Dear Tapas Tree: It's not about the water any more
Tuesday, July 14, 2009 at 11:59PM Sparklette's efforts at listing local restaurants that do not serve free water to their customers seems to have raised quite a ruckus. Enough to make the government mouthpiece local newspaper in fact. While it was one blogger's efforts to get the word out and call for boycotting of the listed restaurants, the effect could not be ascertained. I definitely won't boycott a restaurant just because it didn't serve me free water, but the food better be knock-out-in-the-first-round, "what if I can't find such great tasting food ever again" tear-jerking, stuponfuciously outstanding.
Which we all know it's going to be rare, but I digress. The important thing to note here is that list allows consumers like us to make informed decisions about where we would like to spend our money; it is no different from research before buying a notebook computer or a smartphone. And should the lack of free water be a deal breaker for some, then that list would be useful to those individuals.
Maintaining a list like that is not effortless, and requires a community's active participation. Sparklette is well aware of this, and even put a disclaimer in her post:
disclaimer: this list is compiled based on reader contributions and my own dining experiences. while i have taken steps to ensure the information presented is current, you may still wish to double-check with the restaurants if they have updated their no-water policy. if you notice any discrepancy, please let me know, too.
As a business, if you end up on such a list either by mistake, or your policies may have changed to warrant being removed from such a list, the sensible thing to do would be to contact the blogger in question and clarify it. The blogger would then, sensibly, remove the name of the business from the list, and sometimes may even update the post to indicate the change. It is a win-win situation: the business stays in the good books of its potential clientele and a bit of free publicity and goodwill; and the blogger enhances their reputation and credibility.
Or you can refuse to contact the blogger and make threats of legal action. Which was what Miss Lyn Yip, marketing and sales manager of The Tapas Tree Group, chose to do:
"We find this list to be libellous, and will not hesitate to engage our lawyer if we are not removed from the list and the situation is not rectified immediately.
"We live in a time when the influence of Web opinion cannot be ignored, so bloggers have to approach their entries with responsibility, especially when composing defamatory lists."
This play would work very well if you are a high-ranking member of the PAP government, which unfortunately for both Tapas Tree and Miss Yip, and fortunately for us, she is not. That statement shows utter disrespect for their customers, as well as an indicator that Miss Yip is not suitable to be a sales and marketing manager for any organisation.
If you believe online opinion cannot be ignored, you should engage the online community, not threaten them. This is bad for your business, bad for the reputation of your business, and detrimental to your own personal reputation a a professional. This is a guaranteed way to lose customers, which is exactly what a sales and marketing manager should not be doing.
As a result of Miss Yip's statement, I will join Sparklette's boycott of the restaurants of The Tapas Tree Group. It is no longer about the availability, or lack thereof, of free water, it is about your attitude towards the online community and the delinquent unprofessionalism shown by your spokesperson. Until Tapas Tree changes their policies and attitude, there is no reason at all to give or recommend any business to them. I will personally ensure that all of my friends and family know of the boycott and the reasons, and I will ask them to tell their friends and family to the same effect. I would also call on everyone who reads this to do the same.
Bloggers are not the only ones who need to temper their approach with responsibility, Miss Yip.
blog, boycott, food, terribad, twitter in Customer Service, Singapore, Social media, What the fuck
Reader Comments (3)
Unless I have woken up on a different planet, truth is a defence against defamation.
If the list reports restaurants that do not serve water, and the restaurant really does not serve water at the time of posting, then where's the defamation...
I suspect their next move would be some other dude coming up to offer apology on behalf of this Ms Yip...
Bah my mistake. It seems the restaurant really does serve water.
Different ball game then.
They claim to serve free water, but to threaten lawsuits before engaging the blogger in question is not a good way to advertise a business. It also appears that Sparklette put the name of the restaurant there herself, based on her personal experience. So it is possible to be a "It is not our policy to not serve free water, but sometimes, we do that".
In any case, my boycott continues. Reactions like Ms Yip's makes me wonder why some of these people have a job doing what they do.