Angry locals

[Mexikaner]

I don't want do generalize, but why does it seem to me that almost all the people I see on the street seem to be angry/unhappy?
By angry I mean with a huge frown on their faces.
Regardless if it is after work hours, morning time or WE. They just seem to me, to be unhappy...

I know you may say that it could be the pressure of living in Singapore, car/house debt, not ideal job, etc.,
Does it mean I will have the same frown every day on my face in a few years to come??

I don't know, I was recently in my home country, and I kind of did a 'social comparison', looking at people's faces, and quite honestly, most of them seemed to be having a nice day, relatively happy...

The moment I was back in Singapore, I went to my nearby hawker wishing to have a nice kopi, and was received by the aunty with the usual: "what you want?!?"
:shock:

welcome back I guess...

[Sergei82]

You go to cinema, they will show you that ad where Singaporeans sing and dance on the streets, and it says that it is definitely definitely not true that Singaporeans are the unhappiest nation in the world. You're told to bilieve in that, so go ahead - don't disappoint the government.

[nutnut]

Believe in the truth, the locals are all happy!

I saw on that ad Sergei, there was a guy giving out free hugs, never seen that anywhere here. I like hugs.

[Mexikaner]

I haven't seen this ad...I think when I see it I will really have to make an effort not to laugh too loud :)

[Sergei82]

Its so cheesy that you will make an affort not to put your popcorn box on your head and stuff your socks in your ears. It is not funny at all.

[PNGMK]

Honestly some of them suffer from 'resting bitch face' syndrome. I.e. genetically their face is always unhappy regardless of how they feel.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.p ... tch%20face

[Sergei82]

[BedokAmerican]

I don't want do generalize, but why does it seem to me that almost all the people I see on the street seem to be angry/unhappy?
By angry I mean with a huge frown on their faces.
Regardless if it is after work hours, morning time or WE. They just seem to me, to be unhappy...

I know you may say that it could be the pressure of living in Singapore, car/house debt, not ideal job, etc.,
Does it mean I will have the same frown every day on my face in a few years to come??

I don't know, I was recently in my home country, and I kind of did a 'social comparison', looking at people's faces, and quite honestly, most of them seemed to be having a nice day, relatively happy...

The moment I was back in Singapore, I went to my nearby hawker wishing to have a nice kopi, and was received by the aunty with the usual: "what you want?!?"


welcome back I guess...

You mean you can actually see people's faces? It seems most of them have their eyes buried in their cell phones. Just being sarcastic...but I do know what you mean.

If they're at a hawker center, they may just be overheated. I try and avoid hawker centers because it seems they're too hot, too crowded and it's too hard to find a seat. Eating hot food while sweating doesn't put me in a good mood. But on the plus side, at least the food is cheap.

[scarbowl]

All you have to do is visit Thailand and see the difference in happiness despite a lower standard of living and higher corruption. The Thais are much happier than the Singaporeans. Go to Japan where people smile, laugh, and show great friendship. You just don't see much of that here.

[Thatguy]

This is possibly unique to Singapore.

I always LOL when I see peoples' faces. They look like the whole weight of the world rests on their shoulders.. yet they're probably thinking what to have for lunch or who they can take a morning Kopi break with.

Several other things I noticed here:
- Men are very "alpha" and like taking charge
- Everyone... I mean everyone will run for the elevator
- Drivers are aggressive and forget that they are controlling 2 tons of steel - I guess they don't want to receive any hate from their better halves for being late for dinner
- Girls all look the same: no make up, straight black hair, one piece dresses, no heels
- Service is appalling and whoever designed processes and system flows mus've been a moron!

Apart from these, I love living here!
-

[Mexikaner]

You mean you can actually see people's faces? It seems most of them have their eyes buried in their cell phones. Just being sarcastic...but I do know what you mean.

If they're at a hawker center, they may just be overheated. I try and avoid hawker centers because it seems they're too hot, too crowded and it's too hard to find a seat. Eating hot food while sweating doesn't put me in a good mood. But on the plus side, at least the food is cheap.

There's this girl working in a tiny-cramped claypot stall in the hawker near my office. I'd say she's in her late 20's.
Now there's a perfect example of someone overheated and working in really hot conditions. At times you'd see her having 6 burners working at full, serving orders to hungry, impatient customers. I've already noticed that she has a few burns on her forearms.
Despite all this, she always, always has a smile in her face when she takes your order. You cannot help but to smile back at her.

One time, during lunch rush hour (12-1pm), 15+ people queue, she accidentally kicked a big pot with soup inside, which fell all over the stall's floor. Her boyfriend/husband who prepares these soups and does the dishes, snapped at her really badly, yelling, to the point everyone thought he was about to slap her. I was about to jump onto the stall and beat the crap out of the guy if he'd hit her...
you'd see her on her knees trying to save whatever she could, while the guy kept yelling at her. She continued taking orders after that, with clearly tears on her eyes, still smiling at the customers!

What an example!

[bgd]

The Beer Girls in Hawker centres always look happy in their work.

And Pinays, never seen a happier group of people anywhere.

[Sergei82]

...

I saw similar at hawker stall. The guy was yelling at the girl so loud that I wondered did he fill his pants straining like that.

[sundaymorningstaple]

The Beer Girls in Hawker centres always look happy in their work.

And Pinays, never seen a happier group of people anywhere.

Ahhh, but there's the rub. They aren't Singaporeans....... I think the Singapore Scowl is a genetic defect.

That is also why immigration is so necessary here. To refresh a totally depleted gene pool as the pool has become a swamp.

[movingtospore]

Is it really that they're so unhappy or that they just scowl at all the foreigners they see so they come across that way?

I noticed such a difference last time I visited my Mumbai office. Everybody was friendly. Nice. Worked together. Said hello.