of everything is on the rise and traders need to raise their prices to survive. However, it should be done in the correct way.
Perhaps the seller could have charged between RM3 and RM3.50 for apam balik with corn, charging extra only for additional corn. I believe that many consumers do not mind paying a little extra as long as the food item is worth the price. Sellers need to be smart in planning their business strategy so as not to be seen as so obsessed with making profits that they neglect consumer rights.
If the food is delicious and reasonably-priced, there will be repeat customers. Sellers must be wary of the power of social media today as how they treat their customers can influence their profits and losses. — Bernama
(This commentary is the personal opinion of the writer and does not reflect Bernama’s stand on the matter.)