Vivian Tok Asked To Leave Restaurant After A Customer Complained “She Was There For A Long Time”

When dining at a restaurant with a long waiting list, there is an unspoken rule to leave once you’re done with your meal so that others can enjoy theirs. However, local celebrity and former radio deejay Vivian Tok (卓卉勤) recently shared her dissatisfaction with being asked to leave a restaurant mid-meal by a waiting customer, leading to some mixed reactions from netizens.

According to Vivian, she recently visited a dim sum restaurant to celebrate a friend’s birthday. Since the restaurant doesn’t take reservations, she went early to ensure she got a table. Vivian noted that the restaurant was packed on the busy weekend but still had tables. Vivian and her friends then began to dine for a couple of hours, as the restaurant had no time limit for diners. However, Vivian said the restaurant owner approached them, asking if they could leave since they had been dining for a long time.

Vivian said the complaint came from a customer waiting for a table with some elderly and young children. The owner assured her there was no time limit but the customer was unhappy that Vivian had occupied a table for a long time. Through her Facebook post, the media personality voiced her dissatisfaction, arguing the customer should’ve come earlier if they didn’t want to wait. She said the customer should expect her to accommodate them because she has the right to dine at the restaurant.

Vivian was only voicing her thoughts on the matter – but her opinion didn’t sit well with some netizens. Some criticised the celeb, saying she and her friends should know to leave the restaurant if they were no longer eating and proceed to chat somewhere else. Others said she should be more empathetic towards the other customers since they have elderly and young children. Some also said Vivian should see the situation from another perspective before voicing her opinion.

However, some people supported Vivian, agreeing that she shouldn’t give up her table for another customer just because they had asked her to. Others bring up the “first come, first serve” mindset, saying the other customer should either come earlier or wait for another table to open up instead of asking for Vivian’s.