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Singaporeans should be more gracious towards all foreigners
I WAS walking towards Bugis Village with my elderly father-in-law when we stopped at a pavement stall selling potted plants. There was one flowering plant whose name I could not remember.
So, being always polite and friendly, I asked the stall owner, an unsmiling middle-aged woman, and she answered ridiculously: 'Ribena.'
That could not be the name of the flower, even though it was red, and I persisted: 'No, the name in Chinese.' She tilted her head backwards slightly, and gave me a look I will never forget.
I asked a few more times, thinking she might be trying to recall the name, but when I realised she did not plan to utter another word, I turned to leave.
She gently tapped the arm of my father-in-law, who was still standing there, and asked who I was, suspecting perhaps that I was his foreign girlfriend. My father-in-law had to explain that I was his daughter-in-law.
At once, she glanced at me and uttered the correct name of the plant in Chinese. I returned her look, but this time, I was sure she had treated me as someone lowly and not to be respected. I felt disgusted.
We walked away, not wanting to get into a fight.
This stall owner was not the only one to mistake me for a 'foreign girlfriend'. Some even ask how old I am, how many years I have been married, my occupation, nationality and so on.
Can Singaporeans be more open and respectful towards others?
Emily Lee (Ms)
I WAS walking towards Bugis Village with my elderly father-in-law when we stopped at a pavement stall selling potted plants. There was one flowering plant whose name I could not remember.
So, being always polite and friendly, I asked the stall owner, an unsmiling middle-aged woman, and she answered ridiculously: 'Ribena.'
That could not be the name of the flower, even though it was red, and I persisted: 'No, the name in Chinese.' She tilted her head backwards slightly, and gave me a look I will never forget.
I asked a few more times, thinking she might be trying to recall the name, but when I realised she did not plan to utter another word, I turned to leave.
She gently tapped the arm of my father-in-law, who was still standing there, and asked who I was, suspecting perhaps that I was his foreign girlfriend. My father-in-law had to explain that I was his daughter-in-law.
At once, she glanced at me and uttered the correct name of the plant in Chinese. I returned her look, but this time, I was sure she had treated me as someone lowly and not to be respected. I felt disgusted.
We walked away, not wanting to get into a fight.
This stall owner was not the only one to mistake me for a 'foreign girlfriend'. Some even ask how old I am, how many years I have been married, my occupation, nationality and so on.
Can Singaporeans be more open and respectful towards others?
Emily Lee (Ms)
