The Zhui Xing Forum- Mango's POV

Ok.. I feel guilty for not replying to the forum. Haha cos I got nothing much to comment on.

Is Singaporean Courteous?

I agree to xinyi's definition of the word "courteous". I think she did a good job explaining it. Courteous is more of attitude and it's different from "considerate" as the latter is more of action. I think we have improved on being courteous, but it doesn't seem to be enough. I think being courtesy is really important as it reflects on your self-image and how cultured you are.

Today I have encountered something unpleasant when I was queueing for breakfast. The queue was quite long then I was standing in the middle of the queue. There was this lady who wanted to pass through. Her husband was like hesitating whether to cut through the queue then she said this impatiently: "aiya.. Just cut through la. Dunno why you so slow". I was thinking: "walao.. you really wat loh.." This lady is so not courteous. She didn't say "excuse me" or something polite. This kind of behaviour definitely irritates people like me.

Talking about train rides.. When I take morning train to school, my friend and I often have the difficulty going out. It was so packed. And when you had not even go out, people were eager to come in. If not they'll stand near the door and won't come out first. Then we had to squeeze through a really small space to get out. And please spare a thought for students carrying big bags like me. Worse is sometimes people will "zet" you.

I agree with xinyi that courtesy is really important in the service industry. If you're not courteous, people will be irritated and will leave a very bad impression in the place. For example, I really don't like the rude attitude of the waiters at kbox. I think their attitude are like "ah beng" and makes me don't want to go back to the place again.

I think smiles are really the crucial part of being courteous. Singaporeans often do not smile because of pressure of work, busy lifestyle etc. I think we should try and use more such words such as "excuse me", "sorry", "thanks", "don't mention it" etc..

At the moment, I think it's not enough. Singaporeans.. please buck up. Let's move towards building a courteous country which can attract more investors and foreign talents. :)

Mango~