I THANK Bulbir Singh of Seremban for his advice to consumers on how to fight for their rights (”If you want results, learn how to gripe” — NST, Aug 20). I wonder though whether his methods would have worked in the situation I found myself in at a restaurant in Keramat recently.

My family and I were enjoying our dinner at the restaurant when my mother suddenly stopped eating and picked out a strand of hair from the “Ikan 3 rasa” dish that we had ordered.

I alerted the restaurant manager, and showed her the evidence. I insisted that the half-eaten dish be replaced with a freshly cooked fish dish free of hair.

The manager grumbled something about it. She seemed reluctant to do anything but eventually agreed to do as I had requested.

It could not have taken long to prepare that substitute fish dish but we were made to wait 45 minutes for it.

And when it did arrive, we discovered that it was so fiery (spicy) and sizzling that it literally brought tears to our eyes. I should have known that the kitchen staff would exact their revenge for my complaint and insistence on redress.

I was about to express my anger at the restaurant staff, but my mother stopped me and told me to let it go and just pay the bill. No apologies whatsoever were forthcoming from the manager. In fact, she seemed quite pleased that we left all teary-eyed.

As it turned out, not “keeping our mouths shut” spelt trouble for dissatisfied customers like us.

NAZREEN TAJUL ARIF, Mersing

Source: NST – August 25, 2008