Can or not, lah?
Less than a fortnight fresh off the boat, OH and I have
started to notice a number of things in Singapore, some of which are quite
amusing, and some which, quite frankly, frustrates the hell out of one. The
following are a few first observations:
-
Singapore has a love affair with plastic bags.
Every shop, stall, outlet you go to, they seem to delight in double, nay,
triple bagging for that 2oz bottle of soy sauce you just bought. Everything else should be bagged individually.
Having for years brought my own bags to the supermarket, the cashiers cannot
process not putting things into plastic bags, to the point of them bagging up stuff to
put into my canvas bag.
-
“I go check”. This is the stock response to
almost everything. “Does this come in a different size?” ‘I go check.’; “Does
your mother work here?” ‘I go check’; “Does my bum look big in this?” (giggle) ‘I go check’; “What’s your
name?” (PANIC) ‘I go check’.
-
Substitutions in restaurants are unheard of, and
can often lead to you and your waiter sobbing and rocking in the corner, both
reduced to gibbering wrecks. You, over the simple incomprehension why you
cannot have a salad substitution, and the waiter because the binary system does
not allow for the“IF” command. Americans, go home right now.
-
Japanese/Korean culture. All the girls seem to
want to look like Manga dolls, with pinched faces, large vacant eyes, and a
permanent expression like they’ve sat on a cucumber. Also, if you are adverse
to Hello Kitty, this is not the country for you.
-
Queuing for free stuff. Admittedly I have been
guilty of this trait, queuing to find that I’m being given free tampons, or
baby rusks. Here, however, I noticed a long snaking queue for free sugar samples.
You might as well hand out free toothpicks for amusement.
So, there it is, the first installation of observations of
life in a different country. We will return soon with more quirks, so, stay
tuned!
Labels: Alternate realities, General idiocy, OMG WTF LOL, Singaporean quirks
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