She Was No Happy Lemon

Both my girls know that I'm addicted to milk tea. We were in Eastwood Mall last night and after visiting Time Zone as usual with her Yaya, Sabine proudly announced that she had seen a Happy Lemon branch upstairs. She was desperate to try it out because Anissa had been talking about wanting to buy their Milk Tea with Oreo Cookies and Cream variant. Off we went. Two floors up from where we were, I saw the branch which is right beside Starbucks, outside the cinemas. The small "dine-in" area was filled with people enjoying their drinks. There was a group lined up at the counter waiting for their orders. Looked like they were still open. NOT.

We waited for a little over 5 minutes at the counter because the service crew was busy making the drinks for the group that went ahead of us. I'm very sure someone saw us standing there and waiting, but nobody said a word. After the group left with their drinks, one of the crew approached us and said, to our dismay, "Sorry, Ma'am we're close na po." When Sabine heard this, she was almost in tears and asked why. I tried to argue with the crew and told them there was no sign anywhere that they were closed and somebody could've told us while we were waiting. She reasoned out that mall management had been giving them "the eye" for staying open past mall operating hours. Shops close at 10pm on Sundays and it was around 10:18. I asked them one last time, "Just one drink for a child, can't you do it? You haven't started cleaning your machines because that previous group just ordered. Your cash register is still open. You can't make ONE DRINK???". The answer was still a NO.

The girl turned to Sabine and said, "Sorry, baby. Next time nalang ha?". To my surprise, Sabine replied, "I'm not coming back here forever and ever!" Sure, it wasn't a life or death situation. My point is, if you're CLOSED, you should atleast put something up to say so. There was no sign on the counter, no stancheons (those upright bars with retractable belts) to keep people from entering the area, absolutely NOTHING.

This photo was taken BEFORE we were told, that's why Sabine's still smiling here. She definitely didn't look this happy when we left Happy Lemon. I wish I had taken more pics of the place to prove why I had no clue they were closed. But I was too disappointed to stay.