New Chain That Sparked Off Controversy

Recently the Philippino fried chicken restaurant Jollibee opened its doors here. Many people are delighted as they thought finally that famous chicken is opening here. On the day of its opening, there was already a very long queue before the restaurant even opened its doors.

 

As it is relatively new here (although it already has chains in different parts of the region), the management is looking to hire staff. Immediately, an uproar came up and there was even a social media page denouncing the place and boycotting the restaurant.

 

What sparked off the controvery is that in the recruitment poster, the poster stated that it is looking to hire staff. However, it did not state what kind of staff they need, so people automatically assume that since it is a Philippino restaurant, they would only hire their own kind, ie Filippinos.

 

Hence the uproar because locals feel that since it is opening at our shores, they should hire locals and not their own kind. The thing is, no where in the poster states that they are only hiring Filippinos, which means all are welcome to apply. So why the uproar? Sometimes I really think our locals have nothing better to do than to create hate mail.

 

Due to this, the next day, another poster was put up, this time stating that it is hiring locals or permanent residents, with an emphasis. And that appeased everyone. Are our locals so regimented that unless it is totally stated down in black and white, otherwise they would take it as the gospel truth? Can they not read in between the lines and take initiative to enquire?

 

Because of this hype, suddenly the outlet became even more popular than before. I went there last Saturday for lunch, and the queue was so long! It took me almost two hours before I could make my order. Even though the chicken pieces were nice (refer to my review here), I would not wait in queue for so long again. Perhaps after all the hype has died down and there is no more queue, I would go and try again. Right now, all the other chicken places like KFC, Popeye's and Texas is more than sufficient.