Making a mockery out of our courtesy campaign

Tiah Kiang Choon wrote an article on the selfish attitudes of Singaporeans. I have experienced it first-hand as well and it does annoy me too.

When I want to move further in while on the bus so as to make way for those boarding, I am obstructed by alien attitudes which think otherwise. Thankfully, I can move to the centre while on the MRT train. If I stay at the door, I make sure I tiptoe while standing at this side so people can enter more easily.

The 'aliens' around me however, seem to be in their own worlds. This couple turned on loudly their extremely annoying techno music in the bus. I have no right to assess their choice of music but they don't exactly have to show the world what they listen to. They are not on a mission to convert more listeners, are they?! Some students, either the elite-sounding in their influenced accented English or the uncouth boyish-but-trying-to-sound-manly voices, fill the bus with their loud voices and what is worse, they think they are giving a 'cool' impression of themselves.

On the MRT train, my considerate gestures are squashed by some obnoxious people who lean on the poles which are really for people to put their hands on. Are their hands so delicate that they can't be plastered onto the poles?! Perhaps SMRT should put signs up asking people not to lean on the poles, in the trains. Then again, these offenders are probably illiterate, since most signs go unheeded anyway.

Queues are also another occurrence where people just want their own way. I was made to take a later turn when people just went in front of me while I was in a queue, on three occasions.

The first occurred in the taxi queue behind Junction 8 when this Japanese mother and her son did not let me have my turn. She may have been talking on her phone but that is no excuse. Thankfully, the Singaporeans behind her saw it and let me go first after that.

The second was when this hooligan-like male went in front of me in the ATM machine queue at Ang Mo Kio while the third was when this girl went in front of me to hail a cab outside Golden Hill Condominium. I was there first. Thank goodness the taxi driver was smart enough to stop for me and not her.