Money over Lives

Friday • June 24, 2005 -- Today
I REFER to the small fire that broke out at Plaza Singapura on Tuesday night. While it was rather scary being at the scene, I thought the building's staff and management reacted quickly and professionally.However, I'd like to draw attention to a dangerous and irresponsible act by one tenant.A friend and I were having dinner at the Swensen's restaurant when the fire broke out.Our dinner had only just been served and we had barely started eating, but it was smoking and there were requests on the public address system for everyone to leave immediately.So, the customers in Swensen's got up to evacuate the site.At this point, the staff of Swensen's blocked the way and insisted we pay before leaving.This meant that around 30 people had to wait in line to pay, when the building had already been evacuated and smoke was filling the restaurant!The manager told us they were given 15 minutes to collect payment before allowing us to leave.The 15 minutes could easily have cost lives. What if something had exploded? Or if children had passed out from smoke inhalation?I am disgusted at this ridiculous prioritising of money over life. I hope something can be done to prevent such irresponsible acts from occurring again.
Letter from NICHOLAS TAN WEN-YU

And the reply from the restaurent:
Swensen's sorry, offers sweetener(Weekend - June 25, 2005)
WE refer to the letter by Mr Nicholas Tan Wen-Yu, "Fire! But they were told to pay first before leaving" (June 24). We have taken a very serious view of this matter and would like to assure Mr Tan and all our customers that in such a situation, our utmost concern would always be the safety and well-being of both our customers as well as our staff. This cannot be compromised.At the time the evacuation order was made, there was already a queue at the cashier's counter. Diners were then advised that there was an evacuation. Our managers at that point tried to clear the process of cashiering quickly and were perhaps over-zealous in trying to close as many bills as possible. In an event of an evacuation, our procedure calls for ceasing all activities immediately and this would include payment settlement. We apologise for the distress caused to Mr Tan and all other customers who might have felt the same. Our safety procedures, among other standard operating procedures, form part of our managerial staff training. Nevertheless, a retraining process and a reiteration of customer safety measures is being immediately undertaken and we have made it more comprehensive and added more focus to this aspect.We will endeavour to continue to provide a safe, comfortable and enjoyable experience for all our diners at all times. We have certainly learnt from this experience. The management and staff at Swensen's Plaza Singapura sincerely apologise for the distress caused, and this weekend, would like to extend a waiver of service charge to all customers.

So this is Singapore for you. Money matters, nothing else does.