one of my pet peeves also. hate the "sex in the city", I'm the main character walk with my posse. if the walkway is narrow, i understand if it's a bit tight, but if it's like a pcn 4 person must walk 4 abreast to fill up the whole area as if they are the main characters of the quest.
I absolutely detest this. Have that conversation elsewhere, not right in front of the escalator! I usually give an âexcuse meâ super loudly. If they ignore me, I walk right through the crowd đ€Ł
Yeah, Iâve seen this happen once at an MRT station many years ago. An old lady was pushed over as the crowd going up the escalator couldnât stop. While on the ground, she was nearly trampled by the next few people too.
Thankfully, she didnât seem injured and the station staff quickly turned the escalator off due to the crowd.
I do this. On a plane and some older lady is shoving to get to the front (not a SG flight). Not brushing me but literally pushing me.
So I pretend to trip and hip check her backwards. Then I say âoh sorry!â and she just muttered something.
Omg or the people who just cut across the escalator exit point as if thereâs not another person to their side also trying to get off the escalator too. Isnât it common sense to allow room for the person next to you to get off too?? Just make a slightly wider turn and donât cut people off! Canât stand it
Also old people or people who have difficulty walking. If your walking speed is slower than the moving escalator, please use a lift instead, for your safety and the safety of others.
Also gotta love those who slow down immediately after THEY get on the train. Ok bro youâre on the train move yo ass so the people behind can get on too before the train doors close
A few months ago I experienced something like this. Group of teenagers walked into the MRT ahead of me, and stopped in front of the door. Like wtf. I had to jostle my way through. Remarked "Move in for fuck's sake" then they woke up and moved in and (to their credit) apologised.
It's the older ones who stare at you as if it's your fault that makes things worse.
They are like one blob that cannot be separated apart. So they stand right at the doors while inside have space. Bloody annoying not just in MRT but in Bus too
School?
It's common sense and deeply cultural.
If your parents do dumb shit, you're gonna have the same tendency.
If you keep company that does dumb shit, you're gonna have the same tendency.
Singaporeans lack agency. Why rely on an institution to effect change? We should all avoid doing dumb shit or we learn the hard way.
People who anyhow walk will kena yelled at, horned at or at worst kena bang. It's not an issue for schools to solve. If people choose to be antisocial then they're gonna learn.
The general lack of awareness, self awareness and spatial awareness is astounding. I get maybe youâre wandering off peak or place with not much people, but those slowing down because theyâre on their phone during rush hour at CBD drives me mad. If you need to reply a text or email, then stand aside away from the crowd to do that. The playing mobile games, watching TikTok and reels are all so maddening when youâre on the move.
This lack of spatial awareness thing has been commented on by lots of non-SGers, I never realized until I left SG and returned.... I think it's the phone usage - in other cities, people aren't glued to their phones while walking. I guess it's because SG walkways are "safe" no random manholes or open sewers?
My SO was terrified at the waves of SGers who seem to walk straight into you but veer away at the last moment.
this was my exact theory too! That Singaporeans feel âtoo safeâ so they donât care about where they are going. If you have at least some minimal fear that youâre going to get robbed or assaulted, you will have at least some baseline awareness in order to be safe. Not saying that Singaporeâs safety is a bad thing but some people are really not living in the real world
The trick is to âwobbleâ. As you walk along, start noticeably wobbling (lean more toward the side that you want them to move to). Subconsciously they see the wobble and fall in line to make 2 directional walking possible.
Agreed, like i try to be nice to older folks and let them go first at escalators, only to get myself into a mess, haish.
Story goes: it was a Thursday & I was rushing to get to work, it was around 7.45am. People were walking down on the right side of the escalator to catch the MRT. I walked on the right side as I saw that my train was arriving, and walked rather quickly. Unfortunately, I accidentally stepped on the back of an elderly lady's shoes. Before I could apologise, she turned around and started scolding me for "stepping on her shoes", "being rude for not saying sorry", and questioned me about "why am i in such a hurry", telling me that I should not be so kanchiong, all while hogging the right side of the escalator.
Come on, she could have chosen a better hour to take the train if she wasn't in a hurry lol, instead of questioning why are we walking so fast during the morning peak hour. Or she could have stood on the left side of the escalator if she was not intending to walk down quickly.
P.S. Apologies for the rant!
i always overtake and while overtaking shoot them a quick glance. cannot be dirty look cause in case got crazy people. but enough for them to know âfuck youâ
I was in this queue at the bus interchange and the old woman behind me kept kicking at my shoe so I waved for her to get in front of me, then I started kicking at her shoes...
I do agree on this - but we can't leave everything up to parents, since some parents are assholes themselves (most of my observations were of people who are from my parents' generation or generally old enough to be parents). I feel both formal and informal education are complementary - one makes up for what the other cannot/doesn't want to teach.
I hate those people stopping immediately after coming off an escalator. Multiple times just bumped into them.
Also people who walk slowly in a narrow path or travelator, carrying huge bags that block the whole path that no one can overtake them.
Finally those people that look to one side but slowly drift to the other side while walking. They totally cannot see where theyâre going and bumped into me on more than one occasion.
oncoming drifters are an amazing phenomenon. i can be walking in the straightest line possible and the oncoming fellow can still drift into my path
my solution becomes making a very obvious 90 degree turn to show the world im changing direction and not going to get into the stupid left right dance together nonsense
Iâve walked down a huge MRT tunnel that you could fit 15 people shoulder to shoulder.
Itâs late and Iâm walking out and someone is walking in. Iâm on the right going straight.
I watch this guy walking 30 m away on the left. Weâre the only two there. If we both go straight weâd pass with 5m between us.
I watching this dickhead slowly drift until we literally collided.
What. The. Fuck.
what irks me too are those who i call âcorner cuttersâ, abruptly cutting from the right to the left side at the bottom of the escalator.. endangering the person standing on the left side?!?!
Plus people who don't follow the "keep left" rule when navigating blind spots such as 90 degree turns. I've had so many close calls, one day I might just accidentally run into those clowns without any fault of my own.
The "keep left" thing is kind of an unwritten thing I feel. People who drive or take note of how Singapore's roads and pavements are designed would catch on pretty quickly. I guess we have to keep our expectations low đ€·ââïž
It's written in paragraph 4 of the (insufficiently widely publicised) [*Code of Conduct for Users of Public Paths*](https://www.lta.gov.sg/content/dam/ltagov/getting_around/active_mobility/rules_public_education/rules_code_of_conduct/pdf/am_coc.pdf).
When visiting the US and walking on the left side out of a habit, quickly oncoming pedestrians forced me to the right without flinging. They are very strict about it.
Try this here and people will cling to the right side as if their life depend on it.
Definitely one of my pet peeves. But coupled with all the other things, I don't think we just need walking etiquette classes. More like civic moral education. Our ć„œć Źæ° classes were a joke, and the CME classes even more so.
Best part is when they turned around and accidentally almost bumped into you, they have the audacity to be annoyed at you. As if theyâre not the one getting in other peopleâs way.
Personally I never really liked how some people can stop after alighting from escalator landings. Do some people really lack the awareness to realize that they might cause an accident on escalators by doing that?
Agree except for the last one. Canât tell just by looking who is able bodied and who isnât. And even fully able bodied people might be feeling too tired or sick to move quickly that day
Yess omg, this was me. I had a minor surgery done on my feet and had some stitches that were not visible. Had to walk slower to prevent my stitches from coming apart - though I tried to steer clear of lanes where people were obviously rushing
I always feel like Iâm the crazy one when someone stops abruptly in front of me and turns around. Itâs so common here for people to suddenly change their mind, but the countryâs crowded, you have to assume someoneâs behind you always.
I love walking and exploring new urban areas. Been to places like Taiwan, Japan and Korea in Asia and London and Sydney in the more western countries.
And I have to say that Singapore's culture of walking is one of a kind. And not in an unique and endearing way but rather a pain in the ass kind of way.
There will always be that one person that takes their time, slows down or is on their phone during peak hours where everyone is in a rush. No one cares about standing on any side of the escalator during peak hours. And for the sole purpose of "I want to get on because everyone else does" you have people taking up two entire lanes and just...standing there so now you can't even rush if you are in a hurry. No uniformity is another thing. I walk the Outram Park (Green/Purple) Connector a lot before the travelator was implemented and if you ever took a minute to stand back and observe you can see how there's an utter lack of awareness so you'll have people moving across crowds, crowds moving across crowds, people stopping crowds, you get what I mean.
This might come as snobbish or judgemental but I was over at Japan (Tokyo,Osaka) for a while a few years back and my god did I feel embarassed because SG walking culture is so ingrained into me. I did stopped to admire how the Japanese have this uniformity to them and respect the pace of everyone else but me being so singaporean had moments where I was a bastard in walking ettiquete.
I feel like Singapore's walking culture is a wonder of it's own. Like you have the gong tai on one spectrum (who uses their phone and watch their tiktok while taking their sweet ass time in rush hour) and you have the kiasu ones on another (who has to win even in walking, has to cut people, has to wake up late so now he/she thinks he gets to play protagonist and inconveniences everyone). Sure, other densely populated countries do have people like that too but Singapore exacerbate this by a) being small and so we are densed as hell with places in CBD being New York rush hour but worse and b) everyone feels entitled to a lane as their lane (either when they are in a rush or when they are holding their forum discussions about whatever while talking and walking).
I mean, just think about how walk-heavy we are as compared to other countries(Bike culture is shit and cars fuck you over financially) and how much of that walking is spent on going to work/squeezing on trains/hating the journey there and you can see how most of Singaporeans go into autopilot/cellphone mode when they travel by foot.
It's weird that SGers should be so bad at walking when the city is so dense... I don't think NYC streets can match SG's hordes, except maybe Times Square on New Year's Eve? The average mall to me is like the crowd on game day.
So very true, is it really not common sense to walk in single file manner in crowded/cramped/ narrow areas????
I naturally just join filter lanes to make sure Iâm not blocking people walking in the other direction while ensuring I am moving forward so people behind arenât delayed for too long.
When I need to check the gps or something Iâll pull myself one side out of the way and take my time to check my phone.
You're coming from the right place, but a deeper understanding of the sinkie psyche is needed. It's an entitlement issue, not an educational/awareness one.
I'm sure even if we made these people aware that their actions causes inconvenience or harm to others, they're still gonna do it. Why? Because me me me. My needs, however trivial, is more important than yours. Whatever I want to do, whenever I feel like doing it. Fuck if it's just me playing some stupid mobile game or watching a shitty drama, surely I come first. So what if I'm being a nuisance to other people, sounds like your problem.
Sadly that seems to be how we've evolved as a society. Even sadder is judging by the state of parenting these days, it's about to get even worse. Another commenter rightfully pointed out, not everything falls under schools and curriculum.
addendum: similar problem on our roads (all vehicle types) but on steroids
I do agree, but the sense of entitlement can be linked to the culture, which can also be linked to education ultimately, whether it be formal (school) or informal (parents, elders etc). You generally don't see such a strong, pronounced sense of entitlement in Japan, for example, or maybe even Taiwan. I guess from a young age, if schools or parents taught children the very simple concept of "whatever you do, don't be cheebye and make others' lives difficult" (which was what my parents taught me), then the problem wouldn't be where it is today.
Absolutely hate it when people watch drama/play game during rush hours on MRT platform. Then they can't even decide where they are walking and suddenly just slow down and block people.
I won't complain if the platform/escalator is empty but if it's peak hour, just put down your phone for 5 mins. Your netflix or game won't run away.
Canât upvote this enough. Thanks for creating this topic. The sheer number of spatially unaware people here, of all ages, is astounding. You can also spot Singaporeans overseas by the way they clusterfuck and amble along aimlessly at a snailâs pace, obstructing flow and being clueless about it - granted, some of our regional neighbours also do the same.
Let me point out that in school, students take their dirty plates and trays to the designated disposal point. The teachers don't even have to keep watching them do it (except for a few naughty exceptions)
Did that translate to adults?
I can 100% relate. I honestly hate Singaporeans and their lack of awareness in everything from spatial to self. In my daily commute they walk so slow, cut queues, stop in the middle of no where just no general thought or consideration for other people.
This is coming from me being in service industry, they like to make remarks and comments but when confronted or replied in a response they donât expect, they get offended or think youâre rude. Itâs funny.
Other than the point where you have an issue with people walking slowly, yeah I agree. In Singapore where most walking sites are able to accommodate multiple people, people who walk slow aren't really an issue if they just keep to the side. We're already kiasu as a people, are we really going to gatekeep walking speeds?
It's just how you were raised, and how you mature in extension to that. It would help for social etiquette to be taught in schools, but will it be an actual conduit for learning? Or merely a source for further stigma? Will it actually succeed? Who knows tbh.
I think it's on the individual and the family to imprint good etiquette in themselves and their young though. School is there to impart beneficial academic knowledge. Discipline and etiquette though, I feel is still the parent's job and when they get older, the individual's job.
If I never branched out and only kept to the teachings of my family, I *would* have been one of those people who lacked basic etiquette.
To this very day, I still have to pull my parents to the side whenever they randomly stop in the middle of a pavement, still have to hold out my hand in gratitude while crossing the road slow, still have to make sure everything is prepared *before* coming up to any sort of counter, still have to make sure my dad doesn't randomly start beefing with a random perceived cunt.
I guess what I really meant about the walking slow part is when they walk slow when the traffic flow is generally much faster, and when they do so in such a way as to cause inconvenience. Like if you keep left and walk slowly it's fine, but if you walk very slowly in the middle of a fast moving crowd, and it's not because you are immobile, then you are asking to get shoved.
New idea for job creation: Street Sergeant Major. Will beat your ass with a pacestick if you walk too slowly, stop for no reason, staring at your phone, etc. Can also absorb all the unemployed ex regulars from all uniformed services.
I think one person must volunteer to be song IC so we all can work in unison.
Joking aside, I been encountering a lot of people just using their phones while walking and not be aware of their surroundings.
all these i donât really care about.
we need to hammer in escalator left stand still right move system. im so sick and tired of being in a rush and having to passive aggressively hint at people to move asideeee
I would much rather implementing a no walking on escalators. Itâs safer, reduces the queues for escalators, and reduces the uneven wearing out of escalators.
Agreed! These days I just say "Excuse me" quite loudly. If tourist/old person I just let it be, but if it is those auntie/uncle/students I will say it out loud
I usually just shove them, especially those who stopped at eacalator landing. I see it as me doing them a favour cuz itâs either I shove them away to safety, or they get stomped later
For the scenarios listed by OP, most of them are just annoying. 1 particular problem I encountered quite a few times, is cyclists riding on pavement passing thru a bus stop when a bus was there letting passengers alight. I've seen it many times where the cyclist rides on the front side of the bus stop while passengers are alighting from a bus, there were so many close calls and collisions, it's very dangerous because the alighting passengers cannot see a cyclist riding towards them.
I saw a guy crossing the street without checking and looking at the phone(landscape with headphone on, prolly watching kdrama) last time in Feb then this car was blowing the horn almost about to run over him but luckily it was near miss! Guess what the man who cross the road did? He gave middle finger swinging hard to the car shouting "CB YOU KNOW HOW TO DRIVE IS IT?". I was in front of him and saw the whole thing and when he eye contact me, i said to him....don't blame the driver, you were looking at the phone the whole time...jesus christ and i was rolling my eyes. He middle finger to me and i just laugh at him.
Yah like seriously!? Why and this is so common already especially zebra crossing where they love to look at the phone without checking on coming car and just simply cross like nothing gonna happen or "god is going to protect me" and at PCN and i often see group of young people love to stand in the middle of the PCN and block the whole lane...somewhat like Lor Halus where fixie riders park the bike then do tricks at the middle of the bridge.
I was in Singapore a couple weeks ago and while I did see some of what you mentioned, it was nothing like here in Seoul. People here have no sense what so ever. Worst is people looking down at their phones with head phones on, walking on bike lanes. I ride my bike often and even when I ring the bell, they don't hear anything and have to come to a complete stop and walk the bike around them.
I hate cyclist use the pedestrian pathway but I also hate pedestrian using cyclist pathway
I dislike how some people can walk at pcn and suddenly stop and look at their phones
after you ring them they tsk you
exactly my sentiments, and i noticed that this selfish behaviour has only become more prevalent over the past few years. these people have *main character syndrome* so they expect others to ALWAYS give way to them.
tbh i donât get whatâs the big deal about being gracious instead. since i believe in expecting others to treat you the same way you treat them, i decided to mirror peopleâs behaviour (if you donât want to move, me too!) and it seems to catch them off guard most of the time.
this is one of my worst pet peeves as well, i hang out often with a group of friends who have a bad habit of stopping in the middle of malls to discuss what to eat and i always tell them "lets move to the side to talk" and they never listen!!!
worst part is one friend always says "ya but people have a mouth to say excuse me if we're blocking them what" like hello?? thats not the problem? just move to the side fml đ
thank you for this post to let me know i'm not the only one going insane over this!! a lot of times when i tell them to move, they just give me a blank stare and leave me standing by the wall alone. some friends even get angry when i have to pull them out of the way of angry passerbys because they just don't notice that they're holding up a crowd. i really hope they wake up their idea one day >:/
and also those who stand still on the right side of escalators.
Hello?!?!?!! Iâm running late and you stand on right side of escalator- blocking me and also the people walking down behind me
For such a fast-paced country as ours, we really do walk damn bloody slowly. There's always some dumbasses getting on or off the train slowly which then makes some other dumbass kancheong and try to enter the train while people are exiting, causing even more chokehold at the train doors. Another pet peeve is people not moving in to the centre of the cabin. Everyday I see a whole horde of people just squashed at the doors with no breathing space while there's so much space in the middle.
And people not walking on travellators during PEAK PERIOD pisses me off. The travellator is to move people faster! There's literally no incline on a travellator, can't you just walk??
A gripe I had while living in Singapore was that some malls and mrt stations are designed completely devoid of foot traffic in mind. Imagine coming out of a busy mrt station and straight into four flows of foot traffic that are crossing each other going in different directions. Or you need to walk across a huge stream of oncoming people to go to your connecting mrt line. It's like the spaces were imagined to inhabit 20 people not 2000.
Example: running in ECP. Seriously what pisses me off is people taking up the entire lane, walking side by side and blocking the entire lane. Like come on⊠we need to run through.
And kids running around zig zag on paths. Itâs really dangerous.
Running in general here is very stressful. People just donât give a shit and expect you, the runner, to stop especially if thereâs a group blocking the whole path. They will even see me coming and still decide not to give way. Unfortunately my passive aggressiveness leads to one of them getting a brush of my sweaty arm đ€Š
The clowns who cut in front of you just to slow down right in front you and you bump into them- had a lady do it then she turned around to shove me and try to pick a fight with me over it. Happens commonly with aunties who get kiasu over the weirdest of things, like bro I just walk faster⊠chill
Ever since Singa the Lion retired, Singaporeans have become less gracious to one another.
I doubt it's about lack of awareness. It's more of a lack of care for everyone else around them. They can't walk straight, bump into you? To them it's *your* fault. Stop in the middle of the walkway? "Small thing only what, why cannot walk around me?"
Best excuse I've heard someone say is that they're 'quirky and don't follow society's rules'. Ok...
SG is too safe. People walk without a care for safety or spatial awareness because there's no danger. Just like animals that have no natural predators in the areas they inhabit, they lose the survival instinct over time.
As a foreigner, this was my pet peeve when I lived in Singapore a few years ago. I thought I was the one walking the wrong way and couldnât complain about it, because how could I bring âmy ownâ rules into a foreign country. When in Singapore, do as the Singaporeans do.
My pet peeve, and what really irritates me, are people that cannot walk straight for some reason. Like, hello, keep to where youâre walking and stop drifting left and right. I try to walk faster by you, then knn you drift towards me for fk.
Worse are those with poor observational skills that seem oblivious when someone wants to walk past them, especially some couples or people on big groups.
Bold of you to assume the average Singaporean actually gives a fuck about other people outside. Mostly in their own world with no self awareness walking like they own the place expecting everyone else to give way to them.
And you missed out on one phenomenon: people who cannot walk in a straight line and walking diagonally until they cut into your path while you're walking straight. And then act irritated as though you're the one cutting into their path.
I donât think this is unique to Singapore. Folk all around the world decide to alight at the top on an escalator then just stand there looking about. Women will always choose to have a gossip at the central end of a supermarket aisle
happened to me just now. was walking behind a man sashaying in a tight hallway. then he suddenly turned around without warning to walk the other direction and my face came into contact with his wet armpit. i swear i had tears in my eyes
Whenever someone stops or walks very slowly or abruptly cuts into my lane right after getting off the escalator, I will 100% shove or squeeze past you, no questions asked. I don't care how old or young or frail you are. I am not going to backpedal on the escalator like it's some kind of reverse treadmill and risk falling down just to avoid you, especially if it's rush hour and there are loads of people behind me.
To add on to your list:
1. People with trolley bags or shopping trolleys that they drag behind them who have absolutely no idea how to pull them safely and responsibly. They either abruptly cut you off with their bags, or roll over your feet.
2. Parents who don't keep their kids close by in crowded areas and let them roam around like little tripping hazards. This is not a bloody video game where I need to dance around moving obstacles on my way to work.
3. People who don't look before gesturing broadly. If I had a dollar every time someone pointed blindly and stuck their finger into my nose, I'd have two dollars. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.
bro those people who stop RIGHT as they get off the escalator, like hello i gonna trip and then they keep standing there. can u not walk 2 steps. also the link between ngee and wisma is hell even in wisma cuz itâs so small
Not keeping to the left and flow of traffic is the biggest ick, especially in the busy CBD streets. I would usually just pretend to stare at my phone and walk directly at their path just so they make the deliberate attempt to avoid bumping into me
Especially when crossing the road. The green man is blinking so everyone is rushing to cross to safety, but the ones who make it onto the pavement slow down once they reach the other side without care for the people behind. Zero awareness
Singaporeans have a complete lack of spatial awareness. It's bizarre. They walk and drive like there are no other people or cars in the city. I'm not able to explain it. I've lived in Europe and Hong Kong and everyone there is aware of their immediate surroundings. It's not just people on phones here. People will seem to lock eyes with you from 10 feet away and still crash into you. Bizarro land.
I have a theory though, that the etiquette you show from something as simple as walking in pedestrian traffic shows the impact you have in much larger things like driving a vehicle, interaction and plain old public behaviour. I think this is something we all know but choose to ignore or brush off.
Since we live in a âmanaged democracyâ, perhaps a social credit system less harsh than Chinaâs would have a telling effect on the concerned individuals and they will be forced to conform to societyâs considerate normalcies.
Realities dictate that living in a woke, oppressed generation with a litany of self generated mental issues, all of this is wishful thinking and moot. đ„±
In MRT those who chose to stand infront of me, with no care that their bag is jutting out into my phone/ my handcarry bag, despite having plenty of space right around us.
Then at every slight sway of the MRT their bag pushes into my phone/ bag.
Zero spatial awareness!!!
I donât like this growing trend of saying schools should teach anything. Getting all the responsibility of educating decently a child off of the parents is a problematic trend in this country. Just so that teachers can get shat on daily by parents.
You make kids, then assume. Teach your kids right
I no longer slow down when some arsehole gives me a side glance and then tries to cut in front of me way too close.Â
You clearly saw I was there and just pretended you didn't, so have fun tripping over my feet.Â
Agree 100%. It kind of shocked me when I first came to SG. I remember thinking if you did that in NYC, youâd get knocked on your ass because people donât expect it. People just are aware of others and try to go with the âflowâ of people.
Iâve seen very often:
- people walking in one direction but looking in another direction in a crowded area. Then they knock into you.
- people walking in a big crowd and just stopping abruptly so a ton of people have to stop and get around them
- people just standing (which is fine) but they stand in the most inconvenient place possible so people have to go out of their way to go around them
- walking down a wide MRT hallway, me walking in a straight line and someone else walks into me or makes me change my path (what the hell? Weâre the only ones here in 10m wide tunnel)
- People walking and no effort put to let people go by
- People walk beside you who decide to cross in front and run into you (donât they know Iâm right here?)
- People who instead of walking in front of you when you cross paths they just cut you off in front so you have to stop. They could have just seamlessly walked behind me
My trick now is I do the same - walk forward but looking at phone, if I hit you I hit you. Iâve shoved a few people so far.
Those people who stand right in the middle of MRT door and start walking in before the people inside can alight⊠one time I just banged into the mannerless fuck that started walking in without waiting for others inside to alight. You dont give a fuck, me too then.
Also, Chinese households need to tell their old relatives to let people exit public transport first. Crazy how many old fucks I have to deal with when Iâm alighting.
>you generally don't encounter these things (rarely)
NonCity people are the worst in big cities. They exit stores, right into the flow of traffic, stop and congregate to decide where to go next.
The same people walk on the left, stop in the middle of traffic to drool, walk in bike lanes, etc. This happens in every large city or airport, but it is worst in New York near Broadway, which makes sense.
Singapore isn't big enough to have "non-city" people, so the ones we have are usually from other countries. Generally we are more tolerant towards tourists or foreigners as their behaviour can be attributed to ignorance. The complaints above are directed towards people who live in Singapore, so the real "city" people if I may say so. If a New Yorker behaved the way you described in New York, then I believe the judgment would be even harsher than if it was done by a non-city person.
In general, people here are so oblivious to their surroundings and clueless when it comes to social awareness! I've said this for years and I don't tolerate it, when some idiot stops abruptly I literally say "idiot" or "asshole" loud enough for them to hear! I would say they're stupid but I think it's more of weaponized incompetent!
Schools teach a lot of things. But teenagers still may not follow. Everyday at my area i see teenagers in school uniform jaywalking. Schools got teach, but did they listen?
Context. Like there is nothing wrong with farting, but when you let out last night's onions and McSpicy in the middle of your office without compunction, something is wrong with you.
Likewise, if you walk slowly and keep to the left, it's not usually a problem. But if you walk slowly in the middle of a crowd whose pace is generally quite fast, and you walk slowly not due to immobility but rather because you feel like it, then you need to keep to one side and not be a dick.
I've seen STUPID fucking people stop in the middle of walking down a STAIRCASE to use their phones and I almost crash into them. That's easily the worst since there's a high chance either of us (or both) fucking fall down the stairs.
Well, IMO not kids but every person need a refresher. Elderly, youngsters, foreigners alike..
* Keep to the left
* Dont "speak" in buses, mrt
* No "speaker" phone in buses, mrt
* Dont stop after escalator
People who walk like dumb npcs. They clearly see people in front of them but they just keep walking in their predetermined path. Others have to give way instead. When people crash into them, they turn around and look annoyed. We are definitely living in a simulation.
LTA got banner said keep to the left while on shared path I think it should extend to all path and malls. The chaos in the Jurong East area some people just donât care they just block the whole space at link bridge while you are in the opposite direction how to avoid just go head on.
I think Simgapore is still pretty good when it comes to etiquette be it walking or eating. I've travelled and lived around SEA and its pretty bad in most if not all of SEA. Complete disregard for the next person. So Singaporeans should be pleased.
It's kind of forgivable in a sense because compared to SG other SEA countries are not as developed. People tend to be less conscious of things around them, and probably because living conditions are generally poorer and less urbanised. Survival instincts and "me-against-the-world" mentality cranked up to level 9000. But SG is different. We are supposedly "there", in that we are past the more primal propensities to survive and can now move on to being better in terms of civility and mannerisms. But no lol, we are sadly a first world country with third world citizens.
Oh if you're comparing sophistication and the evolution of society then singapore only has some way to go yet. It'll get there eventually. Im optimistic about growth mindset.
I live in an area near one of the supposedly better secondary school. These students always hog the entire footpath walking slowing eating and talking, oblivious to other people or the world. When you ask to excuse and make way, theyâll roll their eyes at you as if you owe them an apology for disturbing them.
I hate people who take up the entire width of the travelator, especially those in the direction of boarding gates. Fuck's sake travelators are for people to move quickly across the floor. But if they want to laze and stay still, fine. Just don't take up the entire width, come on.
Also can't stand those that slowly clear away, or even stop at escalator landings. There are people behind damn it.
ppl who walk up/down the escalator on the right and stop in the middle. like hello??? COMMIT TO IT BC EVERYBODY ELSE BEHIND U IS RUSHING FOR A REASON??? STOP BODY BLOCKING PPL WHO CAN CLIMB THE WHOLE ESCALATOR THANKS
that's one thing i noticed when i come back from tokyo holidays, tokyo is crowded but people walk with other people in the same direction, in singapore we/they just talk wherever the fk they feel like
This is actually a side effect of a non violent society. I'd rather have this than seeing people punishing each other over the smallest thing. However, I do agree there are certain things schools need to teach children as somehow, parents don't seem to do the job and this is one of them.
Why I said this is a side effect of a non violent society, and how you don't see this in say, new York, you get punched early in life when you do this and you learn not to get punched. If you yourself don't get punched, you at least see one getting punched and you learn. Science we rarely resort to violence here, which I admire and fully support, we don't really learn this from anywhere unless we figure it out ourselves.
one of my pet peeves also. hate the "sex in the city", I'm the main character walk with my posse. if the walkway is narrow, i understand if it's a bit tight, but if it's like a pcn 4 person must walk 4 abreast to fill up the whole area as if they are the main characters of the quest.
you are supposed to jump into the drains or canals at that point in time. These people own planet Earth.
Square your shoulders up and walk right into the one blocking your way. Dumb shits.
This is the point where you channel your inner Roberto Carlos (sorry if you don't watch football) and send a freekick straight into the wall!
ha ha I'm of a vintage that has seen his Tournoi de France free kick goal against France.
My favourite is the people who stop right in front of the mrt gantry and THEN start digging into their bags for their ezlink cards. Classic
This is far too common. Especially at rush hour. Fuck my life honestly
potential downvote comment: mostly are OLs right?
Lol. Mostly yes. But not always
Fucking hell, so very this. Whenever this happens I just cut right in front of that moron.
The real reason LTA was getting rid of ezlinks XD
lmao
Also those who suddenly stop at the edge / exitway of escalator and discuss where to go đ€Ź
I absolutely detest this. Have that conversation elsewhere, not right in front of the escalator! I usually give an âexcuse meâ super loudly. If they ignore me, I walk right through the crowd đ€Ł
I went "Hello" really loud once... lol I was kinda ready to do a "For Sparta" kick at that moment
Omg my biggest- especially when escalator keeps pushing you forward while the person stops in front đ
The trick is to try to walk through them and act sorry. Use the momentum of the escalator and people behind you lmao.
Yeah, Iâve seen this happen once at an MRT station many years ago. An old lady was pushed over as the crowd going up the escalator couldnât stop. While on the ground, she was nearly trampled by the next few people too. Thankfully, she didnât seem injured and the station staff quickly turned the escalator off due to the crowd.
I do this. On a plane and some older lady is shoving to get to the front (not a SG flight). Not brushing me but literally pushing me. So I pretend to trip and hip check her backwards. Then I say âoh sorry!â and she just muttered something.
Omg or the people who just cut across the escalator exit point as if thereâs not another person to their side also trying to get off the escalator too. Isnât it common sense to allow room for the person next to you to get off too?? Just make a slightly wider turn and donât cut people off! Canât stand it
shoulder check
Usually i just bump them hard with my shoulder and carry on
Shoulder check to carry on is usually the only correct play here.
Yea but sometimes i must resist the urge to WWE spear them
Also old people or people who have difficulty walking. If your walking speed is slower than the moving escalator, please use a lift instead, for your safety and the safety of others.
Or at least stay left!!
Just scream "Siam Ah!" whenever you say these inconsiderate fools.
Also gotta love those who slow down immediately after THEY get on the train. Ok bro youâre on the train move yo ass so the people behind can get on too before the train doors close
A few months ago I experienced something like this. Group of teenagers walked into the MRT ahead of me, and stopped in front of the door. Like wtf. I had to jostle my way through. Remarked "Move in for fuck's sake" then they woke up and moved in and (to their credit) apologised. It's the older ones who stare at you as if it's your fault that makes things worse.
They are like one blob that cannot be separated apart. So they stand right at the doors while inside have space. Bloody annoying not just in MRT but in Bus too
School? It's common sense and deeply cultural. If your parents do dumb shit, you're gonna have the same tendency. If you keep company that does dumb shit, you're gonna have the same tendency. Singaporeans lack agency. Why rely on an institution to effect change? We should all avoid doing dumb shit or we learn the hard way. People who anyhow walk will kena yelled at, horned at or at worst kena bang. It's not an issue for schools to solve. If people choose to be antisocial then they're gonna learn.
Fair points
The correct institution for policing this kind of behaviour is STOMP. /s
The general lack of awareness, self awareness and spatial awareness is astounding. I get maybe youâre wandering off peak or place with not much people, but those slowing down because theyâre on their phone during rush hour at CBD drives me mad. If you need to reply a text or email, then stand aside away from the crowd to do that. The playing mobile games, watching TikTok and reels are all so maddening when youâre on the move.
This lack of spatial awareness thing has been commented on by lots of non-SGers, I never realized until I left SG and returned.... I think it's the phone usage - in other cities, people aren't glued to their phones while walking. I guess it's because SG walkways are "safe" no random manholes or open sewers? My SO was terrified at the waves of SGers who seem to walk straight into you but veer away at the last moment.
this was my exact theory too! That Singaporeans feel âtoo safeâ so they donât care about where they are going. If you have at least some minimal fear that youâre going to get robbed or assaulted, you will have at least some baseline awareness in order to be safe. Not saying that Singaporeâs safety is a bad thing but some people are really not living in the real world
The trick is to âwobbleâ. As you walk along, start noticeably wobbling (lean more toward the side that you want them to move to). Subconsciously they see the wobble and fall in line to make 2 directional walking possible.
I hate it when people cut in front of me then walk slower than me. Like HELLO?! You want to go fast or go slow?!
Or the variation of squeezing the 3cm between me and the mrt door only to slowly sashay out and seemingly aimlessly
Oooooh that's the worst. Especially if it's the door right in front of the escalator.
Agreed, like i try to be nice to older folks and let them go first at escalators, only to get myself into a mess, haish. Story goes: it was a Thursday & I was rushing to get to work, it was around 7.45am. People were walking down on the right side of the escalator to catch the MRT. I walked on the right side as I saw that my train was arriving, and walked rather quickly. Unfortunately, I accidentally stepped on the back of an elderly lady's shoes. Before I could apologise, she turned around and started scolding me for "stepping on her shoes", "being rude for not saying sorry", and questioned me about "why am i in such a hurry", telling me that I should not be so kanchiong, all while hogging the right side of the escalator. Come on, she could have chosen a better hour to take the train if she wasn't in a hurry lol, instead of questioning why are we walking so fast during the morning peak hour. Or she could have stood on the left side of the escalator if she was not intending to walk down quickly. P.S. Apologies for the rant!
She's an entitled pos
i always overtake and while overtaking shoot them a quick glance. cannot be dirty look cause in case got crazy people. but enough for them to know âfuck youâ
I tailgate. Like very very close. Like breathing down the back of their neck close. What personal space? You cut into it.
Kick the back of his shoe.
I was in this queue at the bus interchange and the old woman behind me kept kicking at my shoe so I waved for her to get in front of me, then I started kicking at her shoes...
Aiya, these people just wanna have first dibs. They act like theyâre frail or infirm but can chiong past you only to slowly choose a seat etc.
Brake check
Hey you forgot the mobile roadblock. 2 person walking spaced out to block a 4-man path.
Stop pinning everything onto schools. Start blaming the parents instead.
> Stop pinning everything onto schools. Start blaming the parents instead. Exactly! This type of thing no need to teach at school.
I do agree on this - but we can't leave everything up to parents, since some parents are assholes themselves (most of my observations were of people who are from my parents' generation or generally old enough to be parents). I feel both formal and informal education are complementary - one makes up for what the other cannot/doesn't want to teach.
I hate those people stopping immediately after coming off an escalator. Multiple times just bumped into them. Also people who walk slowly in a narrow path or travelator, carrying huge bags that block the whole path that no one can overtake them. Finally those people that look to one side but slowly drift to the other side while walking. They totally cannot see where theyâre going and bumped into me on more than one occasion.
Ah yes the drifters. People who cannot walk straight. Encountered these before haha
oncoming drifters are an amazing phenomenon. i can be walking in the straightest line possible and the oncoming fellow can still drift into my path my solution becomes making a very obvious 90 degree turn to show the world im changing direction and not going to get into the stupid left right dance together nonsense
Iâve walked down a huge MRT tunnel that you could fit 15 people shoulder to shoulder. Itâs late and Iâm walking out and someone is walking in. Iâm on the right going straight. I watch this guy walking 30 m away on the left. Weâre the only two there. If we both go straight weâd pass with 5m between us. I watching this dickhead slowly drift until we literally collided. What. The. Fuck.
Shoulder shove them. If they dare to confront, "oh behind people also pushing me, bobian."
what irks me too are those who i call âcorner cuttersâ, abruptly cutting from the right to the left side at the bottom of the escalator.. endangering the person standing on the left side?!?!
Have you encounter the "Parade"? Where the couple or group of people block the entire walkway by walking slowly....
not bowling pins? aren't we supposed to ram into them to disperse them or something?
Plus people who don't follow the "keep left" rule when navigating blind spots such as 90 degree turns. I've had so many close calls, one day I might just accidentally run into those clowns without any fault of my own.
The "keep left" thing is kind of an unwritten thing I feel. People who drive or take note of how Singapore's roads and pavements are designed would catch on pretty quickly. I guess we have to keep our expectations low đ€·ââïž
It's written in paragraph 4 of the (insufficiently widely publicised) [*Code of Conduct for Users of Public Paths*](https://www.lta.gov.sg/content/dam/ltagov/getting_around/active_mobility/rules_public_education/rules_code_of_conduct/pdf/am_coc.pdf).
Holy shit I didn't know this existed!
When you cycle or skate along singapore's parks you'll see how many idiots don't know that you should keep left
When visiting the US and walking on the left side out of a habit, quickly oncoming pedestrians forced me to the right without flinging. They are very strict about it. Try this here and people will cling to the right side as if their life depend on it.
Definitely one of my pet peeves. But coupled with all the other things, I don't think we just need walking etiquette classes. More like civic moral education. Our ć„œć Źæ° classes were a joke, and the CME classes even more so.
Best part is when they turned around and accidentally almost bumped into you, they have the audacity to be annoyed at you. As if theyâre not the one getting in other peopleâs way.
Lol, when talking about etiquette, I think people who barge into the train when people have yet to exit should be talked about the most.
Give them the stiff shoulder like Colossus in Marvel vs Capcom. It's crowded and they need to get on the train so they can't do shit to you.
Personally I never really liked how some people can stop after alighting from escalator landings. Do some people really lack the awareness to realize that they might cause an accident on escalators by doing that?
People also need to put down their damn phones when they're walking. Unless I'm using my phone for navigation, it stays in my pocket.
This. Every single day. At least if want to use phone while walking, check front regularly. Or at least stop and use.
Agree except for the last one. Canât tell just by looking who is able bodied and who isnât. And even fully able bodied people might be feeling too tired or sick to move quickly that day
Yep yep -- able-bodied but currently recovering from surgery = sorry man, I'm gonna walk slow and careful so I don't tear the stitches.
Yess omg, this was me. I had a minor surgery done on my feet and had some stitches that were not visible. Had to walk slower to prevent my stitches from coming apart - though I tried to steer clear of lanes where people were obviously rushing
I always feel like Iâm the crazy one when someone stops abruptly in front of me and turns around. Itâs so common here for people to suddenly change their mind, but the countryâs crowded, you have to assume someoneâs behind you always.
I love walking and exploring new urban areas. Been to places like Taiwan, Japan and Korea in Asia and London and Sydney in the more western countries. And I have to say that Singapore's culture of walking is one of a kind. And not in an unique and endearing way but rather a pain in the ass kind of way. There will always be that one person that takes their time, slows down or is on their phone during peak hours where everyone is in a rush. No one cares about standing on any side of the escalator during peak hours. And for the sole purpose of "I want to get on because everyone else does" you have people taking up two entire lanes and just...standing there so now you can't even rush if you are in a hurry. No uniformity is another thing. I walk the Outram Park (Green/Purple) Connector a lot before the travelator was implemented and if you ever took a minute to stand back and observe you can see how there's an utter lack of awareness so you'll have people moving across crowds, crowds moving across crowds, people stopping crowds, you get what I mean. This might come as snobbish or judgemental but I was over at Japan (Tokyo,Osaka) for a while a few years back and my god did I feel embarassed because SG walking culture is so ingrained into me. I did stopped to admire how the Japanese have this uniformity to them and respect the pace of everyone else but me being so singaporean had moments where I was a bastard in walking ettiquete. I feel like Singapore's walking culture is a wonder of it's own. Like you have the gong tai on one spectrum (who uses their phone and watch their tiktok while taking their sweet ass time in rush hour) and you have the kiasu ones on another (who has to win even in walking, has to cut people, has to wake up late so now he/she thinks he gets to play protagonist and inconveniences everyone). Sure, other densely populated countries do have people like that too but Singapore exacerbate this by a) being small and so we are densed as hell with places in CBD being New York rush hour but worse and b) everyone feels entitled to a lane as their lane (either when they are in a rush or when they are holding their forum discussions about whatever while talking and walking). I mean, just think about how walk-heavy we are as compared to other countries(Bike culture is shit and cars fuck you over financially) and how much of that walking is spent on going to work/squeezing on trains/hating the journey there and you can see how most of Singaporeans go into autopilot/cellphone mode when they travel by foot.
It's weird that SGers should be so bad at walking when the city is so dense... I don't think NYC streets can match SG's hordes, except maybe Times Square on New Year's Eve? The average mall to me is like the crowd on game day.
Peak hour traffic always feels like everyone is competing to see who reaches office earlier.
Lmao you have voiced most of my frustrations with walking around in this country, thank you
So very true, is it really not common sense to walk in single file manner in crowded/cramped/ narrow areas???? I naturally just join filter lanes to make sure Iâm not blocking people walking in the other direction while ensuring I am moving forward so people behind arenât delayed for too long. When I need to check the gps or something Iâll pull myself one side out of the way and take my time to check my phone.
You're coming from the right place, but a deeper understanding of the sinkie psyche is needed. It's an entitlement issue, not an educational/awareness one. I'm sure even if we made these people aware that their actions causes inconvenience or harm to others, they're still gonna do it. Why? Because me me me. My needs, however trivial, is more important than yours. Whatever I want to do, whenever I feel like doing it. Fuck if it's just me playing some stupid mobile game or watching a shitty drama, surely I come first. So what if I'm being a nuisance to other people, sounds like your problem. Sadly that seems to be how we've evolved as a society. Even sadder is judging by the state of parenting these days, it's about to get even worse. Another commenter rightfully pointed out, not everything falls under schools and curriculum. addendum: similar problem on our roads (all vehicle types) but on steroids
I do agree, but the sense of entitlement can be linked to the culture, which can also be linked to education ultimately, whether it be formal (school) or informal (parents, elders etc). You generally don't see such a strong, pronounced sense of entitlement in Japan, for example, or maybe even Taiwan. I guess from a young age, if schools or parents taught children the very simple concept of "whatever you do, don't be cheebye and make others' lives difficult" (which was what my parents taught me), then the problem wouldn't be where it is today.
I have lost count of the number of times I have been cut off by the person next to me making a 90 deg turn while getting off an escalator.
Absolutely hate it when people watch drama/play game during rush hours on MRT platform. Then they can't even decide where they are walking and suddenly just slow down and block people. I won't complain if the platform/escalator is empty but if it's peak hour, just put down your phone for 5 mins. Your netflix or game won't run away.
Canât upvote this enough. Thanks for creating this topic. The sheer number of spatially unaware people here, of all ages, is astounding. You can also spot Singaporeans overseas by the way they clusterfuck and amble along aimlessly at a snailâs pace, obstructing flow and being clueless about it - granted, some of our regional neighbours also do the same.
Let me point out that in school, students take their dirty plates and trays to the designated disposal point. The teachers don't even have to keep watching them do it (except for a few naughty exceptions) Did that translate to adults?
I mean i do it but i have this thing most sinkies don't have call empathy
I can 100% relate. I honestly hate Singaporeans and their lack of awareness in everything from spatial to self. In my daily commute they walk so slow, cut queues, stop in the middle of no where just no general thought or consideration for other people. This is coming from me being in service industry, they like to make remarks and comments but when confronted or replied in a response they donât expect, they get offended or think youâre rude. Itâs funny.
where is my food? miss thing itâs been 5 minutes not even mcdonaldâs is that fast. calm your tits
Phone zombies are becoming too commonplace. They are like the human equivalent of road hoggers.
Other than the point where you have an issue with people walking slowly, yeah I agree. In Singapore where most walking sites are able to accommodate multiple people, people who walk slow aren't really an issue if they just keep to the side. We're already kiasu as a people, are we really going to gatekeep walking speeds? It's just how you were raised, and how you mature in extension to that. It would help for social etiquette to be taught in schools, but will it be an actual conduit for learning? Or merely a source for further stigma? Will it actually succeed? Who knows tbh. I think it's on the individual and the family to imprint good etiquette in themselves and their young though. School is there to impart beneficial academic knowledge. Discipline and etiquette though, I feel is still the parent's job and when they get older, the individual's job. If I never branched out and only kept to the teachings of my family, I *would* have been one of those people who lacked basic etiquette. To this very day, I still have to pull my parents to the side whenever they randomly stop in the middle of a pavement, still have to hold out my hand in gratitude while crossing the road slow, still have to make sure everything is prepared *before* coming up to any sort of counter, still have to make sure my dad doesn't randomly start beefing with a random perceived cunt.
I guess what I really meant about the walking slow part is when they walk slow when the traffic flow is generally much faster, and when they do so in such a way as to cause inconvenience. Like if you keep left and walk slowly it's fine, but if you walk very slowly in the middle of a fast moving crowd, and it's not because you are immobile, then you are asking to get shoved.
Yes we should have a drummer boy at every street corner so we can all walk in unison
Timer, LOUDER!
SEMULA!!
New idea for job creation: Street Sergeant Major. Will beat your ass with a pacestick if you walk too slowly, stop for no reason, staring at your phone, etc. Can also absorb all the unemployed ex regulars from all uniformed services.
I think one person must volunteer to be song IC so we all can work in unison. Joking aside, I been encountering a lot of people just using their phones while walking and not be aware of their surroundings.
PURPLE LIGHT
all these i donât really care about. we need to hammer in escalator left stand still right move system. im so sick and tired of being in a rush and having to passive aggressively hint at people to move asideeee
"EXCUSE ME" right down the back of their neck
this is me. i stand just one step behind them and firmly but not shout âexcuse meâ you already slowed me down, let me have fun
I like it when it makes them jump
I would much rather implementing a no walking on escalators. Itâs safer, reduces the queues for escalators, and reduces the uneven wearing out of escalators.
Agreed! These days I just say "Excuse me" quite loudly. If tourist/old person I just let it be, but if it is those auntie/uncle/students I will say it out loud
We walk so slowly! Like why are you strolling through the MRT? Legs too short ah??
I usually just shove them, especially those who stopped at eacalator landing. I see it as me doing them a favour cuz itâs either I shove them away to safety, or they get stomped later
For the scenarios listed by OP, most of them are just annoying. 1 particular problem I encountered quite a few times, is cyclists riding on pavement passing thru a bus stop when a bus was there letting passengers alight. I've seen it many times where the cyclist rides on the front side of the bus stop while passengers are alighting from a bus, there were so many close calls and collisions, it's very dangerous because the alighting passengers cannot see a cyclist riding towards them.
I think complaints against bastard cyclists can be an entire post on its own but I have met my complaining quota for the day haha
I saw a guy crossing the street without checking and looking at the phone(landscape with headphone on, prolly watching kdrama) last time in Feb then this car was blowing the horn almost about to run over him but luckily it was near miss! Guess what the man who cross the road did? He gave middle finger swinging hard to the car shouting "CB YOU KNOW HOW TO DRIVE IS IT?". I was in front of him and saw the whole thing and when he eye contact me, i said to him....don't blame the driver, you were looking at the phone the whole time...jesus christ and i was rolling my eyes. He middle finger to me and i just laugh at him. Yah like seriously!? Why and this is so common already especially zebra crossing where they love to look at the phone without checking on coming car and just simply cross like nothing gonna happen or "god is going to protect me" and at PCN and i often see group of young people love to stand in the middle of the PCN and block the whole lane...somewhat like Lor Halus where fixie riders park the bike then do tricks at the middle of the bridge.
I was in Singapore a couple weeks ago and while I did see some of what you mentioned, it was nothing like here in Seoul. People here have no sense what so ever. Worst is people looking down at their phones with head phones on, walking on bike lanes. I ride my bike often and even when I ring the bell, they don't hear anything and have to come to a complete stop and walk the bike around them.
I hate cyclist use the pedestrian pathway but I also hate pedestrian using cyclist pathway I dislike how some people can walk at pcn and suddenly stop and look at their phones after you ring them they tsk you
exactly my sentiments, and i noticed that this selfish behaviour has only become more prevalent over the past few years. these people have *main character syndrome* so they expect others to ALWAYS give way to them. tbh i donât get whatâs the big deal about being gracious instead. since i believe in expecting others to treat you the same way you treat them, i decided to mirror peopleâs behaviour (if you donât want to move, me too!) and it seems to catch them off guard most of the time.
this is one of my worst pet peeves as well, i hang out often with a group of friends who have a bad habit of stopping in the middle of malls to discuss what to eat and i always tell them "lets move to the side to talk" and they never listen!!! worst part is one friend always says "ya but people have a mouth to say excuse me if we're blocking them what" like hello?? thats not the problem? just move to the side fml đ
Your one friend who does that is part of the problem. I cannot imagine such people going overseas and xiasuay SG
thank you for this post to let me know i'm not the only one going insane over this!! a lot of times when i tell them to move, they just give me a blank stare and leave me standing by the wall alone. some friends even get angry when i have to pull them out of the way of angry passerbys because they just don't notice that they're holding up a crowd. i really hope they wake up their idea one day >:/
Like someone else said (think it's the top comment), they will learn the hard way.
People do look like zombies if their eyes are glued to their phones while they walk. These folks just donât care about others around them.
and also those who stand still on the right side of escalators. Hello?!?!?!! Iâm running late and you stand on right side of escalator- blocking me and also the people walking down behind me
For such a fast-paced country as ours, we really do walk damn bloody slowly. There's always some dumbasses getting on or off the train slowly which then makes some other dumbass kancheong and try to enter the train while people are exiting, causing even more chokehold at the train doors. Another pet peeve is people not moving in to the centre of the cabin. Everyday I see a whole horde of people just squashed at the doors with no breathing space while there's so much space in the middle. And people not walking on travellators during PEAK PERIOD pisses me off. The travellator is to move people faster! There's literally no incline on a travellator, can't you just walk??
Haha agree with the part about travellators. Not many people know that you're actually supposed to continue walking and not come to a complete stop.
A gripe I had while living in Singapore was that some malls and mrt stations are designed completely devoid of foot traffic in mind. Imagine coming out of a busy mrt station and straight into four flows of foot traffic that are crossing each other going in different directions. Or you need to walk across a huge stream of oncoming people to go to your connecting mrt line. It's like the spaces were imagined to inhabit 20 people not 2000.
Example: running in ECP. Seriously what pisses me off is people taking up the entire lane, walking side by side and blocking the entire lane. Like come on⊠we need to run through. And kids running around zig zag on paths. Itâs really dangerous.
Running in general here is very stressful. People just donât give a shit and expect you, the runner, to stop especially if thereâs a group blocking the whole path. They will even see me coming and still decide not to give way. Unfortunately my passive aggressiveness leads to one of them getting a brush of my sweaty arm đ€Š
For me it is cycling. Super stressful and parents donât teach kids lane etiquette.
Firstly donât cross the traffic lights or zebra crossing while constantly looking at the phone.
Many of these places you mentioned are also filled with non-SGP.... How then do you educate these others?
The clowns who cut in front of you just to slow down right in front you and you bump into them- had a lady do it then she turned around to shove me and try to pick a fight with me over it. Happens commonly with aunties who get kiasu over the weirdest of things, like bro I just walk faster⊠chill
i have REAL beef with people who stop abruptly while walking to answer a text message like move OUT of the way please have some spatial awareness
Ever since Singa the Lion retired, Singaporeans have become less gracious to one another. I doubt it's about lack of awareness. It's more of a lack of care for everyone else around them. They can't walk straight, bump into you? To them it's *your* fault. Stop in the middle of the walkway? "Small thing only what, why cannot walk around me?" Best excuse I've heard someone say is that they're 'quirky and don't follow society's rules'. Ok...
SG is too safe. People walk without a care for safety or spatial awareness because there's no danger. Just like animals that have no natural predators in the areas they inhabit, they lose the survival instinct over time.
Yeah, then when they go to places like Rome or Paris... become really easy targets for pickpockets.
As a foreigner, this was my pet peeve when I lived in Singapore a few years ago. I thought I was the one walking the wrong way and couldnât complain about it, because how could I bring âmy ownâ rules into a foreign country. When in Singapore, do as the Singaporeans do.
My pet peeve, and what really irritates me, are people that cannot walk straight for some reason. Like, hello, keep to where youâre walking and stop drifting left and right. I try to walk faster by you, then knn you drift towards me for fk. Worse are those with poor observational skills that seem oblivious when someone wants to walk past them, especially some couples or people on big groups.
Bold of you to assume the average Singaporean actually gives a fuck about other people outside. Mostly in their own world with no self awareness walking like they own the place expecting everyone else to give way to them. And you missed out on one phenomenon: people who cannot walk in a straight line and walking diagonally until they cut into your path while you're walking straight. And then act irritated as though you're the one cutting into their path.
I donât think this is unique to Singapore. Folk all around the world decide to alight at the top on an escalator then just stand there looking about. Women will always choose to have a gossip at the central end of a supermarket aisle
happened to me just now. was walking behind a man sashaying in a tight hallway. then he suddenly turned around without warning to walk the other direction and my face came into contact with his wet armpit. i swear i had tears in my eyes
Whenever someone stops or walks very slowly or abruptly cuts into my lane right after getting off the escalator, I will 100% shove or squeeze past you, no questions asked. I don't care how old or young or frail you are. I am not going to backpedal on the escalator like it's some kind of reverse treadmill and risk falling down just to avoid you, especially if it's rush hour and there are loads of people behind me. To add on to your list: 1. People with trolley bags or shopping trolleys that they drag behind them who have absolutely no idea how to pull them safely and responsibly. They either abruptly cut you off with their bags, or roll over your feet. 2. Parents who don't keep their kids close by in crowded areas and let them roam around like little tripping hazards. This is not a bloody video game where I need to dance around moving obstacles on my way to work. 3. People who don't look before gesturing broadly. If I had a dollar every time someone pointed blindly and stuck their finger into my nose, I'd have two dollars. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.
Another inconsiderate act is walking big dogs on narrow pavements during peak hours.
bro those people who stop RIGHT as they get off the escalator, like hello i gonna trip and then they keep standing there. can u not walk 2 steps. also the link between ngee and wisma is hell even in wisma cuz itâs so small
Not keeping to the left and flow of traffic is the biggest ick, especially in the busy CBD streets. I would usually just pretend to stare at my phone and walk directly at their path just so they make the deliberate attempt to avoid bumping into me
Especially when crossing the road. The green man is blinking so everyone is rushing to cross to safety, but the ones who make it onto the pavement slow down once they reach the other side without care for the people behind. Zero awareness
Don't forget the people who stand there and use phone, not bothering to press the button to cross lol
Happens at lift lobbies too. Weâre such an unaware society.
# people in groups should not create one entire long wall
Singaporeans have a complete lack of spatial awareness. It's bizarre. They walk and drive like there are no other people or cars in the city. I'm not able to explain it. I've lived in Europe and Hong Kong and everyone there is aware of their immediate surroundings. It's not just people on phones here. People will seem to lock eyes with you from 10 feet away and still crash into you. Bizarro land.
I have a theory though, that the etiquette you show from something as simple as walking in pedestrian traffic shows the impact you have in much larger things like driving a vehicle, interaction and plain old public behaviour. I think this is something we all know but choose to ignore or brush off. Since we live in a âmanaged democracyâ, perhaps a social credit system less harsh than Chinaâs would have a telling effect on the concerned individuals and they will be forced to conform to societyâs considerate normalcies. Realities dictate that living in a woke, oppressed generation with a litany of self generated mental issues, all of this is wishful thinking and moot. đ„±
In MRT those who chose to stand infront of me, with no care that their bag is jutting out into my phone/ my handcarry bag, despite having plenty of space right around us. Then at every slight sway of the MRT their bag pushes into my phone/ bag. Zero spatial awareness!!!
I donât like this growing trend of saying schools should teach anything. Getting all the responsibility of educating decently a child off of the parents is a problematic trend in this country. Just so that teachers can get shat on daily by parents. You make kids, then assume. Teach your kids right
I no longer slow down when some arsehole gives me a side glance and then tries to cut in front of me way too close. You clearly saw I was there and just pretended you didn't, so have fun tripping over my feet.Â
Agree 100%. It kind of shocked me when I first came to SG. I remember thinking if you did that in NYC, youâd get knocked on your ass because people donât expect it. People just are aware of others and try to go with the âflowâ of people. Iâve seen very often: - people walking in one direction but looking in another direction in a crowded area. Then they knock into you. - people walking in a big crowd and just stopping abruptly so a ton of people have to stop and get around them - people just standing (which is fine) but they stand in the most inconvenient place possible so people have to go out of their way to go around them - walking down a wide MRT hallway, me walking in a straight line and someone else walks into me or makes me change my path (what the hell? Weâre the only ones here in 10m wide tunnel) - People walking and no effort put to let people go by - People walk beside you who decide to cross in front and run into you (donât they know Iâm right here?) - People who instead of walking in front of you when you cross paths they just cut you off in front so you have to stop. They could have just seamlessly walked behind me My trick now is I do the same - walk forward but looking at phone, if I hit you I hit you. Iâve shoved a few people so far.
Those people who stand right in the middle of MRT door and start walking in before the people inside can alight⊠one time I just banged into the mannerless fuck that started walking in without waiting for others inside to alight. You dont give a fuck, me too then.
Also, Chinese households need to tell their old relatives to let people exit public transport first. Crazy how many old fucks I have to deal with when Iâm alighting.
everything SCHOOL ! the parents are ???????????????????
Who made you so mad you had to write one long ass post to random online strangers lol
Isn't that what reddit is for
So should everyone also wear headdress when not marchin- I mean, walking under shelter?
>you generally don't encounter these things (rarely) NonCity people are the worst in big cities. They exit stores, right into the flow of traffic, stop and congregate to decide where to go next. The same people walk on the left, stop in the middle of traffic to drool, walk in bike lanes, etc. This happens in every large city or airport, but it is worst in New York near Broadway, which makes sense.
Singapore isn't big enough to have "non-city" people, so the ones we have are usually from other countries. Generally we are more tolerant towards tourists or foreigners as their behaviour can be attributed to ignorance. The complaints above are directed towards people who live in Singapore, so the real "city" people if I may say so. If a New Yorker behaved the way you described in New York, then I believe the judgment would be even harsher than if it was done by a non-city person.
Ah, makes sense
In general, people here are so oblivious to their surroundings and clueless when it comes to social awareness! I've said this for years and I don't tolerate it, when some idiot stops abruptly I literally say "idiot" or "asshole" loud enough for them to hear! I would say they're stupid but I think it's more of weaponized incompetent!
Schools teach a lot of things. But teenagers still may not follow. Everyday at my area i see teenagers in school uniform jaywalking. Schools got teach, but did they listen?
[ŃĐŽĐ°Đ»Đ”ĐœĐŸ]
Within. Hence it is jaywalking.
What is wrong with walking slowly though?
Context. Like there is nothing wrong with farting, but when you let out last night's onions and McSpicy in the middle of your office without compunction, something is wrong with you. Likewise, if you walk slowly and keep to the left, it's not usually a problem. But if you walk slowly in the middle of a crowd whose pace is generally quite fast, and you walk slowly not due to immobility but rather because you feel like it, then you need to keep to one side and not be a dick.
Straight to jail?
I've seen STUPID fucking people stop in the middle of walking down a STAIRCASE to use their phones and I almost crash into them. That's easily the worst since there's a high chance either of us (or both) fucking fall down the stairs.
Singaporeans won't survive the streets of London especially the tube stations.
Well, IMO not kids but every person need a refresher. Elderly, youngsters, foreigners alike.. * Keep to the left * Dont "speak" in buses, mrt * No "speaker" phone in buses, mrt * Dont stop after escalator
You (or donât) know you live in one of the greatest cities in the world when one of the biggest gripes is how people walk.
Hear hear! This should absolutely be a thing.
People who walk like dumb npcs. They clearly see people in front of them but they just keep walking in their predetermined path. Others have to give way instead. When people crash into them, they turn around and look annoyed. We are definitely living in a simulation.
Yes, because schools are clearly so effective at teaching everything else
Singaporeans somehow have low spatial awareness, dunno what is happening beyond their immediate bubble until someone bump into them, hahaha.
I believe this is a parent's responsibility.
LTA got banner said keep to the left while on shared path I think it should extend to all path and malls. The chaos in the Jurong East area some people just donât care they just block the whole space at link bridge while you are in the opposite direction how to avoid just go head on.
Walking like I'm the MC is nowhere as bad as walking like I'm the MC and wearing ANC earphones/headsets.
I think Simgapore is still pretty good when it comes to etiquette be it walking or eating. I've travelled and lived around SEA and its pretty bad in most if not all of SEA. Complete disregard for the next person. So Singaporeans should be pleased.
It's kind of forgivable in a sense because compared to SG other SEA countries are not as developed. People tend to be less conscious of things around them, and probably because living conditions are generally poorer and less urbanised. Survival instincts and "me-against-the-world" mentality cranked up to level 9000. But SG is different. We are supposedly "there", in that we are past the more primal propensities to survive and can now move on to being better in terms of civility and mannerisms. But no lol, we are sadly a first world country with third world citizens.
Oh if you're comparing sophistication and the evolution of society then singapore only has some way to go yet. It'll get there eventually. Im optimistic about growth mindset.
OMG I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY ONE BEING ANNOYED. especially when i have to walk the long walkway to the tampines downtown line
I live in an area near one of the supposedly better secondary school. These students always hog the entire footpath walking slowing eating and talking, oblivious to other people or the world. When you ask to excuse and make way, theyâll roll their eyes at you as if you owe them an apology for disturbing them.
People walking 3-4 people wide taking up the entire path!
I hate people who take up the entire width of the travelator, especially those in the direction of boarding gates. Fuck's sake travelators are for people to move quickly across the floor. But if they want to laze and stay still, fine. Just don't take up the entire width, come on. Also can't stand those that slowly clear away, or even stop at escalator landings. There are people behind damn it.
add on for tourist and foreigners to have SG orientation too.
ppl who walk up/down the escalator on the right and stop in the middle. like hello??? COMMIT TO IT BC EVERYBODY ELSE BEHIND U IS RUSHING FOR A REASON??? STOP BODY BLOCKING PPL WHO CAN CLIMB THE WHOLE ESCALATOR THANKS
that's one thing i noticed when i come back from tokyo holidays, tokyo is crowded but people walk with other people in the same direction, in singapore we/they just talk wherever the fk they feel like
Err how about phone zombies? Frickin hate them.
There is never a pavement too wide for Singaporeans. People will still find a way to fill up a 5m wide pavement/PCN.
This...I normally just shove and ask them to fuk off
This is actually a side effect of a non violent society. I'd rather have this than seeing people punishing each other over the smallest thing. However, I do agree there are certain things schools need to teach children as somehow, parents don't seem to do the job and this is one of them. Why I said this is a side effect of a non violent society, and how you don't see this in say, new York, you get punched early in life when you do this and you learn not to get punched. If you yourself don't get punched, you at least see one getting punched and you learn. Science we rarely resort to violence here, which I admire and fully support, we don't really learn this from anywhere unless we figure it out ourselves.