For this blog post, I will touch on the issue of reserving seats in local hawker centres with the use of tissue packets. It is our cultural norm to reserve seats in hawker centres this way despite it being a much contested method, especially since tissue packets are ambiguous in proving ownership.
Last weekend while on a casual lunch with my family, I noticed a group of middle-aged housewives combing the grounds of my neighbourhood hawker centre for seats. Due to the large weekend crowd, it was fairly difficult for a big group to find seats. One of the ladies exclaimed excitedly when she finally found an available table. Upon acknowledgment, two of them whipped out a packet of tissue each and placed one on the table and another on the seat, and signalled to the rest of their clique to proceed to order their lunch. Not long after, a Caucasian lady spotted the same empty table and gladly took a seat to wait for her friend. I could only dread the situation that would arise when the group of housewives return. Before I knew it, they returned with their trays of food only to be outraged by the unexpected ‘guest’ at their table. A horrid confrontation took place, with the poor Caucasian lady being accused of ‘stealing property’. Added miscommunication was inevitable as there was a language barrier between the two parties. Subsequently, the Caucasian lady apologised and left feeling extremely bewildered by the way the housewives justified their seat reservation via tissue packets.
Being a Singaporean, I can only feel sorry for the Caucasian lady and admit that this ‘tissue paper’ practice is impractical and unfathomable. This situation is definitely not going to help Singapore move closer to being a civilised and gracious first-world society. Fortunately, the Caucasian lady was aware that she was on the losing end and backed out of the situation humbly before serious physical/verbal attacks arise. I would not blame ignorance as this practice of using tissue packets for seat reservation is unique only to Singapore and even so, many locals still loathe the fact that it is such a commonly-practiced (uncivilised) act.
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6 comments:
An interesting analysis of a common cultural norm in the Singapore society. The miscommunication between the group of locals and the Caucasian lady arose due to a lack of understanding of the ungracious local practice. However, I am glad you have highlighted the fact that many locals also loathe the uncivilised act. Therefore, the move towards a more gracious society is definitely possible but is a matter of time.
I agree that this situation is definitely a common sight of the unglamorous side of most Singaporeans. Indeed, many people will abhor and condemn such acts but when faced in these circumstances, I believe many will still yield or resort to doing this. In fact, this 'cultural phenomena' is gradually spreading as people from other countries are seen to be picking up such 'habits' after residing here for quite some time. Such acts are also evident in schools where I recently encountered one, in that students reserve the computer seats with tissue packs. That was really ridiculous!
This incident is not uncommon in Singapore. Although such practice is condemned by many Singaporeans, most of us still choose to keep quiet and not take action against people who carry out such acts. One could only pity the poor Caucasian lady for being confronted for such ungracious Singaporean action. This would definitely impede Singapore's move towards a gracious society.
Actually, the tissue packet type phenomenom is not unique to Singapore.It's a standard joke amongst British holiday makers that at many popular European holiday destinations, some of their fellow Europeans (not British) like to reserve poolside loungers for a week by simply draping their towel over it. This angers some including myself. At one hotel in Cyprus, several years ago, I simply removed the towel from the lounger and lay on it. An hour later, the owner of the towel appeared before me and imagine my surprise when he spoke in a pure cockney(London) accent which shows that you can over-generalise about this 'cultural' stuff.
Teacher-Fiona
I would like to add that this phenomenon is not unique to Singapore but can be seen in parts of Malaysia as well. Impractical as it is, this method of reserving 'property' is common even to supposedly more educated people. I was shocked to see that some NUS students and staff are not ashamed of doing this as well. Perhaps it has become such a common affair that people no longer see the need to change.
I have a question in mind, is it true that it is wrong to use a packet of tissue paper to reserve your seats? what happens if we use a handbag instead? There is a very thin line drawn across between the right to reserve the seats after you got the seats. Looking in the shoes of the middle-age house wife, wouldn't it be more convenience and similar as them taking turns to buy their own food. In the first place, they waited and found the seats.
Likewise, let take a local restaurant Marche for example. Its concept is very similar to a hawker center where costumers are required to go around different stalls to buy their own food. The only difference is that on the table there is a flap where it allows costumers to indicate that the table is occupied. The ironic is here is such a practice is accepted in a western restaurant yet not in a food center.
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