Pretty Ugly Singapore

Pretties:1 Uglies:3

[prettyuglysingapore]

"The Do-Not-Call Registry will come into effect on January 2, 2014"

Said Dr. Yaacob Ibrahim a.k.a Minister for Communications and Information. Poor businesses. But yay for us consumers!

[prettyuglysingapore]

15 May 2013 Singapore's Kindness Movement mascot Singa tenders his resignation. My 2 cents: Singaporeans, in general, are kind, but rudeness seems to be an increasing trend. I've come across my fair share of rude Singaporeans, and find that the rudest I've experienced are from people in the service sector, which include waitors, hawkers and store owners. It is an irony, because their job is to provide good service to customers. Having worked in this sector before, the customers I faced were pleasant and friendly, and the 'troublesome' ones are barely a handful. But others' point of view, the long hours of standing, dealing with 'bad' customers and mediocre pay could be some reasons for their attitude towards others. Having been to various countries and stayed in some for several years, I can't help but compare service standards. I should say that while Singapore isn't the best, it is also not the worst. Still, much improvement has to be made in improving customer service. My thoughts on this are geared more towards the service sector, as I still see random acts of kindness happening in public (helping the handicapped, giving your seat to someone else...). What i want to say is, a kind act can brighten up one's day, while a rude one ruins it. Singa's "resignition" may help us gain greater awareness of this issue.

[prettyuglysingapore]

Singapore has the most percentage of emotionless people in the world. Note: It does not mean every Singaporean is emotionless. It may not be an accurate representation of Singaporeans as I have never heard of this survey until it was published (or am i just ignorant?). Still, around 65% of viewer responses to CNA's Talking Point agreed that Singaporeans are emotionless. Someone said that Singaporeans are just too caught up in their busy lives to care about things that are going on around them. And I have to agree on that. My 2 cents: I was actually not surprised with this piece of news. Our society focuses too much on making money and neglects other things in life. If you ask, "what are those things?" I can only feel sorry for you. And that's an emotion.

[prettyuglysingapore]

26 Nov 2012

171 SMRT Bus drivers from China stood around their hostel instead of going to work, making it the first strike in Singapore since 1986. Reason: The chinese immigrant drivers are unhappy with their accomodation, with reports of bed bug infestation, as well as their salary.

Note: In order for a strike to be legal, one has to inform the relevant union authorities 2 weeks in advance (ridiculous right?).

Implications: Disruption of SMRT bus services that day, especially around Woodlands. Those drivers got a 1 day break. PAP unhappy. 4 drivers arrested. The rest were sent back to work the following day (tough life, eh?). 29 people were sent back to China.

My 2 cents: If 171 people go on strike in Singapore, something must be very wrong. Not to mention they are damn brave. Applauds for standing up to your own rights and doing something I will probably never dare do in SG. I’m sure the 171 drivers felt that their voices and concerned were not heard by the emotionless SMRT management, that’s why they went on a strike, so that everyone in SG would know about it. And they were successful, to a certain extent. Now we are more aware of the conditions these drivers are being subjected to. I don’t think SMRT has provided a counter to the drivers’ protest, so we can safely assume that the drivers are not treated as well as they should be. And their mood may affect the safety of commuters as well. This was just a peaceful protest. And it should serve as a warning to SMRT. Better buck up and do some damage control before things get worse.

Thoughts on aftermath: SMRT making a chain of bad decisions, which will affect commuters relying on their services to get to work/school daily. Ugly.