The Act of Kindness
Last night I went to get some soya milk at the nearby Sheng Shiong supermart at closing. There was only one counter open and a snaking queue. An adjacent counter opened and I strode over hastily, only to be beaten by this auntie grasping her 2 oranges - in a transparent plastic bag.
Alright, it's only 2 fruits, should be pretty fast.
She turned to the other queue and signalled to, presumably her daughter (in-law) to come over and the latter stepped out of queue, with a trolley. A trolley full of canned foods, fresh produce, biscuits and what-have-you household thingamajig. Rolled my eyes. Dang, I should have ran over like a true-blue kiasu Singaporean to be No.1 in queue.
Then the most surprising thing happened. The younger lady behind the trolley asked the auntie "我们让他先去, OK?" (Shall we let him go first?)
The auntie glanced at me, didn’t say anything and continued offloading the trolley items on the cashier platform.
"You are only buying the soya milk right?" the nice lady asked.
I nodded. She then told me to just go ahead and pay first.
Wow, an act of kindness! In the heartlands! In Sheng Siong supermarket no less, where people go about grocery shopping as though a war is about to break out, and where regards for basic courtesy are as low as the prices!
I was blown away and thanked the lady warmly, and even Mrs Sourpuss. Although, to give her credit, she did look up and flashed a smile, or something that kinda resembles a smile when I gave her my thanks. There is hope for our society yet!
~
One of my ex-company clients from HP passed me this 2007 calendar she's been holding on to since…2007 started. She never got the chance to give it to me as I had aleady left the company until today. I was amazed - why would you want to hold on to a calendar for so long!? I would have just dumped it :P
Then I realise the calendar was personalised! It has my name on every picture that accompanied each month. Eg. A car windshield covered in snow but with my name carved out as a pattern on the snow. Very nice. The only problem now is I have more than enough calendars at home and the office. And I don’t really want to replace those calendars becauase HP calendars don’t list local holidays. Instead, they give you these small red dot stickers to paste - DIY basically -_-
Maybe the genius who designed it thought: since "The PC Is Personal Again", so should calendars?
Alright, it's only 2 fruits, should be pretty fast.
She turned to the other queue and signalled to, presumably her daughter (in-law) to come over and the latter stepped out of queue, with a trolley. A trolley full of canned foods, fresh produce, biscuits and what-have-you household thingamajig. Rolled my eyes. Dang, I should have ran over like a true-blue kiasu Singaporean to be No.1 in queue.
Then the most surprising thing happened. The younger lady behind the trolley asked the auntie "我们让他先去, OK?" (Shall we let him go first?)
The auntie glanced at me, didn’t say anything and continued offloading the trolley items on the cashier platform.
"You are only buying the soya milk right?" the nice lady asked.
I nodded. She then told me to just go ahead and pay first.
Wow, an act of kindness! In the heartlands! In Sheng Siong supermarket no less, where people go about grocery shopping as though a war is about to break out, and where regards for basic courtesy are as low as the prices!
I was blown away and thanked the lady warmly, and even Mrs Sourpuss. Although, to give her credit, she did look up and flashed a smile, or something that kinda resembles a smile when I gave her my thanks. There is hope for our society yet!
~
One of my ex-company clients from HP passed me this 2007 calendar she's been holding on to since…2007 started. She never got the chance to give it to me as I had aleady left the company until today. I was amazed - why would you want to hold on to a calendar for so long!? I would have just dumped it :P
Then I realise the calendar was personalised! It has my name on every picture that accompanied each month. Eg. A car windshield covered in snow but with my name carved out as a pattern on the snow. Very nice. The only problem now is I have more than enough calendars at home and the office. And I don’t really want to replace those calendars becauase HP calendars don’t list local holidays. Instead, they give you these small red dot stickers to paste - DIY basically -_-
Maybe the genius who designed it thought: since "The PC Is Personal Again", so should calendars?