Culture Shock!
i really wonder if im still suffering from culture shock today, after being back in sunny sg for 1.5yrs now. perhaps i'm too used to the australian lifestyle and culture that i found it unacceptable to be treated this way at a tau-sa piah store today.

was queuing up at a rather high-class tau-sa piah store (er-hem, shan't reveal more details) this evening. was waiting for my turn. when it was mine, i saw that the lady at the counter was busy. so i waited. she was engrossed with the stamping of vouchers and she just took her time. well~ i waited. i waited for her to notice me before i called for my tau-sa piah order. ok, 1 minute past. i was still standing in front of her and she happily stamped her vouchers. being trained to be really patient when i was in australia, i waited for her to notice my existence. i feel it's simply rude to shout my orders when others are busy. she taking advantage of that, simply bochap* (Teochew word- meaning heck care)! when she looked up finally and i thought i could get her attention, she turned around and started talking to other passer-bys.

when finally the next customer came and shouted "give me tau-huey! pack back!", she immediately just processed the order while still talking to the other passer-bys. Man! i was disgusted! in the end, i followed the singaporean way and said quite loudly - "AUNTY! I want 1 tau-sa-piah! Pack back!!" i shook my head with disbelief, when finally the order was processed.

perhaps im really 'australian'. i simply feel it's rude to interrupt someone's work and demand service to be done immediately and effectively. and it's even more rowdy to shout at someone to ask for something. Service - something lacking in singapore, maybe. or perhaps people here are more used to responding when asked. or perhaps it's sg culture which cannot be extracted from society.

staying here means living with it, if we can't get rid of it!