This author is currently on hiatus for the ignoble cause of mugging. The public is advised to remain calm, as this routine protocol has been shown to have no effect on one's violent tendencies in 96% of cases.
| Saturday, October 21, 2006 |
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Just came back from iSpark nite ytd. It's basically just a stayover in school for one night (with other activities of cos.) Must say the concert was great, especially the hilarious skits put up by the sec 4s. Of cos, 2N's sing cum dance performance was not too bad either. ;) After the concert, we had a potluck session. But KC wanted to speak to all iCMG/CMC members regarding the EOY retreat. So those of us involved had to stay back for another 10 mins. Unsurprisingly, by the time the short meeting ended and we went down for the potluck session, almost all the food had been snapped up already. In the end, the whole class had nothing to eat except two bottles of drinks, one of which was our "prize" for our performance. Fortunately, our class had the foresight to see that we would hardly get any food (if at all), and already went out for dinner b4, so im not too concerned over whether we got enough food. However, what disturbs me is that some students (mostly sec 1s) actually helped themselves to a lot of extra food. I even heard some went as far as to grab a few bottles of drinks and packets of chips, stuff them in their bags, and rush off for home. And when we got back to Kah Kee Hall (where we slept for the night), i actually witnessed two sec 1s enjoying a few packets of chips and one bottle of drink each between them, over a game of chess. Obviously, such actions are inconsiderate, especially to other students who did not manage to get any food at all and spent the night on a hungry stomach. We grumble about these sort of people and all that, but ask ourselves, aren't we guilty, to a certain extent, of such actions also? Be it at a buffet, where you pile your plate with the most expensive food you can find there, ignoring the long queue behind you, and later dumping all these extra food into plastic bags to be brought home. Or during recess, when your entire class collates everyone's orders on a piece of foolscap paper, then pass it to someone who goes down and buys all the food, essentially making his queue turn worth that of 20 people despite the disgruntled people queueing behind him. And thus is the spirit of kiasuism. It appears that this mindset of the heartland aunties and housewives has not been wasted on today's Singaporean youths. Their parents have indeed taught them well, and if nothing else, they have at least picked up kiasuism from their parents. At least we are not as bad as the mainland Chinese, who push and shove without giving a thought about others, just for the sake of gaining every single tiny little benefit for oneself. But then, one thing is that we all never feel ashamed after, because "everyone else is also doing it." Which is true, in a sense. Therefore, all organisers of future events be warned: Do not underestimate the power of kiasuism. Be it door gifts, free food sampling, McDonald's balloons or anything with the words "FREE" spalshed in bold over them, always pre-empt kiasu people. They will try to get the best out of every situation. Recently, my estate's management held a free welcome party for all residents with refreshments, and they encountered the same problem of kiasu people. Their method is to queue up for the food with giant plates taken from their home, pile as much food as they can upon it, then pass it to someone waiting at the end of the queue who will then bring it back to their apartment. Then, they will queue up again, and the cycle repeats. And since there are many housewives and aunties living here, you can imagine how many people ended up bringing enough food home to suffice for a few meals. And while food for a couple of hundred people had been catered for and it was expect to last two hours, it was all wiped out in half an hour, largely due to the kiasu people who can be counted as multiple persons. Sadly, kiasuism is, after all, somewhat a deep-rooted culture of Singapore already, and judging by how effectively today's youths have picked it up, it's probably going to be passed on to future generations and here to stay. This also means higher costs to cater to Singaporeans, but at least it keeps everyone happy and satisfied. Take note, all futue organisers, else your events will flop, just like how the iSpark Nite potluck did. Oh, and did i mention, everyone also had to pay $3 to cover the food expenses, regardless of how much we actually got to eat in the end. I suppose most of the money went to those kiasu students after all. WE DEMAND A REFUND! |
'Twas teh winnar at 11:40 pm.
