Justice Served Cold... Brutally Cold...

I 'fought' for justice and fairness. I 'won' the battle... How come I feel awful about it?

Here's how the night went down:

I was having dinner with my grandparents and aunt at a hawker centre downtown. I ordered Fish Meat Bee Hoon (Noodle) Soup for Grandpa and ordered a side of Chee Cheong Fun per Grandma's request. When I was at the Noodles stall, I ordered fresh fish meat to be cooked in soup, rather than the usual fried fish meat that they put in. I remembered the lady mentioned something about "pek chneow" (pomfret) and I just said, fresh fish meat. Fish meat. I walked back to my table, thinking nothing of it.

The next thing I know, the stall owner's helper served us a bowl of bee hoon soup with the entire fish (bones and all) in pieces. I looked at it and went, "That's not what I ordered. I ordered fish meat, not fish meat with bones in pieces. How is my Grandpa going to eat that?" The helper said, "I don't know. This is what was ordered." I replied, "No, this is not what I ordered."

She went back to her stall and consulted with her lady owner and came back, "This is what you ordered. It is already cooked, we cannot change it. RM6!" I was flabbergasted. I looked at the price list and a normal bowl of fish meat bee hoon soup costs only RM3.50. Now, I'm being charged RM6 for a bowl of soup with the ENTIRE fish that I did not order. Eventually, I paid for it. Gave the helper RM10.

Then, my aunt went back to the stall to get an empty bowl to remove the fish bones and any additional noodles my Grandpa couldn't finish. She came back to our table with an empty bowl and asked, "How much did you give them? Why did they ask me to give them RM2?" Puzzled, I looked at my aunt and said, "I gave the lady RM10, she's supposed to give me back RM4 in change, why should they ask you for another RM2?" I checked my purse, true enough, I had 4 RM10 notes before, now I only have 3. (Prior to that, I had to break my RM50 to pay for my ice cream earlier that evening. Ice cream was RM4.90, I had RM45.10 in change, that means: 4 x RM10, 1 x RM5, with 2 x RM1 notes I previously had in my purse.)

The helper came over and said, "You gave me 4 x RM1 notes, that's why I asked for RM2 because the noodle soup costs RM6." I replied, "I gave you ONE RM10 note, I could not possibly have given you FOUR RM1 notes because I did not even have small change. You are supposed to return me RM4 instead."

The helper vehemently denied any wrongdoing, so, I proceeded to talk to the lady owner instead. I went up to the stall and said, "I paid your helper RM10. I did not get my change back and now my aunt tells me she had to give an additional RM2." The helper then told her lady owner, "She paid me RM4 only. Another guy paid RM5 for his soup, there was no RM10." I replied, "That could not be possible. I had four RM10 notes, now I only have three RM10 notes left (showed them my notes), I gave you RM10 for the soup because I did not have enough small notes for the exact RM6 amount, I don't have enough RM1 notes to even make up RM4! You still haven't given me my change, yet you asked my aunt for extra money."

In the end, the lady begrudgingly took out four RM1 notes and placed it on the table. "There! You can have your change. I know you already did not want the order in the first place." (What the...?! She gave me the WRONG order, I asked for a change, she didn't give me one and now she has the cheek to say that?!)

After that, I stood there still, even though I had my RM4 change, my aunt paid RM2 extra for no reason. I asked for that back too and had to explain again, "In actuality, I paid RM10 and my aunt paid RM2. That means, we gave you RM12 for an RM6 bowl of noodle soup. In that case, you would have to return RM6. You gave me back my RM4 but what about the RM2 my aunt forked out?" She eventually, reluctantly AND begrudgingly took out RM2, again, placed it on the table instead of handing it to me. I took it to return to my aunt and walked back to my table.

I was really unhappy with the service (or lack of it) and the attitude that was shown to my aunt and myself. In fact, I was seated not too far away and because I was facing in their direction, I could see that the lady was still seething and staring at me, making hand gestures and pointing in my direction to the other people she was talking to. As much as I should not be affected by it, but I was. I fought for justice and I fought fair. I do not wish to cheat anyone of their possessions. If it was my mistake, I would own up to it but it was their mistake and they denied every single bit of it. I was not out to get back something that wasn't mine. I was entitled to my change and that was all I wanted. Justice.

But I was so miffed that I lost my appetite for the evening. In fact, after seeing that lady mouthing words and pointing in my direction for the umpteenth time, I was close to wanting revenge, rather than just settling with justice. If my conscience did not stop me, I would have deliberately pushed their ceramic bowl off the table and onto the gravel, breaking it. Revenge.

I did not break their bowl. I left it where it was, on the table. That was not what I set out to do, I only wanted justice, I obtained it, albeit, in a very uncomfortable situation. I was not going to stoop so low as to exact revenge. But the entire episode left such a sour taste in my mouth. In fact, I wondered why I felt awful when I shouldn't be.

Is justice such an awful thing to want?