The few bad Singaporean habits

Singaporeans by and large had been criticised and sometimes condemned by foreigners. However, not all of them lies with the fault of the government(which we love to blame). But these habits are also the social ills of being Asian, but prominently found in Singapore. Here goes:

1. The Singaporean way of walking

Singaporeans are sneaky, literally. They walk disorderly, and love to ‘pavement hog’. Be it individuals, or with a group, they tend to block the whole passageway, not allowing others to overtake and blocking the way of other pedestrians in the opposite direction. But having said that, Singaporeans are perfectly capable of negotiating their way, especially against their way. 

I observed on numerous occasions how a huge pack of people walking from point A to point B, and after awhile, the whole path is swarm with people walking from point B to A. this intrigues me, like how so many people can just sneak between the crowd and onto their business. It’s like the typical Singaporean behaviour of ‘my grandfather road’. 

 

Most are also guilty of standing around in a circle with your group of friends and block the middle of the walkway. It is inconsiderate, and often creates a roundabout commonly seen in motorways. Being non-confrontational, the other poor pedestrians will just walk around the circle. Talk about walking in circles. Ok, bad joke. 

That is how we should walk, in an orderly fashion

2. jaywalking

Singaporeans are time conscious, and will stoop into risking their life if it means saving time and increased convenience. (think how many time did you jaywalk because you’re lazy to climb the overhead bridge?) even when a person is just 10 m away from the crossing, he/she will still jaywalk. And to think Singapore is a safe and orderly country. What an irony. But the pedestrians know that cars will stop for them because the road is 'my grandfather's road'. My grandfather is bigger than your father's road. (Father's road is commonly used by drivers).

At least Jaywalking in here is not as bad as the photo.

Last but not least…

3. Doors

Most shopping malls in Singapore have a 2 panel automated sliding doors. For some older malls, they have a 2 panel manual operated push/pull doors. Keeping in mind of the very unique way Singaporeans walk, they tend to just push 1 panel of the door and walk out, while the rest wanting to walk in will just wait (until they judge it to be safe to just sneak in) all this while with a second panel waiting. Why can’t people just push the other panel? It’s not like they’re faulty. This often blocks the flow of traffic, and slows down everybody’s pace.  

Singaporeans also love to not hold the door for others. One common behaviour is the person in front of me will push open the door to the maximum, so he can walk pass, I will also walk pass quickly and not touch the door. The person behind me will quickly push the door to the maximum, allowing the next person to cross and the cycle continues. This saves time and is relatively efficient. But some bad behaviour is a person in front of me closing the freaking door. Thanks a lot(!)

And a very special mention to LIFTS!

Singaporeans tend to stand in the middle of the lift. Not sure why, but like in MRTs, Singaporeans will often crowd around the middle.

Hopefully, these bad behaviour will improve in years to come, but for now, keep our fingers cross that they will improve and not meet someone like them. Even I’m guilty for some of the behaviour. And please, don't get me started on queuing. Leave that for another day.