Sheng Siong customer claims couple injured her mother and called her 'stupid moron' while cutting queue

A Sheng Siong supermarket customer got into a heated dispute with a couple, alleging that they had cut her queue and injured her wheelchair-bound mother in the process. 

The debacle happened last Sunday (July 16) at around 7pm, in a Sheng Siong branch at Block 209, Bedok Central, reports Lianhe Wanbao via Lianhe Zaobao. 

According to the woman, Emily, she and her mother were making payment at one of the counters when she realised that she had not weighed the papaya she was intending to buy.

She thus told the cashier to continue scanning the other items first, leaving her mother at the counter while she went to weigh the papaya. 

When she returned to the counter however, she found a man standing in front her mother and attempting to make payment.

She approached the man and accused him of cutting the queue.

Emily also said that the man called her a ‘stupid moron’, and that the man’s wife, in the process of cutting the queue, had injured her mother’s hand.

She took out and her phone and filmed the entire length of the argument, which she uploaded onto her Facebook page.

In the video, Emily and the man were filming one another using their phones, while arguing. 

Said the man in fluent English:

“You ought to be ashamed of yourself.”

Emily then retorted:

“I have nothing to be ashamed of, I’m queueing!”

The man also clarified that he did not cut queue and it was the cashier who had invited him over to make the payment.

“And if you think we have cut queue, you can ask the staff here, whether we have been cutting queue. 

“In fact, we've been invited by the staff here.”

Emily was not impressed by his reason, and countered:

“So, if the staff is wrong, then…”

The man then told a Sheng Siong employee offscreen:

“So now your staff is wrong, okay?”

However that was not the end of it.

Emily continued hounding the man, asking him why he had scolded her a ‘stupid moron’. 

The man defended his actions, saying that he and his wife had asked Emily to let them put their basket on the waiting table, but she would not.

He continued:

“If that is not stupid, I don’t know what is stupid.”

Meanwhile, Emily could be heard interjecting, saying that she would continue filming the man and post the footage up on Facebook if he did not stop filming too. 

Emily then told him that she had nothing to lose, and she wasn’t working, or in a foreign country like the man himself. 

It was at this point, the man’s wife stepped in, pulling her husband aside.

Emily continued saying:

“Your wife knows who is right and who is wrong.”

The two continued arguing, and the man’s wife made her stand clear, adding:

“We are not feeling ashamed, by the way.”

Emily, spoiling for a fight, then taunted her to ‘continue’ the argument, but the woman told her bluntly she didn’t want to. 

Holding her husband by his hand, she led him away.

A spokesman from Sheng Siong has confirmed that the argument took place, but said that it was purely a misunderstanding and both sides weren’t wrong.

In response to media queries, Sheng Siong pointed out that a cashier had told Emily’s mother that she would process the payment while Emily left to weigh the papaya, but the elderly woman insisted on waiting for her daughter to return first.

Thus, the cashier allowed the customers next in line to make their payments.

After processing the payment for a customer, the cashier was about to receive the next one, which happened to be the man and his wife. 

That was when Emily had returned and accused the couple of cutting queue.

The spokesman said:

“Our cashier had just started processing the payment for the second customer and was amidst scanning his second basket when the female customer (Emily) returned, and thought that the second customer had cut the queue.

“We reviewed CCTV footage and found that no one was in the wrong.

“The male customer did not cut queue.

“Our cashier had only attended to him after seeking consent from the female customer’s mother.”

The spokesman said that the misunderstanding had been cleared up and hopes that everyone can resolve their differences.

With regard to the incident, the spokesman also clarified that the cashier had attempted to explain to the female customer that the male customer did not cut queue, adding:

“After this incident, we’ll continue to reinforce and improve our employees' training.

“We hope the affected parties will resolve their differences as no party was in the wrong, and it was just a misunderstanding.”