Recently, a dining controversy has caused an uproar on the Internet. On Saturday last week, 27 students from the Department of Information and Finance Management of National Taipei University of Technology went to a stir-fry restaurant after a summer camp. Before being served the dishes they ordered, they wolfed down two pots of free rice, and asked the owner to bring more rice. As rice needed time to cook, the owner suggested that they order stir-fried noodles instead, which the students blankly refused. They left before the new round they ordered of rice was ready to eat.
Even though the students did not make a scene at the restaurant, they gave the restaurant one-star reviews, and wrote about their “unfair” treatment.
Their complaints triggered a serious backlash. Internet users started speaking up for the owner and excoriated of the students’ behavior on the department’s fan page with a flood of comments. Under social pressure, the dean and the students went back to the restaurant to apologize to the owner.
However, they later complained that they were forced to do so by the school authorities, and that they felt disappointed with the school for not “protecting them” or hearing them out. As the controversy did not die down, the owner suspended operations.
Although this was a minor incident, it exposes several social issues. The first one is that some Taiwanese tend to exploit restaurants’ free food policy, as the “salmon chaos” incident in 2021 showed, when people changed their names to get free sushi, or when customers got so much food at all-you-can-eat buffets that they left behind mountains of leftovers.
It is apparent that the students wanted to exploit the policy instead of opting for alternatives such as stir-fried noodles.
To say that a place is civilized means more than just displaying fine art or skyscrapers. It also entails people’s manners and behavior, and this kind of greed is a flaw in the Taiwanese character.
The other issue is the problem with the review system. As people are now living in the digital age, information such as ratings and comments are open to the public on the Internet. Even though the review system was meant for feedback and comments, it has become a tool to threaten service providers for any detail.
Although customers have the right to give ratings, they should remember that mutual respect and empathy are still required for good dining experiences, and that paying money does not automatically make them superior. For many owners, the one-star rating might be more humiliating and infuriating than customers not paying for their meals.
As those who were involved in the incident were students, school authorities should also have let them take responsibility for their own behavior, instead of compelling them to apologize or apologizing on their behalf. Their interference in the incident not only did not remedy anything, but also led the students to resent them.
In an age where people can enjoy trolling and trash-talking on the Internet without consequences, many users are more than happy to treat conflict and complaints as a joke, and make malicious remarks instead of offering solutions or discovering the truth.
To put an end to the vicious cycle, the most important principle is to show others the respect that they deserve.
After nine days of holidays for the Lunar New Year, government agencies and companies are to reopen for operations today, including the Legislative Yuan. Many civic groups are expected to submit their recall petitions this week, aimed at removing many Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers from their seats. Since December last year, the KMT and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) passed three controversial bills to paralyze the Constitutional Court, alter budgetary allocations and make recalling elected officials more difficult by raising the threshold. The amendments aroused public concern and discontent, sparking calls to recall KMT legislators. After KMT and TPP legislators again
Taiwan faces complex challenges like other Asia-Pacific nations, including demographic decline, income inequality and climate change. In fact, its challenges might be even more pressing. The nation struggles with rising income inequality, declining birthrates and soaring housing costs while simultaneously navigating intensifying global competition among major powers. To remain competitive in the global talent market, Taiwan has been working to create a more welcoming environment and legal framework for foreign professionals. One of the most significant steps in this direction was the enactment of the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法) in 2018. Subsequent amendments in
US President Donald Trump on Saturday signed orders to impose tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China effective from today. Trump decided to slap 25 percent tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada as well as 10 percent on those coming from China, but would only impose a 10 percent tariff on Canadian energy products, including oil and electricity. Canada and Mexico on Sunday quickly responded with retaliatory tariffs against the US, while countermeasures from China are expected soon. Nevertheless, Trump announced yesterday to delay tariffs on Mexico and Canada for a month and said he would hold further talks with
Taiwan’s undersea cables connecting it to the world were allegedly severed several times by a Chinese ship registered under a flag of convenience. As the vessel sailed, it used several different automatic identification systems (AIS) to create fake routes. That type of “shadow fleet” and “gray zone” tactics could create a security crisis in Taiwan and warrants response measures. The concept of a shadow fleet originates from the research of Elisabeth Braw, senior fellow at the Washington-based Atlantic Council. The phenomenon was initiated by authoritarian countries such as Iran, North Korea and Russia, which have been hit by international economic
RSS