Anyway, as a result of me spend hours in the MRT daily, I get to see some pretty interesting situations.
First,
Rushing to work one morning, I brought a cup of Mr. Bean Soya milk on the train. some guy proceeded to stare me down. At this point, I admit I'm at the wrong for that. But what happened later is what got me pondering. He whipped out his handphone camera and played with it so that it looked like he was trying to take a picture of me. When i lowered the cup, so did he to his handphone and the same is for when i drank from my cup. Anyway, after some quick reaction game, i finished my drink and kept the cup in my bag. Only then did he keep his handphone.
The afterthought for me is to of course not bring drinks on the train. But more than that, i learnt that there're many more 'Stompers'/youtube uploaders in SG than i thought there is. I found it incredibly hard to understand why, if he dared to do a very lousy attempt to 'secretly' take a picture of me, did he not dare to just mention to me that i should not drink it? Some people i talked to after that mentioned that maybe he's afraid to get beaten up at the off-chance that i was a thug. But, would you be more pissed if someone told you something or someone tried to sneak a shot of you? Weird. Which leads to the even more interesting 2nd experience...
Second, I was sitting with my friend at the middle seats of the row. I did not give up my seat to a mum and her kid who was old enough to stand by himself. The dad was a little to the side with a pram. Ok, on hindsight, i should have given up my seat right then, after all, i am the lowest in the pyramid chain of 'priority seats'. But to me, i saw the kid was old enough to stand, so din think much of it. Well, what happened after was that reaching the stop they were alighting, I noticed the dad staring hard at me. He was talking quite loudly and angrily and after awhile, i noticed he was actually saying aloud some 'thoughts'. here are some choice selections for your pleasure...
"... Mother never teach..", "...some people get degree or diploma no use at all...", "...no common sense/brain..", "... idiot..."
So anyway, moral of story time.
- He could have just mentioned and asked for the seat at the beginning instead of having a bitch fit which was effective to make him look like a total loser. Applaud his courage though. I would definitely have given up my seat, as i am sure many people would have given. I mean, is it not possible that people have different idea of who to give up the seat to? Instead of demanding or expecting the priority.
- His kids might think that's the correct way to get a seat on the train.
- It would have sucked if i was a thug.
- Ok, my morals do not allow me to not take any blame for this.
Is the gracious campaign going the wrong way in SG? I've a theory that people think other countries are more gracious because
- People ask for seats when they need,
- The amount of time we spend taking a local train would definitely be more than overseas. We're talking about % of when you meet an ungracious act here.
Having just read a forum letter about some guy having a somewhat similar experience, i must agree with his statement. "The attitude of expecting a seat automatically will only bring about resentment, and ultimately breed more ungraciousness." So if you do need a seat, please open your mouth to ask. I'm pretty sure not everyone is 'pretending to sleep'(can't they genuinely be sleeping or not feeling well?) Get over the stereotypes man! I've seen many people giving way and seats. It's just unfortunate it makes better talk to bash the one black sheep than talk about the many other good ones.
Oh btw, i failed to get NDP ticks. Damn. But at least no dilemma on choosing between that and a friend's 21st. Cannot wait for work to end!
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