Know-everything-&-anyhow family day at the park.

When we run a business, definitely, we will face all kinds of problems with all kinds of customers. Dealing with hard-to-handle customers, we always have to put on a smile no matter what and do our best to resolve the situation. At the end of the day, running a business is about making money and not about creating enemies from customers.

There is a group of people which is hard to handle as well and they are NOT even customers. I call them the "Know-everything-&-anyhow".

These people would never contribute to the business. They will never buy anything from retail shops. They will never take out their wallet if their intention is to walk-walk-see-see only.

I have met many such cases at my business premises.

Know-everything-&-anyhow family day at the park.

Know-everything-&-anyhow grandma, "Fish prawn so expensive, market cheaper. Market prawn more fresh lah. Why these people waste money? So stupid! Market prawns more fresh lah."

How is it possible for a dead prawn to be fresher than a lively prawn?

Know-everything-&-anyhow uncle, "Aiyo, all these people so stupid. The operator feeds the prawn full full so that they catch nothing. So stupid. Waste money only. Go market buy better lah. Prawn fresher somemore."

If this uncle ever starts a prawn fishing business using such tactics, he would soon find his name in the history book. HISTORY!

Know-everything-&-anyhow wife, "Is it? They feed the prawns? Yalor... these people so stupid. Waste money. Prawns in market fresher lah."

The grandma's comment has a 'parroting' effect on the family. Dead prawns in market are fresher than live prawns.

Know-everything-&-anyhow family, "Stupid people. Waste money. Prawns in market are fresher lah. Hahahaha."

The above is not fiction nor just-for-laugh.

It happened yesterday at my place. This Know-everything-&-anyhow family was standing like only 3m away from the counter. Their Know-everything-&-anyhow comments started flying here and there. It was really irritating. As they were know-everything-&-anyhow commenting, their voices got louder.

Just then, a customer had just ended his session and packing his prawns at the packing station. He had a bag full of prawns. Know-everything-&-anyhow family looked at it and then said, "Market prawns look better and fresher. Hahahahaha. Waste money." The customer stared at them but they seemed so happy and started to get carried away.

"Hello. We don't feed our prawns here. We are doing a business here. We DON'T feed our prawns at all. We are doing a business here."

I had no choice but to 'interrupt' their behavior. Upon hearing from me, they 'lowered' their voices but I could still hear them from 5m clearly. (I was eating dinner on another table.) This time, I repeated firmly to them and finally, they kept their know-everything-&-anyhow mouths shut. They kept turning their heads back to look at me. I smiled back. Even as they were walking away, they kept turning back to see if I was still looking at them. Indeed, I kept my pair of eyes on them.

Apparently, this Know-everything-&-anyhow family was merely visiting the park for the first time. They did not have dinner at the park nor did they patronize any of the services in the park as well. They are not customers and then they know-everything-&-anyhow comment about the services...

Just another day at my premises....