A story of a restaurant owner suffering from the outrageous attitude of a so-called 'no-show' customer?who reserved four servings of chicken baeksuk but never showed up?has come to light, sparking public outrage.
On the 28th, an online community called 'Because It's Painful, I'm the Boss' posted an article titled "I Couldn’t Stand No-Shows Anymore, So I Went to the Police Station." The author, Mr. A, who runs a baeksuk restaurant, stated, "At 6:30 a.m., I received an online reservation for four servings of Hanbang Tojongdak Baeksuk at 12:30 p.m. the same day, and I prepared everything on time."
However, even as the reservation time approached, the customers did not appear. When Mr. A called the reservation customer, they said they couldn’t come because their golf game was delayed and asked to cancel. Mr. A argued, "How can you cancel when the food has already been cooking for an hour and is fully prepared?" but the customer responded with an attitude of "I can’t come, so what can I do?"
When Mr. A asked, "Shouldn’t you have contacted us in advance?" the customer blamed Mr. A instead, saying, "Why did you cook without confirming with me first?" Mr. A explained, "The restaurant prepares food according to the customer's reservation time, so if you are going to be late, you need to inform the restaurant in advance." The customer retorted, "Did you inform me of that when I made the reservation?" When Mr. A said, "This information is provided during online reservation and sent once more via mobile phone after confirmation," the customer hung up and did not answer any further calls.
Mr. A said, "I have been repeatedly victimized by such no-shows, especially from troublesome customers coming from golf courses. I was so frustrated that I sent a text message threatening to report them if the payment for the food was not made within an hour." He added, "Since there was no response, I went to the police station." The customer, who had ignored Mr. A’s calls and texts, told the police, "My golf game ended late, and I was playing golf with guests, so I didn’t want to deal with it anymore and hung up and ignored the calls."
In the end, Mr. A was unable to file a report with the police. He said, "The police told me that there is no relevant law regarding no-shows, so they cannot accept a report." He explained, "The case of 40 no-show kimbap rolls gained public attention because the victim was a low-income person who lost nearly a day’s wages, but since the damage amount of 60,000 won for baeksuk is small, the police said they cannot accept it as a minor fraud or obstruction of business." He added, "I was also told that a civil lawsuit would be difficult because the damage amount is only 60,000 won," expressing his frustration.
Mr. A also attached text messages exchanged with the no-show customer. The customer apologized in a lengthy message, saying, "First of all, I’m sorry for unintentionally causing damage," but also blamed Mr. A, saying, "I tried to come even late, but since you were so unreasonably angry while I was hosting guests, I got upset. If the no-show damage is significant, it would be better if you called to confirm at least once before starting to cook. It’s ridiculous to call so unreasonably as if you want to catch a no-show."
In the end, the author said, "I’ll just endure it today as well," and words of comfort followed. Netizens responded with comments such as, "Do we have to even consider the feelings of those who thoughtlessly order? It’s really difficult," "No-show customers are really shameless," "We definitely need to create related laws," and "No-shows are so common these days that deposits should be mandatory for reservations."
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