This is the story about my encounter with the Turkish Ice Cream Man.
I didn't noticed that Turkish Ice Cream has entered the pasar malam at Bedok Central quitely. It wasn't there when i was there last nite. What i seen from there was nothing but the same old stuff. Deep fried skewer food, muah chee, Ramly burger, drinks, clothings, cheap household items and cheap home videos (which is not cheap at all. Just yesterday, i saw the priated copies of Star Wars Ep 3 on DVD that has bene pass through as originals, which was accompanied with the certificate of rated PG. (GASP!) Didn't the government strongly emphasis on the importance of buying the original copies? From the look, you can tell that it is a pirated copy.)
Today, my hungry stomach is crying for food, and my mind is making me walking towards the pasar malam for some makan after the brain has been drained out in the MA1 paper. While walking towards the pasar malam, a stall crossed my eyes, where i do not see the stall yesterday.
The stall that sells Turkish ice cream.
Turkish ice cream is pretty different from your normal ice cream. It is made in small volume and the flavours are limited (i am only offered with chocolate, vanilla and apple flavour. So don't expect Cookies and Cream, Mint, Rasberry or Brownie flavor to the latest Peanut Butter flavor that i saw in Chinatown MRT Stn. Cos such flavours sound so alien to them.)
It seems that no one is patronising the stall. So, i decided to take a walk at the pasar malam first, before deciding whether should i go for the Turkish ice cream. Well, it seems that nothing caught my interest, so i go for the Turkish ice cream.
I walked to the stall and asked the Turkish ice cream man, who was in his late 20's to mid 30's, i suppose. I asked, what are the flavours you had?
'Vanilla, chocolate and apple ice cream.' He replied in a heavy Turkish accent English.
'1 chocolate cone, please.' i requested.
While i fished out my $10 note from my wallet, the ice cream man took a long metal pole, which looks like somekind of tools used for construction work, to stirred the ice cream first. Then, he cut them instead of scooping out from the pile and placed them onto a ice cream cone. After paying for the ice cream, the ice cream man passed me the cone...
and what i gotten is an empty cone instead. Here's the trick: he placed two cones together, one on top of another, and he placed the ice cream with the pole on the top cone. When you are passed with the cone, he draws out the cone where the ice cream was stuck on it. You gotten yourself an empty cone instead.
'Oh sorry, let me wrap this up for you.' He said, while taking a piece of tissue paper to wrapped the cone. I passed him the empty cone.
As he was about to pass me the cone with the ice cream, he turned the cone downwards, and i missed it. He turned the cone upwards again. I go and take the cone.
He turned the cone downwards again.
And he passed me the cone. 'Thank You!' was what we said to each other.
$2.50 for the cone and the amusing little performance.
And i left the pasar malam, walking back home, licking the ice cream and think of the small little performance the ice cream man performed.
I remembered that such ice creams were used to be on sale in fairs and special events only. Now? We can treat our tastebuds and eyeball with the rare performance and tricks at pasar malams. But somehow, selling it at $2.50 is rather inappropriate in pasar malams. Think: not many people are willing to pay $2.50 for an ice cream cone where it was so small, you would rather have Swensens or Haagan Daaz or Anderson's, where you are spolit for choices witht wide selections of flavours and the size of the cone. $3 for a cone is really chillin', where you do not restrict to the same old flavours, and the scoop is big too. $2.50, on the other hand, may or may not fill you up (cos i remember i go hungry again an hour later.) and you are given such a silly trick.
To me, it's not the $2.50 and how delicious the ice cream (it was made of goat's milk instead of your usual cow's milk, if i not wrong.) matters to me. It was the service that i gotten matters most. Such tricks may seem to be funny or rather annoying (for not letting you getting the ice creams, after the stunts has been performed.), but it was such little act that may or may not brighten up a person's day.
In my view:
Such stunts amuse, if you take it easy. Cos' it's an lost art from Turkey that you are seeing, and experience yourself. If you have a bad day and you can take thing's easy, what the ice cream man did can ease off your worries and frustration away. It brightens up your day. If you don't take it easy, the poor ice cream man may ended up getting a scolding by nasty customers (in which i pity the poor fella for getting a scolding from customers who do not appreciate his talent.)
And it brought us to the problems the retail service are facing today: employees who are impolite and rude, demanding customers. Just like the nasty hawker and selfish customer in Beansproutes not Enough and Beansprouts Never Enough, the 2 short films played on this year's National Day Rally, where it emphasis on the importance of politeness between the service staff and customers. While some service stuff should take note of their attitude towards customer, customers, on the other hand, should also take note of their attitude towards retail staffs.
While some of the retail service staff are rude, and gives nasty look on customers (in which i experienced it before. If you met such person while chillin', your moods are totally ruined.) should be educated and corrected on their behaviour, nasty customers should also reflect on their attitude. Cos' sometimes, customers are never right, in terms of their unreasonable demands. If you are rude to customers, you are damaging you and the org's reputation. If you are rude to the stuff, you are smearing shit on your face as a facial scrub.
Nice attitude, on the other hand, brightens up the mood of everyone. You smile at me, so i have no reason to be nasty at you. You are nice to me, and i will be nicer to you. With this, we create a harmonious shopping environment.
Only if Singaporeans understand this. And i hope that the ice cream seller will brighten up more people's day, instead of getting unwanted nasty comments.