NEA officer acts on CBD tissue woe
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my paper - Thursday, Jul 28, 2011
By Low Minmin
A man irked patrons of the crowded Golden Shoe Food Centre in Raffles Place on Tuesday afternoon, telling a number of them not to reserve seats by placing packets of tissue paper on tabletops.
"He was pointing at seats and asking why people were using tissue packets (to reserve seats)," said manager Tan Li-Lin, 28, who was among those approached by the man.
Ms Tan had been eating alone, seated beside two empty seats which were "reserved" with tissue packets.
"My first thought was that this guy had obviously never had to deal with the lunch-time rush before," said Ms Tan.
The food centre is popular with office workers in the Central Business District who throng the place at lunch-time as it offers a cheaper variety of food.
The practice of "reserving" seats with tissue packets has been a bugbear of office workers there for years.
The man, Ms Tan said, had identified himself as a National Environment Agency (NEA) officer and flashed what appeared to be a warrant card.
He is believed to be in his 30s and was dressed in jeans. "His tone sounded a little irritated and he was speaking quite loudly," she said.
Riled patrons were overheard complaining about his audacity as they had never encountered a similar incident before.
In a statement yesterday, an NEA spokesman clarified that the man is an environmental-health officer in charge of the food centre and was doing his routine check during lunch hour that day.
He added that the officer had acted on "public feedback" that patrons were reserving seats at the food centre with tissue packets and, "out of good intention", had "advised patrons to be considerate to others".
But the spokesman pointed out that NEA does not have a policy against patrons reserving seats in hawker centres as this is on a first-come, first-served basis.
"However, patrons should always be considerate to others when sharing the facilities,"he added.
While NEA did not clarify the specifics of the officer's job scope, Singapore Kindness Movement general secretary William Wan said: "The fact that the gentleman took ownership of the problem and tried to make a difference is commendable.
"But we have to be very careful that we distinguish between our personal capacity and our capacity as an officer of a particular organisation or ministry."
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Very shity one lah~ Does it mean that I have to carry my bowl of laksa and find a seat? What if the laksa accidentally spill onto other people? It's also quite heavy to carry your food while walking around to find seat.
This is epic discrimination against Singles. Singles also need to eat right? The practice of reserving seats using tissue paper is not wrong. It means that I see the seats first, and I reserve it with my tissue paper. So that after I purchase my food, I have a place to seat.
Those people that are against reserve system is totally unreasonable because of the fact that
- Others had already found and secure the seat
- Others just need to leave for a while to purchase food
The characteristic of people that are against the reserve system are usually those big groups of people (3 or more). When they see the seats are taken, they gets angry and living in the state of senile and self-denial.
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uniquely Sg.
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Originally posted by Clivebenss:
uniquely Sg.
U need LEE, Singapore
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"does not have a policy"
die, what if they come out with policy
no choping with tissue
fine $200 (and tissue will be confiscated) -
Originally posted by TehJarVu:
"does not have a policy"
die, what if they come out with policy
no choping with tissue
fine $200 (and tissue will be confiscated)or better. choping with tissue = littering.
fine $500 + CWO
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Originally posted by Darkness_hacker99:
Very shity one lah~ Does it mean that I have to carry my bowl of laksa and find a seat? What if the laksa accidentally spill onto other people? It's also quite heavy to carry your food while walking around to find seat.
This is epic discrimination against Singles. Singles also need to eat right? The practice of reserving seats using tissue paper is not wrong. It means that I see the seats first, and I reserve it with my tissue paper. So that after I purchase my food, I have a place to seat.
Those people that are against reserve system is totally unreasonable because of the fact that
- Others had already found and secure the seat
- Others just need to leave for a while to purchase food
The characteristic of people that are against the reserve system are usually those big groups of people (3 or more). When they see the seats are taken, they gets angry and living in the state of senile and self-denial.
Singles should tapow in the morning and eat in in the office during lunch. Singles are predominantly anti-social and should have no place in the lunchtime crowd, otherwise they won't be called singles right? Ouch, did that hurt?
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it all started with women...its their ideas....who else are intimate with tissues than them?
Sg women take all social advantages with the excessive spoiled women charter here..
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One time at Clifford Centre basement, Banquet I think, saw one table with tissue packs, from the time I walked around, to getting my meal, sitting nearby and finishing my meal, no one came to sit at the table with the tissues the entire time.
Someone must have placed them there just to see what happens. True enough, everyone respected the "chope", and didn't use that table dispite the lunch time crowd.
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it's singapore culture lah... put anything there also can considered you book the seats... that time i put my pang sai there, indeed nobody take that seat because they recognize by putting something there (my pang sai), they will not take my seat.
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Originally posted by ditzy:
Singles should tapow in the morning and eat in in the office during lunch. Singles are predominantly anti-social and should have no place in the lunchtime crowd, otherwise they won't be called singles right? Ouch, did that hurt?
omg! singles are not predominantly anti-social
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The issues is not enough seats, not booking of seats with tissue.
This is typical way that the croonies worked.
Always failing to solve the source of the problem.
The booking of the seat with tissues is actually a creative solution itself.
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If one day you need tissue, you will know where to get one foc.
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it is not creative per se...
but rather selfish inconsideration to get another's kind consideration...in fact i prefer them to put tampax on it...
u see....its just like leaving your notebook with a pen on the library's table and gone...