Over at Lau Pa Sat food centre, Ms Tanvi Kashyat, 18, a service staff member at eatery Smol, said that demand was stronger than anticipated, which meant that the outlet ran out of many ingredients for its top-selling grain bowls by lunchtime.
“I had to tell all our customers that we were sold out,” she said. “But we are ordering more stocks to accommodate the larger crowd, especially since I’m pretty sure that business will pick up after today.”
A NOTE OF CAUTION
Office workers interviewed by TODAY said that they were generally happy to return to some semblance of normalcy, though it came with a pinch of caution.
They also had to make adjustments to deal with crowded offices and eateries.
Reservations manager Agnes Merciar, 42, who was having lunch with a colleague at Maxwell Food Centre, said that she left her house an hour early to beat the morning traffic. She also left for lunch early to beat the lunch crowd.
Ms Merciar, who has returned to the office permanently after two years of hybrid working, added: “I just want to avoid the crowd. After two years of safe distancing and work-from-home, it feels weird to be in crowded places.”
Similarly, Ms Wilma Perez, 30, who works in a trading company and saw her team of 10 in person for the first time since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, said that she left the office for lunch early because she did not want to be in crowded places, even though she is fully vaccinated.
Ms Grace Keong, who works in marketing and is in her 40s, said that she has seen people keep their masks on in the office even though the rules have been relaxed.
“We’re mostly still wearing masks out of habit. Even outdoors, only a minority are not wearing them,” she added.
Graphic designer Eddie Sapari, 37, said that even though the rules did not call for it, his group of eight decided to split themselves into two groups “because it felt like a natural thing to do”.
“It’s very weird,” Mr Eddie said. He had been asked to return to his workplace permanently. “We’re so used to being in small groups that even going to lunch in a big group feels weird.”
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