Uniquely Singapore.

remember the advert on channel 5 where a woman reserves a seat using a tissue packet?
i thought the whole thing was wholly exaggerated and that singaporeans surely knew better.. until now.


i was chased out from my seat at the TM foodcourt - here's how:

my workmates and i arrive there and after much time manage to get a seemingly empty seat. there were 2 things on the table - a half empty tissue packet and a crumpled up brochure.

so i volunteered to sit there while the 4 of them went to get food.
2 minutes later, this working-class female walks up to the table, food in hand; she had this shocked expression on her face.
i looked up at her and said "err.. seat's taken."

she looked even more appalled as if i'd just murdered one of her relatives and asked, " you dunno this seat occupied meh?"

i said "no ma'am, this table was empty when my friends and i got here."

she looked as if i was hitler: " didn't you see the tissue packet?"

the advertisement came to mind. i was about to argue when her friend (an even more auntie-looking person) came up and said roughly: "why? you never see my paper there?"

apparently the tissue and the crumpled brochure were to indicate two people were sitting there. faced with the potential threat of hearing the aunties raise hell, i moved from the seat and we had to spend half our lunchtime finding seats.

the two creature's relatives would weep knowing they were related to things like them.






uniquely singapore indeed. how does the presence of an insignificant tissue packet justify the presence of a person seated there?

the idiocy of some singaporeans speak volumes about our supposed "well groomed" society.


my mother got some tissues some time back which i feel might help me in my future endeavors for food in the foodcourt..