Backlash

[Hannieroo]

I dunno, if I'm putting the rubbish out and they are next to me in their car waiting for the gates to open and I turn around and smile and they look away and with not friendly faces I'm going to guess they just aren't nice for whatever reason. I don't care. Other side neighbours are lovely.

The couple of starers where not staring at my face so it wasn't Mexican standoff but was a bit bolder than I was comfortable with. I wouldn't mind but I dress like a 40 year old soccer mom.

[offshoreoildude]

I dunno, if I'm putting the rubbish out and they are next to me in their car waiting for the gates to open and I turn around and smile and they look away and with not friendly faces I'm going to guess they just aren't nice for whatever reason. I don't care. Other side neighbours are lovely.

The couple of starers where not staring at my face so it wasn't Mexican standoff but was a bit bolder than I was comfortable with. I wouldn't mind but I dress like a 40 year old soccer mom.

Yes, those are the sort I keep a roll of plastic sheeting for... (along with a lighter).

[iamsen]

locals on the collision course will try to pass you from the wall side (so this would be you to move towards the middle).

Ah yes, the bloody slitherers. Was exiting the 313 building last night at Somerset MRT and this one slitherer just knocked right into me. I'm not taking offense since it was obviously a blind spot, but I still think he's an idiot for not noticing the obvious throngs of people leaving a building.

[JR8]

I dunno, if I'm putting the rubbish out and they are next to me in their car waiting for the gates to open and I turn around and smile and they look away and with not friendly faces I'm going to guess they just aren't nice for whatever reason. I don't care. Other side neighbours are lovely.

The couple of starers where not staring at my face so it wasn't Mexican standoff but was a bit bolder than I was comfortable with. I wouldn't mind but I dress like a 40 year old soccer mom.

The unfriendly ones, odds on they're simply jealous of you.

Don't take it personally. As OSOD suggests, there is a slice of the SG-personality that is nouveau-riche-peasant. You know, Ting Tong wins the lottery and thereafter looks down her nose at all the 'dirty foreigners' living at her council estate.

There are many very nice SGns too, as you will find. But the 'haters', just mentally flip them off, and move on. If you find yourself getting hung up re: rude or unfriendly locals, your stint is going to go slowly.

[Hannieroo]

That is pretty much my philosophy everywhere. No nation is all good or bad and I am quite thick skinned. People who don't know me can't judge me in a way I can even try to give a shit about.

[Brah]

There are many very nice SGns too, as you will find. But the 'haters', just mentally flip them off, and move on. If you find yourself getting hung up re: rude or unfriendly locals, your stint is going to go slowly.

I think there's something to if confronting them on being rude that they will not want to be the one singled out for that and will realize and stop being the butthead they are being.

But anti-foreigner sentiment is high and getting higher, I get the feeling that things are going to blow sometimes.

[sundaymorningstaple]

You often find that mentality in the parking lots and towns after footy matches when the home team loses. I think it's called the mob mentality, when common sense flies out the window and a persons baser instinct comes to the fore as they think there's safety in numbers. Not quite to that level here, but as Brah says, it could easily reach the boiling point with enough sh*t-stirrers out there.

[JR8]

But anti-foreigner sentiment is high and getting higher, I get the feeling that things are going to blow sometimes.

Oh sigh, I foresee another government media campaign, anyone fancy a go at a parody of it?

'Nestle up with an FT neighbour,
Have a bash with some Foreign Trash [er, oops sorry, it just sort of slipped out! ]'

[Edroche]

Deciding how to operate and exist in this environment is probably the only way to effectively manage this.

- Identify what you dislike the most - then avoid it. I.e.:

Unfriendly stares/looks. Avoid eye contact.

MRT crowds – go to last few carriages on either end. Not the last one. Hang back and wait for crowds to clear platform before going down stairs.

Bikers on paths - walk through the void decks/take alternate route instead

Slow walkers on orchard – don’t go to orchard

Beware of women in their 40s and 50s.

[Edroche]

Found this article about visiting China to be v interesting. http://www.china-mike.com/chinese-cultu ... ut-groups/

[sundaymorningstaple]

Deciding how to operate and exist in this environment is probably the only way to effectively manage this.

- Identify what you dislike the most - then avoid it. I.e.:

Unfriendly stares/looks. Avoid eye contact.

MRT crowds – go to last few carriages on either end. Not the last one. Hang back and wait for crowds to clear platform before going down stairs.

Bikers on paths - walk through the void decks/take alternate route instead

Slow walkers on orchard – don’t go to orchard

Beware of women in their 40s and 50s.

I've managed to cut my Orchard exposure to maybe twice a year now, especially since NEX opened up 2.4 km from the house. But definitely agree on your whole list!

[zzm9980]

Found this article about visiting China to be v interesting. http://www.china-mike.com/chinese-cultu ... ut-groups/

This could explain the local forum trolls' fascinating assumption that every expat here is someone who 'couldn't make it' in their own country.

[JR8]

Found this article about visiting China to be v interesting. http://www.china-mike.com/chinese-cultu ... ut-groups/

Thanks for the link, that was a fascinating read, and it helps me understand something that I've been grappling with (unsuccessfully) for c25 odd years.

[iamsen]

This could explain the local forum trolls' fascinating assumption that every expat here is someone who 'couldn't make it' in their own country.

The trolls have it wrong. Some of them are here because they 'couldn't make it' in another country. From this (ex?)FT's point of view anyway.

http://limpehft.blogspot.sg/2012/12/int ... alent.html

No offence, but Singapore is seen as a good destination for Chinese migrants who cannot and do not want to learn English. For those who can speak even a bit of English, they have their eyes set on countries like America, England, Canada, Australia... even New Zealand. Singapore is seen as a last resort if you cannot get into any of those other countries.

[JR8]

Found this article about visiting China to be v interesting. http://www.china-mike.com/chinese-cultu ... ut-groups/

This could explain the local forum trolls' fascinating assumption that every expat here is someone who 'couldn't make it' in their own country.

That's ironic. Surely the Chinese are in SG (historically) because they 'couldn't make it in their own country'?