Quote:
Originally Posted by conquer
Sometimes life is not just about efficiency. A little verbal exchange shows the caring of the hawker to fulfill the needs of his costumers. Just like sex, it is not just about making baby, right?  |
I get your point bro. But I am not entirely sure whether the asking is really about showing care for the customers, cos the question seems like a robotic process. If it's really wanting to show care, the helper would have asked more questions like how's your day or smile.
This phenomenon was equally driven by patron behavior, that is us. Long time ago, I seldom hear "eat or Dabao" questions being asked. Somewhere down the line, patrons started to say "吃的” even when they want to eat there. Over time, this drove hawker behavior to start asking, because it started to imply that if patrons don't say anything, it could mean both ways. A psychology thingy.
Especially at a long queue, this question started to take on a more significant impact, not helped by our warm weather and sweating in the queue. I am thinking, if patrons stop saying eat when they wanna eat there, over time, it will leave the stall owners in no doubt that we only say Dabao when we wanna Dabao.