• Employees at coffee shops said customers are irritated by vaccination status checks
• Some customers did not carry along their mobile phones or a TraceTogether token
• At two hawker centres, patrons were not asked to show their vaccination status

SINGAPORE — For the past five days, Mr Kaw Pou Keong, an economy rice stall attendant at the Food City coffee shop in Chong Pang, has been on the receiving end of tongue lashings from irate customers at least seven or eight times a day.

The 40-year-old has to verify with his customers who wish to dine in if they are completely vaccinated against Covid-19.

This is because the coffee shop he operates in, as with five others TODAY visited on Sunday (Oct 17), lacked a centralised system to check the vaccination status of customers.

“It’s very troublesome because it holds up the line and it irritates people,” Mr Kaw said in Mandarin. “But please understand, I’m just doing my job.”

He is among a number of staff who told TODAY that they had been subjected to verbal abuse just for doing their job — to check the vaccination status of patrons.

Under the new Covid-19 measures which kicked in on Wednesday, people who are not vaccinated cannot enter malls, large standalone stores and attractions, or eat at hawker centres and coffee shops.

For Madam Lilian Ong, who works at a stall selling nasi lemak, she had been getting into arguments with older customers when she attempted to check their vaccination status.

The 59-year-old said some of these customers did not carry along their mobile phones or a TraceTogether token, and she was thus unable to check their vaccination status.

“They still insist that they are vaccinated and I should let them dine in, but how am I to know? I tell them they can still get a takeaway order, but they get angry and leave without buying anything instead.”

This comes as a restaurant manager, through a letter sent to TODAY’s Voices section, pleaded with diners to follow Covid-19 rules as the livelihoods and safety of food-and-beverage workers are at stake.

He said that some customers were blatantly disregarding the rules or employing tricks to “beat the system”.

The latest restrictions were put in place to protect them and reduce the strain on the healthcare system.

The authorities have allowed a week-long grace period from Oct 13 to 19 for malls to enforce the new vaccine-related controls.

MALLS AND HAWKER CENTRES

That said, United Square in Novena was already checking the vaccination status of its visitors, and so were three other malls TODAY visited. They were Northpoint City in Yishun, AMK Hub in Ang Mo Kio and Junction 8 at Bishan.

Unlike what TODAY had seen on Wednesday, there was little confusion on Sunday as patrons waited to enter the respective malls.

At AMK Hub, however, the placement of one of its entry points, located just after an escalator at the mall’s basement, became an issue when one patron had difficulties checking in.

As a result, other visitors who were just coming up from the escalator had very little room to manoeuvre themselves into a safe spot without getting pushed by those behind.

This frustrated one man in the queue, who proceeded to shout at a staff member manning the entrance, which left her visibly upset.

The man who shouted at her, a 67-year-old retiree, said that he was angry with the mall’s management for placing the check-in entry just after the escalator.

“Look at how dangerous it is,” he said, pointing to other spaces where the check-in would have been better placed.

Matters were less eventful at the two hawker centres TODAY visited — Chong Pang Market & Food Centre and Ang Mo Kio Central Market & Food Centre.

Several patrons said they were neither asked to produce their vaccination status before they entered the premises, nor when they placed their orders.

Hawkers also said that they were not told to check the vaccination status of their customers.

Besides, they do not have the time to check, said one fishball noodles seller who wanted to be known only as Mr Lim.

“Why would I check? I’m already so busy, I just need my customers to pay me, that is all,” said the man.

While it was previously reported that safe distancing enforcement officers would conduct selective checks of diners' Covid-19 vaccination status at the hawker centres and coffee shops, TODAY did not see these officers present during our visit to the hawker centres on Sunday.

Ms Annie Lim, a 60-year-old administrator who was having lunch at the Ang Mo Kio hawker centre, said this was “a little bit concerning” as it meant that unvaccinated individuals could try their luck and have their meals at hawker centres.