Customer eats all the fish, leaves the rice, then demands sushi refund

A sushi shop owner's tearful account of a customer who called for a refund for sushi that had gone cold has drawn wide attention online. The customer had returned the order with the fish eaten off and the rice left behind.

According to Yonhap TV, a post titled "The customer who asked for a refund because the sushi went cold but ate all the fish" spread through online communities on Tuesday.

According to the post, the delivery took about 30 minutes from order to completion, and the customer had requested, "Ring the bell and leave it at the door."

The shop owner said the delivery driver rang the bell after dropping off the food but got no response, ringing two or three more times and even leaving a text message.

The customer later called for a refund, saying, "I did not hear the bell, and the sushi sat outside for about 15 minutes and got too cold to eat."

The shop owner then asked the customer to leave the food untouched at the door so it could be picked up.

When the shop retrieved the order and checked it, the sushi had been stripped of its fish topping, leaving only the rice. There were also signs that the soba and udon had been partly eaten.

The owner texted the customer, "I don't think a refund is possible." The customer replied, "The sushi rice got so cold while it was left outside that it became inedible, which is why I asked for a refund."

The customer went on to say, "Asking a delivery order to keep the temperature of the rice exact might be unreasonable, but this went beyond any normal temperature."

The shop owner, exasperated, said, "I told them I would process the refund and pick up the food — so why did they eat it? If someone eats 90 percent of the fish topping on sushi and then asks for a cancellation, who would understand that?"