Hong Kong has a service problem

I was sending off family at Hong Kong International Airport this evening and took them to 2 Café which is a chain serving Hong Kong-style diner food. For those familiar with the airport, 2 Café took over the massive premises behind McDonald's in the pre-security departure level previously occupied by Tsui Wah.

It was pretty late in the evening and the massive restaurant had about 2/3rds of its tables empty. Seeing that the restaurant was mostly empty, I picked a comfortable-looking table for our tired-from-traveling party of three and their carry-on luggage. It had benches on one side and, in the normal world, would comfortably sit 6 people, but in Hong Kong restaurants would expect it to seat 8 or more.

A waitress who didn't even bother to walk over to us and yelled something at me in English about that table being too big for us and ordering us to go sit at a four person table which in most of the world (and most of China) would be a two person table. I responded in Cantonese, don't worry, it's fine. To which she started lecturing me in Mandarin - again yelling from halfway across the restaurant - that this was the wrong-sized table for my party. I assured her that it doesn't really matter and that this won't cause any problems because the restaurant is empty anyways and there are plenty of other large tables that are also empty. Eventually she gave up and stormed away in a huff.

I understand that someone probably told her to make sure customers occupy tables in such a way that maximizes revenue generating butts in the chair. And this is very understandable in a city where rent is expensive and space is at a premium, especially during peak dining hours. As a resident for almost two decades, I'm very sensitive to this and am happy to share tables with strangers or move seats, even mid-meal, if it means some hungry potential patrons can get their food a bit sooner. But it made no sense in the context of a massive, mostly empty restaurant after peak dining hours.

This sort of customer abuse happens regularly across Hong Kong. The perpetrators of this abuse, unfortunately, disproportionately work in places that visitors are more likely to encounter such as uniquely Hong Kong local F&B outlets, taxis and minibuses, to name a few. And they are equal opportunity abusers, serving up their bad attitudes to locals and visitors alike. They're not reflective of the average Hongkonger...or even the average Hongkonger who works in the F&B...who is incredibly kind-hearted and caring. It's a small, but not insignificant, highly-visible minority that gives service in the city a bad name.

In the Chinese mainland, service culture has significantly improved over the past decade. It's now to the point where one very rarely encounters the types of truly mean-spirit service personnel that cause the sorts of problems we encounter in Hong Kong. Is it any wonder that so many Hongkongers prefer to spend their weekends and holidays in the mainland?