 Top 10 Most Irritating Habits Of Singaporeans Been pretty busy with school/dance/work/FYP these few weeks, which explains the lack of inspiration [and not to mention energy] to maintain this wilting blog. But something happened this afternoon that really gave me a wanting to post an entry here. As we all know, Singapore is a very unique Country. A country that people of all skin colours call home. A country governed by a 'fuly-democratic' and totally 'unbias' body of politicians called the PAP. A country that put the words 'singlish' and 'kiasu' into the english vocabulary.And because we are so unique, obviously we will see many unique individuals with uniquely quirky bad habits which just don't make sense to others. And this post is dedicated to these people. No 10: Bringing baby prams onto public transport during peak hours Don't you just love the feeling of having your butt cheek bounce off that of a total stranger while desperately trying your best to keep your balance and not make a clown out of yourself by falling down? It's already so packed during peak hour commuting and yet some people have the cheek to push their baby prams onto our already sardine-packed public transport. Oh, not to mention that the 'baby' in the pram sucking on that bottle of milk is fully capable of running circles around an old man with a walking stick. And don't even get me started on those 'twin-prams'... Unless you are a single mother working in a company with a heartless boss, I would suppose that the lady would still be on maternity leave if the child still hasn't learnt to walk by himself. So if you' on leave why are you snatching public transport time and space with the people rushing to and from work? No 9: Leaving the last piece of food untouched on a shared table A typical sight at any dinner table. Everyone will be happily munching away at the dishes presented UNTIL someone grabs the 2nd last piece. Suddenly, either the dish that they had all been enjoying all this while suddenly turned moldy and was growing hairs, or they are leaving the last piece of food as an offering to the 'hungry ghosts' of this 7th month. Nobody will ever take the initiative to finish off the last piece even when the waitress comes to clear the dish and asks if anyone wants the last piece. And most of the time it will be the person who has been eyeballing the final piece for the longest time who will eventually 'sacrifice' himself to help finish up the last piece so that the waitress can clear the empty plate. Someone please tell these people to stop acting all magnanimous and just finish the last piece of food without all the acts so we can get down to starting the next dish? No 8: Reading newspapers over other people's shoulders One of my personal 'favourites'. Reading the news of someone else's newspaper over their shoulder. Although you might think that it's too small an action to be noticed by the person who actually bought the newspaper, let me enlighten you now. IT IS DAMN FUKING OBVIOUS AND IRRITATING. Reading over someone else's shoulder makes the holder uncomfortable because 1. He paid to read the news. You didn't. 2. He's stuck between being a kind person and opening the paper wider so as to make it easier for you to read it, or be a bastard and just keep the paper opened just enough so that ony he himself is able to make any sense of the black text on it. 3. He doesn't know if he should ask you if you have finished reading so he can turn the page. This is just one of the things that just pisses people off. Newspapers nowadays cost less than your average public transport trips. So please just get yourself your own copy if you really need to satisfy your curiosity for information during your trip. No 7: Playing 'Where's EZ' with their bags at public transport gates Another typical sight you see on public transports in Singapore. People turning their bags upside-down, inside-out, trying to find the right position of the bag where the EZ-link card in the bag can be read by the scanner. Not only does this slow down the entry/exit from your lane, it also slows down the entry/exit of neighbouring lanes as people going out have to give you more manuvouring space to flip your bag around, as well as slowing them down by that few milliseconds that they take to stare at you, wondering what you are doing. Is it really that difficult to open your bag and take out that damn card just before you reach the gantry? No 6: Blasting music from their mobile phones A favourite with the Mats. Turning on their mobile phone ringers to the maximum volume and blasting their music where ever they go. Yes, you have your right to listen to whatever music you fancy. Yes, you have the right to playing whatever you want, on whatever volume you wish on your mobile phone. But I also have a right to tranquility and peace within my own personal space. Unless you invent some kind of soundproof forcefield that allows the user to be oblivious to all sounds outside the bubble, I do not enjoy the same kind of music as you, I do not enjoy the same kind of designs and I do not enjoy having my peace and quiet broken, especially when i'm asleep. There IS an invention called earphones. Maybe they're just too dumb to understand how to use them. No 5: Keeping the toilet seat dirty I don't know if this is true for the girls, but from the guys point of view this is really one habit that I personally cannot stand. Everyone knows that the toilet seat of every toilet bowl can be lifted up if you're not using it. Toilet seats are meant to keep the asses of people who want to take a shit clean from the germs and bacteria of the toilet bowl. However, it is not unusual to find stray droplets of pee, cigarette burn marks, footprints or any combination of these 3 elements on a public toilet seat. This of course defeats the purpose of having a liftable toilet seat in the first place. And because of this inconsiderate toilet-goers, we are forced to waste more toilet paper by laying a layer or two of toilet paper over the entire toilet seat before we get down to business as an additional buffer from germs. Is it really that hard to take half a second to lift the toilet seat up before you starting to relieve yourself? And the worst part is that most of the time it is not only 1 cubicle that is affected. Trying to find a clean toilet seat is practically impossible unless you are patronising the restrooms of some posh restaurants or shopping malls [you know, those that have the toilet attendant to put a warm towel over your shoulders and build those complicated towel towers, and of course expecting a tip from you] No 4: Using lifts for 1-floor trips This is another one of those habits that I can never understand the logic behind. Some people just love to make use of lifts. Even if it's just to transport them 1 floor higher or lower within the shopping mall. Why would anyone waste 5 minutes waiting for the lift to reach the floor which they are currently on, 30 seconds to squeeze into the lift [assuming there is a crowd], and another 10 seconds to squeeze their way out of the lift when they could have just made use of the escalators beside the lifts to obtain their objective within less than a minute? Not to mention having to squeeze with the rest of the people in the lift vs the comfortable ride they would have on the escalator, as well as the huge amount of other people's time you're wasting. Unless the office or shopping mall doesn't have a working escalator or you are physically disabled to the point where taking the escalator is a torture to you, I do not see the need to use the lift to move between adjacent floors when the escalator is just a stone's throw away. No 3: Parents who allow their kids to run amok on public transport Don't you just hate it when kids mutate into chimpanzees, merry-go-rounds and car alarms on the public transport right in front of their parents eyes and those parents just have their butts rooted to their seats and do absolutely nothing about it? These kids usually make a nuisance of themselves by swinging round the metal poles or playing catching throughout the entire train carriage, Not only does it irritate the hell out of the other passengers on the train but more importantly, it stops me from getting my all important beauty sleep while on the train. The children probably don't deserve to be punished as much as their nonchalantant parents. The children aren't in the wrong if the parents don't tell them that what they are doing is wrong. These parents should be bond and gagged to an mrt seat and have 10 irritating screaming children run circles around them for 1 whole hour. If they still don't understand why the public transport system should not be used as a playground, they should be permanently banned from taking public transport in Singapore. No 2: NATO [No Action, Talk Only] MRT/Bus fares increase? COMPLAIN. Taxi charges increase? COMPLAIN. Not getting through the auditions for Singapore Idol? COMPLAIN. But what do we do after we complain? We just 'guai guai' carry on with our lives, accepting the increased MRT/bus fares, increased taxi fares and harsh criticism from Ken Lim. Never once have we put any action in the direction of our complaints. Perhaps we are just too protected by the government. Perhaps we are just not outspoken enough. What ever the case, that's just the Singaporean way. And the No 1 most irritating Singaporean habit: Kiasu-ism The entire concept of kiasu-ism can be summerised in one line. "What other people have I also must have". Need an example? What about the MacDonalds Hello Kitty craze a few years back? What has become of those whitish kittens with fish bowls on their heads that were so hot during that period? I believe my sister once had the entire collection displayed on her shelf in our old home. Wonder what happened to them when we moved house? They were all THROWN AWAY because they were all collecting dust. Ask anyone on the street whether they would want to buy a pair of hello kitty dolls in mint condition for $20 and chances are they would give you an outright flat NO. So what was it that mad people go crazy to the point of waking up in the wee hours of the morning just to go queue up for that damn toy? Reality check. It's not the toy. It never was. It was just because SOME people wanted the toy. These were probably the die hard Hello Kitty fans who collect these stuff. And given the Singaporean kiasu attitude, if someone else wants it, I must have it too. And hence starts a vicious cycle of wanting and having that engulfed the entire island. It's the same for branded stuff like LV bags and Gucci wallets. Why are people crazy enough to pay $800+ for something that you could easily get with $100 and still have change for a good meal? Just because other people have it. As it's literal translation reads "scared to lose". So there you have it. The Top 10 most irritating habits of us Singaporeans. But without these habits, we wouldn't be Singaporeans either. So let's just give and take some and everyone will be happy. You give, and I'll take. This is the first time that I've actually used the "SAVE NOW" button on blogger to save this post as a draft not once but 3 times throughout the week just to finish up this entry. Another proof of how little free time I actually have on my hands nowadays... Anyhow written on Aug 30, 2009 at 11:26 PM
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