The heatwave going around Malaysia is definitely not anything to scoff at, but some people might be capitalising on people’s desire to stay cool a little too far: a restaurant in Bangsar is in hot water for allegedly charging customers a RM10 premium simply for sitting in its air-conditioned area.
An image of a receipt dated April 15 issued by the restaurant has been circulating on social media, which lists an “Aircon Charge” of RM10 at the botom of a normal (if rather hefty) order of satay, naan, Maggi soup, and drinks, causing many netizens to cry foul over what they perceive to be predatory business practices.
It’s gotten to the point where the Ministry of Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism (KPDNKK) has had to step in to comment on the matter.
Its minister, Hamzah Zainuddin told Bernama that the restaurant’s owners admitted there may have been a mistake by one of its employees when preparing the bill.
While the restaurant does indeed have an “Aircon Charge” loaded into its cash registers, the premium is only imposed on customers who book a private dining room for a specific event, and the added charge would be relayed to the customer beforehand.
“Some restaurants have charges like that for customers who book a room for a specific event, and it is not against the law if it is communicated to customers.
“Only in this case, we cannot be sure whether the customer had dined in the room or outside, as we have not met the person,” he said.
Looks like we’ll all have to run the risk of either drying up in the heat, or (maybe) having to pay a cineplex ticket’s worth of money for the luxury of not sweating like a pig when we scarf down on nasi kandar. Oh, the humanity!
