Gee! The newspaper stole my limelight!! An entry on “holding the door for the person behind you” was well in the pipe-line, but the Straits Times mentioned it in yesterday’s papers!! Argh… But well, at least it agrees with and proved my point. Singapore failed in its courtesy metrics, ranked 30 out of 35 cities in the world- we are so ungracious. “Holding the door for the person behind” is one of the metrics measured. You can be sure I am SO surprised we failed- my constant morning frustration.
I get upset (intensity varies with my mood) when the person in front fails to hold the door for me. I am not even expecting him/her to greet me, but knowing that someone is coming your way, is it that difficult to hold the door for another 10 seconds? To me, it’s not just about basic social etiquette; it’s about the acknowledgement of the existence of a living person behind you. Allowing the door so close straight in the face of the person behind is a sign of hostility, a sign of oblivion, a sign of total disregard, needless to say, a sign of utter ungraciousness of the offender.
I get a quick perk (without fail) when the person in front holds the door for me. Couple that with a smile and “you’re welcome”, my day’s off to a wonderful start! To my dear person in front, thanks for making my day :) Of course I understand we all have our bad days, and we aren’t our perkiest without our morning coffee. I confess there are days I wake up on the wrong side of the bed as well. So that’s my benefit of doubt and excuse for THAT dear person in front.
The discussion of the graciousness of the Singaporean society is way passé and I am not going to delve into it. But Singapore, something must be wrong. When I am the one who greets the cashier (who is in the service line) at the supermarket, when a fellow jogger is bewildered when I smile at him/her in the park, when the PM must run a “smiling” campaign for Singapore… Warmth missing from this sunny island!! Where did the love go? Why is Wall Street even more courteous Shenton Way? That basically rules, time, money and stress level out as legitimate excuses. So what’s wrong? Oh come on Singapore, chill and smile a little more will ya?
P/S: Hmmm… Imagine reading about “holding the door” here first! Drats, it would have been breaking news if I were writing for the papers. Heh. Perhaps, I have a pretty good nose for news after all.
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