Can Food Court Attracts More Customers?

Segamat district is my wife’s hometown. When returning to Segamat from Kajang we usually go through the North-South Expressway (PLUS) Project or the Kajang–Seremban Highway (LEKAS). Either through PLUS or LEKAS, we will usually stop at a food court in Kota, Negeri Sembilan.

Eighty percent of the stalls in the food court were opened, the other stalls, I didn't know when they are open. We used to reach the food court at lunchtime.

This is our route went going back to her hometown when we married until now. Previously there was no food court and rows of shops. At that time there were only wooden stalls where all the hawkers sold lemang[1]. Every day they sell lemang.

Perhaps based on developing the area to become more of a visitor attraction, the local authority has built a row of shops behind these lemang stalls. When the shop line is completed, lemang hawkers are not allowed to open stalls in the old place. Maybe the government hopes they'll rent this new shop. It seems that they cannot afford to rent a shop because over time there will be no more lemang sellers in the area. The area is no longer lively and can no longer be attributed to the lemang shopping place.

Lemang hawkers are still there but not in their old areas. If we want to buy lemang, through the old road from Seremban we will meet some stalls selling lemang before reaching the old hawkers' area. Passing through PLUS and exiting the toll we can see some lemang hawker stalls from the roundabout after the toll, heading towards Taboh Naning’s Mosque also known as Dato' Dol Said’s Mosque.

The government is also building food courts in line with rows of shops. I like to stop by this food court for lunch or just buy a packed dish to bring back to Segamat.  They sell Negeri Sembilan dishes. The dishes are masak lemak kuning[2] which are cooked with various dishes and various vegetables. I do like to eat masak lemak kuning. It's delicious. I don't miss the opportunity to stop by this food court every time I went back.

When I stop by this food court, I will use the restroom here. There was something I noticed on the way to the bathroom, in one corner I saw a group of used bottles lying there.

Recently in December 2021, I stopped by to use the bathroom, and I still saw the bottles. It's as if no one noticed the existence of the unused bottles and for years been around that corner.

The question is not the bottles that have been stuck in that corner for years, but why are there no traders who do business in the food court, who feel the bottle should be thrown away so the area will look more pleasant to the eye.

What about the bathroom, there is no denying it is clean, but still not enough because its interior equipment such as sinks and water pipes are not very well taken care of. I once saw workers sweep and mop the dining areas floor.

Stopping by the food court I always compare it with other food courts, especially the food courts on the highways. All motorists know how clean the food courts are on the highway. There are always cleaning workers either in the bathroom or dining area.

The cleanliness of a food court will attract more customers. Isn't it a business’s function to attract more customers so that they can make more money? Don’t the traders want to do something to keep their place clean like a highway food court?

Such food courts are under the jurisdiction of local authorities, but I have never seen any workers come to wash regularly. Maybe they have, but when I stopped by, I didn't see them.

What if there's no action from the authorities. Will, they only remain silent and do nothing. Do they not desire to do anything? They will benefit from the cleanliness of the areas.

Don’t hope so much from the local authority, if the authority doesn’t take any action, the traders end up losing. They should do something while waiting for the authorities to act.

They can set up committees to maintain food court cleanliness. Each stall can contribute a sum of money. Look for nearby villagers who don't have jobs, and hire them as sanitary workers. It can at least help the villagers.

Its management can take for example the management of apartments. They have legislation to hold a joint management body, which is responsible for managing their homes in terms of cleanliness and so on. Mandatory financial contributions are given by apartment owners based on the area of their respective residences. This management body consists of strata owners and management entities appointed by residents through their management bodies.

The authorities can help by contributing certain amounts to the management body that is formed or may simply reduce the stall rental rate. Authorities should monitor food court management.

Many food courts are also visited by tourists from other countries, cleanliness will give a good or bad image.

I tried to open the District Council website, I found that the authorities do not have daily maintenance services. They only have maintenance services as needed or just massive repairs. Hence this further indicates that traders in the food court must move on their own so that their customers grow.

 

   Translated by Microsoft Translator and Grammarly App.

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[1] Lemang is glutinous rice with coconut milk and cook in bamboo.

[2] Masak lemak kuning is coconut milk with kunyit and cook with fish or beef or vegetablesbles

DO YOU KNOW YOUR FRIENDS?

"I got an offer to go to university, but I didn't go, I didn't have money". Those are the words of my friend who I have not seen for a long time, almost 40 years. We've met, but over the decades, only for a while, not much to talk about.

After retiring, I had the opportunity to visit my friend. I happened to be going back to my hometown, his house was on my route. I took the opportunity to stop by his house.

            He was among my best friends during my school years. I studied in the same class with him from grade 3 to 6 at primary school. Then we also studied in the same class during forms 1 to 5 at secondary school. We were both appointed as school prefects during forms 4 and 5. After form 5 we parted ways because we had to follow each other's path.

            I continued my studies to form 6 sciences for only 2 weeks at secondary school in Teluk Intan and then received an offer to continue my studies in UKM Matriculation at a secondary school in Jitra. My friend went on to form 6 in the same old school.

After school, we only met 2 or 3 times. Most of all, I met him before I retired. He came to my office with some of his subordinates to discuss work. After that, we met after each of us retired, at his house.

It's normal that when we haven't seen each other for a long time, there are so many things to ask. After SPM/STPM, where did you go, what do you do, various old stories were brought back to life.

He said that after STPM, he had an offer to continue his studies at the university.  He once told me he went to university while working. He did not accept the offer at the time due to financial problems.

I was pretty hurt to hear the story. I never wondered what he was up against. By the time I got an offer to go to university, three brothers and a sister were already working. My father also still works as a police officer. Only two of my siblings are still studying.  Financially, I'm not in much trouble, plus I'm a scholarship recipient.

I've been thinking all along if I've been friends with him, do I know him. I only know the pleasure of being friends. Feels like we're just equal, without any life problems. This is not a question of eating and clothes, but a question of the survival of life, such as continuing his studies at university, which in our day was not easy to get a place at university. Letting it go is a huge loss. Some did miss the opportunity to go to university due to financial difficulties, but I didn't think my friends were in that situation either.

If we are friends, have we ever tried to get to know their family. Do we ever know his parents? What they do for a living. How many siblings. Have we ever felt like we were going to find out? Our friends never tell stories about their families, nor do we. We also rarely want to share about our family. It's our culture, we don't want to know our friend’s background.

It looks like a trivial matter. Why must we get to know our friend’s family? The effect is enormous. The is a saying, if you know someone, you will love them. This is what brings us together and will support each other and help each other.

I'm used to handling dynamic group activities. The participants were exposed to activities in which they would reveal each other's stories unnoticed. A story of love and sorrow. Advantages and disadvantages. Strengths and weaknesses.  Stories of sadness and joy. They get closer as they get to know friends more intimately.

I tested their closeness with group competitive activities, to get through it they must work together. We will be amazed to see how they help each other because they have come to understand each other better. I understand that the closeness of these participants remains. They still help each other in their work and their lives.

 Strengthening friendship is to get to know our friends better. When we get to know each other, there's empathy and sympathy. So there comes a feeling of helping each other.

 

 Translated by Microsoft Translator and Grammarly App.