Things I don't like about Singapore

[sundaymorningstaple]

It's the much vaunted worker-drone syndrome in play. Can only process small amounts of data at a time and thinking is verboten.

Yep, no multi-tasking. Another good example is when writing e-mails to local companies: you may ask as many question as you want to but typically only one is answered.

Same thing happens when you write to IRAS & MOM!

[Asian_Geekette]

It's the much vaunted worker-drone syndrome in play. Can only process small amounts of data at a time and thinking is verboten.

Thinking is verboten! Yes, some of the people I've come across feel uncomfortable with the answer "it depends." It depends on your situation/company set-up/etc because whatever maybe best or has worked for another entity may not work in your case (so this means you need to do your research and think). It almost always has to boil down on the "can-or-can-not" kind of thinking.

[inmotion]

staying here in singapore for around 6 years, the things i clearly dislike are

1. many people are rather egoistic not seeing the bigger impact of their doings, many people cannot even sense that there might be another side of a medal

2. economic success matters only (their own economic success of course)

3. social responsibility is still in its baby steps

I totally agree with the statement made by SMS in another thread. Singapore grow from a development country to first world (in terms of economy) within a very short time. What didn't grow, are its people.

Many of them never learnt, and they are also not encouraged to do so, to interact with their society in all matters. What matters, is money. It starts from their behavior in public (malls, MRT), continues with arrogant and threatening landlords and ends with non-existent service. I still don't know why some people claim, singapore has an excellent service. First of all, you get only attention if you are a potential buyer, whereby that doesn't apply if you want to buy necessities (i.e. Coldstorage and Co.). Attention and service definitely ends if you need real service (inquires, after sales etc.). Furthermore, many people in business are only used to follow memorised and given (given by seniors or authorities) procedures. Every exceptional situation which may require a deviation from that procedure leaves them puzzled, and in worst case, nothing is getting solved. I heard to often the sentence "Sorry Sir, this is our procedure". What i simply miss, is the ability to look beyond one's own nose, to solve certain situations with creativity.

However, like everywhere, there are exceptions, of course. Fortunately i can count on local friends who share the same common sense how a successful society will work.

[carteki]

Someone made an interesting comment about Dubai / the Gulf - "They've gone from camels to cadilliacs in 60 years and missed a lot in between"

[x9200]

staying here in singapore for around 6 years, the things i clearly dislike are

Welcome to he forum. Here you have been given a unique opportunity to train your character. It is kind of funny to see so many ppl from different countries thinking alike when it comes to the annoyances of SG. I guess it's pretty obvious. The very difficult part is not to join the complaining choir as the level of frustration accumulates surely more and more over time.

[inmotion]

staying here in singapore for around 6 years, the things i clearly dislike are

Welcome to he forum. Here you have been given a unique opportunity to train your character. It is kind of funny to see so many ppl from different countries thinking alike when it comes to the annoyances of SG. I guess it's pretty obvious. The very difficult part is not to join the complaining choir as the level of frustration accumulates surely more and more over time.

it's surely a challenge to mitigate the frustration level...well, somehow you need to cope with your environment...although i never stopped to make it clear when something drives my nerves

[Vaucluse]

3/ People who think they are speaking English, are not. Mainly, they omit final consonant sequences, use /w/ instead of /l/, /d/ or /v/ instead of /th/, and generally sound like three year olds.

An Aussie complaining about someone else's accent!!!!!




I hate the fact that they all have dark-black hair. Everyone. Irrespective of age. You're about to tell someone off slightly for driving like a moron and when you see his face you can tell he is at least 135 years old . . . can't tell someone off who is older than SMS!!! (by two years)

[Wellman]

I can't tell the difference between a 16 year old girl and a 35 year old woman!!

At least that's gonna be my story to the judge anyway!!

[sundaymorningstaple]

I can't tell the difference between a 16 year old girl and a 35 year old woman!!

At least that's gonna be my story to the judge anyway!!

You'll be okay anyway. Age of consent for girls in Singapore is only 14 years. 16 for prostitution. Either way, you're in good shape. But you gonna be in trouble when you go back home and try it though!

Oh, and V. I'm only still in 2nd gear and accelerating!

[Vaucluse]

Oh, and V. I'm only still in 2nd gear and accelerating!

Never would doubt that in a minute . . . especially with your new-found body!

[MinSG]

Well, this is the culture of SG. As long as the other can understand what he/she speaks, nobody cares what accent they speak. Let me ask a question. Who on earth speaks pure English? Australian, British, American? All these people have different accents but who cares. Also, I have seen American writing wrong English words. Shall they not use English as their mother language even they can speak? I can even tell you that I could only understand 20% of what a Scottish spoke while I traveled in Scotland.

Talking about procedures, Singaporeans have been well trained by the government that everything goes by law. Even though there are exceptions, there are certain rules and conditions to fulfill. These are to prevent loopholes as there are many people trying to take advantage by getting through the loopholes. For instance, years back in England, when you lost your mobile phone, you just made a police report by making a phone call and received a reference number from the police and you could claim a brand new phone from the store you bought the phone for $0 or small amount of money. I knew many people cheated every few months. Anyway, the procedures I have seen so far in SG are quite reasonable, compared to China. To share my experience in China, I ever tried to apply for a 6-month visit pass extension for my mum-in-law and the immigration asked me for the original company business license. I was working for a big MNC. Do you think my company would lend me the original business license? I asked the officer what it was for and she told me that she did not know but it was stated in the procedures.

Understand that there are still some complaints about SG law and way of work. As you as you still want to stay in SG, you have to live with it and get used to it. But overall speaking, SG is still one of the best places to live.

[inmotion]

you cannot compare china with singapore. china is a huge country with a huge population. it is entirely a difference to stear a country like china compared with the small island population of singapore. Still, you can see tremendous efforts in china to improve and change.

What Singapore is lacking, perhaps due to all these regulations, which are not in all cases efficient (just look at the ancient content of standard lease agreements), is creativity and social responsibility. As long as you promise people they will gain personal benefits while walking into direction ABC, they will simply walk into that direction.

[movingtospore]

After less than a year here, what absolutely makes me crazy here is people's need to cram themselves onto lifts that should be for wheelchairs, strollers, etc. when there is a perfectly good and EMPTY escalator 10 feet away. I have to restrain myself from shouting at these (mostly) young men who barge on so that little old ladies in wheelchairs can't squeeze in.

I don't get it.

The other thing I just do not get here is why nobody uses car seats. If you can afford to pay $200K for your fancy mercedes then you can afford a car seat for your baby. They are so very safety concious in so many ways, it really shocks me every time I see someone tearing down the street with baby on the driver's lap!

[Girl_Next_Door]

I read on a local website that a guy was ordering another pregnant lady to give up her seat on the MRT, for his pregnant wife!

One would think that you would ask someone who is NOT pregnant to give up the seat...

Then again... this is Uniquely Singapore, right?

[dazzlebabe]

Well GND, there's more to that story which you may have missed. She did say she was pregnant and was not feeling well but was not showing yet. So I don't think the guy was aware she is also pregnant.