A Sydney influencer has doubled down after she was labelled “spoiled” for complaining about “poor” service at a designer fashion brand’s Christmas party.
Icy Ling was slammed after she publicly blasted the staff at a high-end event hosted by Burberry when she had to queue for a complimentary glass of champagne and only received a half-filled glass.
Her gripe was swiftly branded “out of touch” prompting Icy to hit back, stating it’s not unreasonable to expect top service with her “free drink”.
Despite her attempts to salvage the situation, fans have not received Icy’s clapback well, with many labelling her “entitled” and pointing out her lack of apology.
“You have a typo. What you meant to type was ‘I’m sorry for my behaviour and for treating a service worker like crap’,” one unimpressed Instagram user wrote.
“Your entitlement is showing, at least own it,” another commented.
As one lamented: “I can’t even finishing reading this because you’re still missing the entire point. But sure honey. You’re the victim and we’ve done wrong. I hope you get a grip one day.”
Others pointed out, it’s customary to not fill a champagne flute to the top, with leading brands of the popular French drink stating the correct level is “two-thirds full”.
“Good manners and etiquette guides (and hospitality industry standards) state that when serving champagne the flutes be filled less than half full,” one commented.
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“The bartenders refusal was in line with his duties as per the RSA guidelines,” another added.
While another claimed: “The wine is intended to be sipped, to savour the taste and aroma and enjoyed visually. ‘Filling’ a flute dilutes the sensory experience of the champagne, which would be a DISSERVICE to the person being served, particularly if it was a good champagne.”
Icy, who has 59,000 followers on Instagram, had argued she requested a full glass so she could “avoid coming back” to the bar throughout the event but her “reasonable request” had been “rejected”.
“It is true that at the publicity events the drinks are free [but] it doesn’t mean the guests can expect a worse attitude from a bartender,” she wrote in a lengthy post on Saturday.”
“After Covid, our service level (what Sydney was famous for in the past) in general is going down.
“Businesses should be concerned.”
She also argued that as an influencer it is her “ethical” duty to share “flaws”.
The backlash came hard and fast after Icy, originally from Beijing, posted on social media the service was “a joke”.
“The worst and rudest bartenders I have ever met in my media life!” she shared on Instagram Stories.
“Just because there are two long queues, doesn’t mean my flute should be filled half full.
“Seriously if you don’t want to serve, don’t bother, you don’t deserve to be at @Burberry! What a joke!”