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Wednesday, Dec 11, 2024
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Inconvenienced store charges $10 for questions on directions
A convenience store thought the answer to the endless line of people asking for directions was to charge them HK$10.
The staff said the store's location had been a cross-border bus ticket counter before Covid but many people did not know that it had moved.
So SuperOne convenience store, on Pitt Street, Yau Ma Tei, posted a notice saying its staff had no obligation to answer people's requests for directions.
"It's normal if our staff are being rude as we don't owe anybody anything," the notice said.
But web users - including those from the mainland and Taiwan - criticized the shop for being rude to tourists.
"[The shopkeepers] can simply refuse to answer if they think people are rude," a web user said.
Some joked that they can pay the fee with consumption vouchers while others sympathized with the store, saying its staff had no responsibility to answer such questions. A commenter added: "It must've been really annoying if the store had to put up a notice to charge people for asking directions."
The notice was removed yesterday morning.
The store owner, Yuki, said several shops in the area also faced people rudely asking for directions.
"Normally we are willing to answer people's questions, but sometimes we'd still be scolded after answering," she said.
The cross-border bus ticket office relocated to Shanghai Street, with SuperOne taking over two years ago.
Yuki said up to 30 people asked for directions to the cross-border bus station every morning since the border reopened last month.
She added that despite the cross-border bus operator saying it deployed workers to guide people to the new ticket office, she rarely saw any such staff.
She hopes the public could be more considerate.
"You just can't imagine how things are," Yuki said.
Another store worker, Tsang, said at least a hundred people asked her for directions.
"Sometimes while I was working at the cashier, people would interrupt me and ask me where the bus stop is," she said. "They would just leave after they get the answer, but I often faced a long queue afterward."
She said fewer people came to the store for directions after the bus company put up a notice and map of the new ticket office next to the convenience store.
So SuperOne convenience store, on Pitt Street, Yau Ma Tei, posted a notice saying its staff had no obligation to answer people's requests for directions.
"It's normal if our staff are being rude as we don't owe anybody anything," the notice said.
But web users - including those from the mainland and Taiwan - criticized the shop for being rude to tourists.
"[The shopkeepers] can simply refuse to answer if they think people are rude," a web user said.
Some joked that they can pay the fee with consumption vouchers while others sympathized with the store, saying its staff had no responsibility to answer such questions. A commenter added: "It must've been really annoying if the store had to put up a notice to charge people for asking directions."
The notice was removed yesterday morning.
The store owner, Yuki, said several shops in the area also faced people rudely asking for directions.
"Normally we are willing to answer people's questions, but sometimes we'd still be scolded after answering," she said.
The cross-border bus ticket office relocated to Shanghai Street, with SuperOne taking over two years ago.
Yuki said up to 30 people asked for directions to the cross-border bus station every morning since the border reopened last month.
She added that despite the cross-border bus operator saying it deployed workers to guide people to the new ticket office, she rarely saw any such staff.
She hopes the public could be more considerate.
"You just can't imagine how things are," Yuki said.
Another store worker, Tsang, said at least a hundred people asked her for directions.
"Sometimes while I was working at the cashier, people would interrupt me and ask me where the bus stop is," she said. "They would just leave after they get the answer, but I often faced a long queue afterward."
She said fewer people came to the store for directions after the bus company put up a notice and map of the new ticket office next to the convenience store.
