Some people just have no manners. They do not get the meaning of politeness and courtesy.
They are just so idiotic and uneducated that using simple polite words like "please" is like throwing pearls to pigs. Wasted!
If I ever get mocked for saying please or even trying to polite, I would just turn the other way and vulgarities may just spew out of my unholy mouth! WTF!
-----------------------
The New Paper
20 Aug 2008
Graciousness on S'pore's streets
Got hope?
Elderly S'porean mocked for saying please
PLEASE heed this story. It is about our streets, the inhabitants of our streets, and the way they behave. It is about graciousness gone to the dogs.
And whether Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's appeal for greater kindness and graciousness will be heeded. Add the word 'please' to our vocabulary more often, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong suggested in his National Day Rally speech on Sunday.
One man did - and was mocked for it.
Another man, The New Paper reader Suneel Ramchandani, 31, was outraged when he saw what happened. He was just an observer, he said, but he felt for a fellow citizen, one who is in his 70s.
Mr Yee Teck Peng, 75, was being polite when he asked for a drink at a food court in Little India. 'One coffee, please,' Mr Yee, a retiree, told the drinks stall supervisor, Mr Tay Guizhong, who is in his 20s.
The response Mr Yee received riled Mr Ramchandani.
Mr Tay said: 'How to make that? I don't know how to make 'coffee-please'.' Mr Tay answered. After saying that, he allegedly kept repeating the word 'please' in different tones.
It could be that Mr Tay has never come across customers using the word, 'please'. How else would you explain why he found it amusing enough to be facetious?
Mr Ramchandani, self-employed, was in front of Mr Yee, waiting for his drinks. He was so upset that he decided to act. Going up to Mr Tay, he told him off for his rudeness. He told Mr Tay that he should be thankful that there are still people who are so polite.
Mr Ramchandani told Mr Tay that he should have been more polite in his response. He even offered quick advice on the proper reply. He told the stall vendor: 'You should have answered, 'Yes, sir, thank you,' or 'Wait a minute, please'.'
He also told Mr Tay to apologise to Mr Yee for being rude and making fun of him.
Instead, Mr Tay challenged Mr Ramchandani to make a case of it. Mr Tay said: 'I was only joking with him. But, you go and report if you want to.'
When contacted by The New Paper, Mr Yee agreed with Mr Ramchandani that Mr Tay was impolite. He had also told Mr Tay: 'You shouldn't have done that. You should not behave that way towards your customers. It is not right to make fun of people.'
Mr Tay did not apologise to Mr Yee. Instead, he turned on Mr Ramchandani for being 'kay poh' (nosy) and stared at him angrily when he passed his table.
Mr Yee commented: 'The man was very rude and he did not project a good image of how people working in Singapore should behave.' But he said he bears no grudge against the drinks stall and will return for his coffee.
His wife, Mrs Mary Yee, 70, a retiree, was seated at a table and did not see the exchange. She felt there was a reason Mr Tay behaved that way. 'The man is Mandarin-speaking, so when he meets an English-speaking person, ordering drinks in a polite way, he regards him as an 'angmoh sai' (anglophile) and thus mimicks him.
'However, it doesn't give him the right to make fun of my husband.'
When contacted by The New Paper, Mr Roy Goh, 40, the Area Manager of Foodmore, said he was informed about the incident only on Thursday, after The New Paper visited the place.
It is understood that on that day, the duty supervisor was off and Mr Tay, the supervisor at another drinks stall in Bukit Panjang, covered for him.
Mr Goh felt that 'it was just a different kind of understanding of the language'. He said: 'When customers order coffee, they simply say, 'coffee', 'coffee black' or in dialect, 'kopi o' (coffee with no sugar and milk), 'kopi gao' (strong coffee) or 'kopi siu dai' (coffee with less sugar). They usually do not say, 'Coffee, please'.'
Mr Goh felt that Mr Ramchandani is making too much of the incident. He added: 'It was a trivial matter between the customer and supervisor and none of his (Mr Ramchandani's) concern.'
He wanted an amicable settlement of the case and offered to set up a meeting between Mr Tay and Mr Yee to resolve the issue.
-----------------------------
The New Paper
21 Aug 2008
No excuse for rudeness
HE SAID 'PLEASE' AND WAS MOCKED FOR IT: The New Paper ran a story on it and you wrote in. What do Singaporeans feel about the matter? We got almost 40 calls and e-mails about this.
Here are some excerpts
The problem with our society is that there aren't enough people like Mr Ramchandani who are willing to speak up for someone who is wronged.
# We need more people willing to speak up
The problem with our society is that there aren't enough people like Mr Ramchandani who are willing to speak up for someone who is wronged.
For Mr Goh to call it a small matter is rubbing salt into the wound. Would Mr Goh take it lightly if it was his father or someone he cherishes who was treated in such a manner?
Rudeness is rudeness and one must never make excuses or call it by any other name.
FROM READER WILFRED ALEXANDER TAN
# Pity the coffee boy
Here's my take. You are a coffee boy and you hear 'Coffee, please' from a customer. You bring him the closest sounding thing: 'Coffee-C'. You could get a tirade from him.
The coffee shop is no place for niceties. Orders have to be short and sharp. Hundreds of customers make hundreds of orders in an hour or two, so pity the coffee boy.
FROM READER SK NEO
# Oh, lighten up
I am not here to judge Mr Tay's tone when he replied but I will give him the benefit of the doubt.
Singaporeans have to lighten up and have some sense of humour. What Mr Tay replied with was quite humorous. Even if Mr Tay sounded impolite, he meant it to be humourous.
I'd rather have funny, polite Singlish than stiff upper lip politeness any time.
FROM READER FRANCIS CHIN
# Mr Yee's my teacher, a gracious person
Being a student of the school that Mr Yee always conducts relief lessons in, Saint Andrew's Secondary, I know that he is always a very courteous and gracious person.
To see how such gentlemanly behaviour has been mocked leaves me disgusted. It really bewilders me that courtesy now carries such a strong social stigma.
Mr Ramchandani is indeed a hero and not a kaypoh. I would do exactly what Mr Ramchandani did when he saw what happened.
If people will stop minding their own business and step forward, Singapore can be changed to a courteous and gracious society.
FROM READER NICHOLAS YEO
# Bad service? Blame the manager
As a customer, I do not find Mr Tay's antics amusing. But his behaviour becomes apparent to me after reading his area manager, Mr Roy Goh's reaction.
It is no wonder Tay behaves that way - 'company policy' perhaps?
They have failed the customer service test and failed miserably again, this time in their PR (damage control).
I will definitely give this food court a miss!!
FROM READER RICK TAN
# Good manners is almost extinct
I respect people like Mr Ramchandani who have the courage to stand up not only for themselves, but for others as well.
As for Mr Yee, I am glad that there still exists old-fashioned good manners. Such behaviour is almost extinct. I am confronted daily by instances of unrefined behaviour and brusqueness.
You can blame it on our culture, but that doesn't explain why, in my experience, retirees like Mr Yee, who have lived through more decades of local culture than most, are usually the genteel and well-mannered ones.
FROM READER MARIA CHAN
# Do you not understand what 'please' means?
Which part of the word 'please' does Mr Tay or Mr Roy Goh not understand?
It would seem that being Mandarin-speaking is just an excuse to be boorish in their behaviour.
I probably will not live long enough to see a gracious Singapore society in my lifetime, and I am only in my early fifties!
FROM READER TAN GEOK KIM
# What a lame excuse!
I am appalled by the reply from the area manager of Foodmore, Mr Roy Goh.
It is a lame excuse to say that the duty supervisor was off that day. Whether Mr Tay is a stand-in supervisor or not, he should not have reacted in that manner.
What happens if the customer was a foreigner? It would be bad for our image.
FROM READER RICHARD YAN
They are just so idiotic and uneducated that using simple polite words like "please" is like throwing pearls to pigs. Wasted!
If I ever get mocked for saying please or even trying to polite, I would just turn the other way and vulgarities may just spew out of my unholy mouth! WTF!
-----------------------
The New Paper
20 Aug 2008
Graciousness on S'pore's streets
Got hope?
Elderly S'porean mocked for saying please
PLEASE heed this story. It is about our streets, the inhabitants of our streets, and the way they behave. It is about graciousness gone to the dogs.
And whether Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's appeal for greater kindness and graciousness will be heeded. Add the word 'please' to our vocabulary more often, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong suggested in his National Day Rally speech on Sunday.
One man did - and was mocked for it.
Another man, The New Paper reader Suneel Ramchandani, 31, was outraged when he saw what happened. He was just an observer, he said, but he felt for a fellow citizen, one who is in his 70s.
Mr Yee Teck Peng, 75, was being polite when he asked for a drink at a food court in Little India. 'One coffee, please,' Mr Yee, a retiree, told the drinks stall supervisor, Mr Tay Guizhong, who is in his 20s.
The response Mr Yee received riled Mr Ramchandani.
Mr Tay said: 'How to make that? I don't know how to make 'coffee-please'.' Mr Tay answered. After saying that, he allegedly kept repeating the word 'please' in different tones.
It could be that Mr Tay has never come across customers using the word, 'please'. How else would you explain why he found it amusing enough to be facetious?
Mr Ramchandani, self-employed, was in front of Mr Yee, waiting for his drinks. He was so upset that he decided to act. Going up to Mr Tay, he told him off for his rudeness. He told Mr Tay that he should be thankful that there are still people who are so polite.
Mr Ramchandani told Mr Tay that he should have been more polite in his response. He even offered quick advice on the proper reply. He told the stall vendor: 'You should have answered, 'Yes, sir, thank you,' or 'Wait a minute, please'.'
He also told Mr Tay to apologise to Mr Yee for being rude and making fun of him.
Instead, Mr Tay challenged Mr Ramchandani to make a case of it. Mr Tay said: 'I was only joking with him. But, you go and report if you want to.'
When contacted by The New Paper, Mr Yee agreed with Mr Ramchandani that Mr Tay was impolite. He had also told Mr Tay: 'You shouldn't have done that. You should not behave that way towards your customers. It is not right to make fun of people.'
Mr Tay did not apologise to Mr Yee. Instead, he turned on Mr Ramchandani for being 'kay poh' (nosy) and stared at him angrily when he passed his table.
Mr Yee commented: 'The man was very rude and he did not project a good image of how people working in Singapore should behave.' But he said he bears no grudge against the drinks stall and will return for his coffee.
His wife, Mrs Mary Yee, 70, a retiree, was seated at a table and did not see the exchange. She felt there was a reason Mr Tay behaved that way. 'The man is Mandarin-speaking, so when he meets an English-speaking person, ordering drinks in a polite way, he regards him as an 'angmoh sai' (anglophile) and thus mimicks him.
'However, it doesn't give him the right to make fun of my husband.'
When contacted by The New Paper, Mr Roy Goh, 40, the Area Manager of Foodmore, said he was informed about the incident only on Thursday, after The New Paper visited the place.
It is understood that on that day, the duty supervisor was off and Mr Tay, the supervisor at another drinks stall in Bukit Panjang, covered for him.
Mr Goh felt that 'it was just a different kind of understanding of the language'. He said: 'When customers order coffee, they simply say, 'coffee', 'coffee black' or in dialect, 'kopi o' (coffee with no sugar and milk), 'kopi gao' (strong coffee) or 'kopi siu dai' (coffee with less sugar). They usually do not say, 'Coffee, please'.'
Mr Goh felt that Mr Ramchandani is making too much of the incident. He added: 'It was a trivial matter between the customer and supervisor and none of his (Mr Ramchandani's) concern.'
He wanted an amicable settlement of the case and offered to set up a meeting between Mr Tay and Mr Yee to resolve the issue.
-----------------------------
The New Paper
21 Aug 2008
No excuse for rudeness
HE SAID 'PLEASE' AND WAS MOCKED FOR IT: The New Paper ran a story on it and you wrote in. What do Singaporeans feel about the matter? We got almost 40 calls and e-mails about this.
Here are some excerpts
The problem with our society is that there aren't enough people like Mr Ramchandani who are willing to speak up for someone who is wronged.
# We need more people willing to speak up
The problem with our society is that there aren't enough people like Mr Ramchandani who are willing to speak up for someone who is wronged.
For Mr Goh to call it a small matter is rubbing salt into the wound. Would Mr Goh take it lightly if it was his father or someone he cherishes who was treated in such a manner?
Rudeness is rudeness and one must never make excuses or call it by any other name.
FROM READER WILFRED ALEXANDER TAN
# Pity the coffee boy
Here's my take. You are a coffee boy and you hear 'Coffee, please' from a customer. You bring him the closest sounding thing: 'Coffee-C'. You could get a tirade from him.
The coffee shop is no place for niceties. Orders have to be short and sharp. Hundreds of customers make hundreds of orders in an hour or two, so pity the coffee boy.
FROM READER SK NEO
# Oh, lighten up
I am not here to judge Mr Tay's tone when he replied but I will give him the benefit of the doubt.
Singaporeans have to lighten up and have some sense of humour. What Mr Tay replied with was quite humorous. Even if Mr Tay sounded impolite, he meant it to be humourous.
I'd rather have funny, polite Singlish than stiff upper lip politeness any time.
FROM READER FRANCIS CHIN
# Mr Yee's my teacher, a gracious person
Being a student of the school that Mr Yee always conducts relief lessons in, Saint Andrew's Secondary, I know that he is always a very courteous and gracious person.
To see how such gentlemanly behaviour has been mocked leaves me disgusted. It really bewilders me that courtesy now carries such a strong social stigma.
Mr Ramchandani is indeed a hero and not a kaypoh. I would do exactly what Mr Ramchandani did when he saw what happened.
If people will stop minding their own business and step forward, Singapore can be changed to a courteous and gracious society.
FROM READER NICHOLAS YEO
# Bad service? Blame the manager
As a customer, I do not find Mr Tay's antics amusing. But his behaviour becomes apparent to me after reading his area manager, Mr Roy Goh's reaction.
It is no wonder Tay behaves that way - 'company policy' perhaps?
They have failed the customer service test and failed miserably again, this time in their PR (damage control).
I will definitely give this food court a miss!!
FROM READER RICK TAN
# Good manners is almost extinct
I respect people like Mr Ramchandani who have the courage to stand up not only for themselves, but for others as well.
As for Mr Yee, I am glad that there still exists old-fashioned good manners. Such behaviour is almost extinct. I am confronted daily by instances of unrefined behaviour and brusqueness.
You can blame it on our culture, but that doesn't explain why, in my experience, retirees like Mr Yee, who have lived through more decades of local culture than most, are usually the genteel and well-mannered ones.
FROM READER MARIA CHAN
# Do you not understand what 'please' means?
Which part of the word 'please' does Mr Tay or Mr Roy Goh not understand?
It would seem that being Mandarin-speaking is just an excuse to be boorish in their behaviour.
I probably will not live long enough to see a gracious Singapore society in my lifetime, and I am only in my early fifties!
FROM READER TAN GEOK KIM
# What a lame excuse!
I am appalled by the reply from the area manager of Foodmore, Mr Roy Goh.
It is a lame excuse to say that the duty supervisor was off that day. Whether Mr Tay is a stand-in supervisor or not, he should not have reacted in that manner.
What happens if the customer was a foreigner? It would be bad for our image.
FROM READER RICHARD YAN
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