Monday, June 06, 2005

Things i hate (Foodcourt version)

Well, Mr Goh Chok Tong once said when he was the prime minister that he hopes to see that Singapore would be a gracious society. Today, we'll see some examples y we are not able to achieve tt so easily and how we can solve them... Although i dun expect much pple to read this cos mine's not an award winning blog wif cutesy pics, i hope whoever "stumbles" upon tis will take note... pls note tt the below scenarios can happen in any of the languages n dialects here...

1. Occupied?
Scenario: Often enough, at a 4 seater square/ rectangular table, whn u r alone, pple will attempt to sit down b4 even bother asking if the seat is occupied. whn u tell them "seat is taken". they will give u a suprised, amazed, i-cant-believe-it look and say, "huh? taken already?" then u have to repeat yrselves for the nth time tt it is indeed occupied. But these pple do not budge! they will probe further asking how many pple seating... pls lor, who wana share a table with some rude pple...
To solve: opening your mouth to ask WILL NOT kill u... i repeat, WILL NOT kill u! the person at the table WILL NOT bite u too, i repeat WILL NOT! Just polietly ask, even if there is only 2 pple occupying the seats, chance are thy will put their bags on their laps to make space for u.

2. Still cant decide
Scenario: there's a queue n u join the queue. auntie/ uncle at the stall asks the person in front of u wht is the order. the person replies, " hold on, still looking". So, auntie/ uncle at the stall turns to u, n asks for yr order. b4 u can even say, "can i have..." or "one bowl/ one plate of..." the person in front of u starts to interrupt into the conversation n says his/ her order. Kiasu-ism at one of its best works.
To solve: if you have not decided yet, or still looking, kindly refrain from joining the queue. let those who have already decided order their food so as not to hold up the queue.

3. Left or right
Scenario: there's one person in the queue. one joins on the left. another one comes along n join on the right. b4 the left one says anything, the right one, thinking he/ she has the right of way, hollers the attention of the uncle/ auntie at the stall n order. Hello, wait for a while wun die la! at least find out if the pple already standing there has already ordered, or find out the direction of the queue...
To solve: its up to one's honours to do this. politely ask if they have ordered, tt would deemed the direction of the queue at least.

4. Alone
Scenario: No, not the song Alone, wht i meant was if u're eating alone. often then not, we see pple alone who purchased their food and thn carrying the tray of hot food, looking ard for a seat to have their meal. not that yr wrong, but a place like a foodcourt will definately have kids running around. you might will looking at empty seats, overlook the little tot walking around.
To solve: look around for wht u r eating 1st. then grab a seat very nearby. ask someone to help u look after while u buy from the stall in front of u or leave yr shopping bags or belongings there. and of cos take along yr hp n wallet... walk over to the stall n get yr food while of cos, keeping an eye on yr stuff.

5. Tray vs no tray
Scenario: u, carrying a tray of hot food. someone, empty handed, coming in yr opposite direction going towards a stall n get food. i often find myself, with the tray giving way to hungry pple.
To solve: either foodcourts make their aisle wider which will help condone the mistakes or... those who are empty handed, give way la! more often thn not, i would have the urge to splash my hot soup on these pple who dun give way. y issit so difficult to give way?

6. My seat has nails
Scenario: sometimes foodcourts have 6 or even 8 seaters rectagular tables, they even have tables placed very closely to one another. some pple tend to b lazy n conviently sit along the aisle, even me. But, there's a big difference between me n these pple. Some pple with pig brains, think the aisle between the rows of seats is very wide. if not y do they sit at the edge of the chair, with only 1/4 of the butt on the chair? oh, mayb the chair has nails. well, if they put their bag at the back of seat its understandable why they are taking up so much space, but i'm toking abt those wif nothing on their seats except their 1/4 butt. so whn 1 person sit like tt, u still can manage to squeeze through wif yr frds to the 4 seats right in the middle. but whn 2 pple like tt sit chair to chair (note, impossible to be back to back cos their backs dun touch the chair at all), u have to "excuse me" your way through. n whn u do tt, chances are one side would be deaf, the other will move another 1/4 of his/ her butt into the chair n give u a i'm-eating-cant-u-c, u-irritating-pest, dun-disturb-me look on their face.
To solve: foodcourt chairs r safe, they dun have nails nor do they bite. u can safely place yr whole butt on the chair n shift it in. pple need to walk behind you into the seat or table beside u...

Tt's all i have to provide at the moment...

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