We May Not Be Courteous But At Least We Are Honest
In a survey done by Reader's Digest, Singapore was ranked 31 out of 35 cities. How's that for the Green City? It's true that there are some of us who are not courteous, yes I am talking about the guy who just shoved his way into my queue, but at least some of us are honest.
Recently, my friends and relatives from Indonesia came to Singapore for a holiday. Today, I brought them to Bugis Junction (it's a shopping mall) to have their lunch. One of them ordered drinks while the others ordered their food. However, after ordering drinks, she forgot to take her wallet. The queue for drinks was quite long, so you can imagine how dim the chance was to get her wallet back. When she remembered that she had misplaced her wallet she panic! She asked the auntie at the drinks stall where her wallet was. The auntie replied that she had passed her wallet over to the manager and the manager was at his office then. She asked me to accompany her to the office as a translator.
We knocked on the door before entering.
Manager: Yes, what you want?
My friend: (looks at me)
Me: We are here to claim a missing wallet.
Manager: Really?
(Of course it's for real!)
My friend: (nods her head)
Manager: So what's the size and colour of your wallet?
Me: (translates into Hokkien)
My friend: (motions her hands to form a rectangular shape) Brown.
Manager: Is it this one?
My friend: Yes. Thank you.
Me: Thanks.
After our meal, my friend told me that Singaporeans are very honest. If it was in their country, the wallet would have been gone. She told me that there are some people who would take all the money, inform you that your wallet has been lost (phone number through your identity card), and asked for a "service fee" (usually it's a hefty sum, kind of like a ransom for your wallet). I just smiled at her.
So if you lose your wallet here in Singapore, most of the time, you could find it back through one of the 4 million smiling Singaporeans :)
Recently, my friends and relatives from Indonesia came to Singapore for a holiday. Today, I brought them to Bugis Junction (it's a shopping mall) to have their lunch. One of them ordered drinks while the others ordered their food. However, after ordering drinks, she forgot to take her wallet. The queue for drinks was quite long, so you can imagine how dim the chance was to get her wallet back. When she remembered that she had misplaced her wallet she panic! She asked the auntie at the drinks stall where her wallet was. The auntie replied that she had passed her wallet over to the manager and the manager was at his office then. She asked me to accompany her to the office as a translator.
We knocked on the door before entering.
Manager: Yes, what you want?
My friend: (looks at me)
Me: We are here to claim a missing wallet.
Manager: Really?
(Of course it's for real!)
My friend: (nods her head)
Manager: So what's the size and colour of your wallet?
Me: (translates into Hokkien)
My friend: (motions her hands to form a rectangular shape) Brown.
Manager: Is it this one?
My friend: Yes. Thank you.
Me: Thanks.
After our meal, my friend told me that Singaporeans are very honest. If it was in their country, the wallet would have been gone. She told me that there are some people who would take all the money, inform you that your wallet has been lost (phone number through your identity card), and asked for a "service fee" (usually it's a hefty sum, kind of like a ransom for your wallet). I just smiled at her.
So if you lose your wallet here in Singapore, most of the time, you could find it back through one of the 4 million smiling Singaporeans :)
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posted by Steph at 10:02 PM
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2 Comments:
sometimes right.its probably because the wallet has no money.but sporeans still make the effort to return.hahaha.
Lol...that's sad man. I guess if that's the case, they do it for the wrong reason.
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