Saturday, September 1, 2007

R-E-S-P-E-C-T!


Ok this has been cheesing me off for a bit and I'm not writing about it because

1. I remembered (yeah alot of times I wanna write about something and I don't cause I'm like, "eh! what is that I wanted to write about again..?!".. So yes. Its a good thing I finally remembered.)
2. Its really really TOO MUCH and no one's speaking up!

Okay. *clears throat.* This one might get sticky. Please not that this is a generalization of my observations, not everyone I mention is like I state below.

How many times have you sat on a bus / MRT / in a queue, and someone old is standing? Do you give him / her your seat?
(My ans: all the time)

Why do we do that? Because we've bee taught to respect other people, right? To always have consideration, and THAT in my opinion is the basis of all good manners.

Well I am going to say this once and for all.

Old people have no manners.

SERIOUSLY. You guys know how often I use the bus. Well, if you don't, let me tell you I bus it quite often. Everytime without fail there will be at least one senior citizen and he/she will be doing one something purely obnoxious. Either there'll be a shopping bag on the perfectly good seat next to them, or they'll be sitting on 'outside' of the seat, causing no one to want to ask them to move in for the seat closer to the window.. and everyone standing around in the full bus is just staring, but too polite to ask them to be a little more considerate!

Seriously, why is it that rules of courtesy and consideration don't apply to older people?


Thank you everyone for your kind birthday wishes.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mainly because they can get away with it. Or might I add — their parents acted like that which in turn influenced them to be who they are today.

Do you think the next generation would end up similarly?

Anonymous said...

Andrea, the phenomenon that you've brought up is not unique to old folks. Young, able-bodied people are equally guilty of taking aisle seats while leaving the adjoining seat empty; and also putting their shopping bag on the seat next to them.

Isn't it? Think about it.

If you agree that everyone - young and old, male and female - is guilty, why are you targetting only the old folks in this blog entry?

Andrea Fonseka said...

I see more considerate younger people these days than I do older people. That's why I brought it up.

I cant remember the last time I saw a young punk doing that, but an elderly, every single time..

The double standards exists throughout society I think; I think its prevalent in our society. Older people think its their 'right' to not have to do (or to do) these kinds of things. Its hard to explain, but do you guys agree with me?

Anonymous said...

I see your point. Unfortunately things work in some sort of vicious cycle... we have an uunpleasant experience with an old folk, next time round we behave like a real young bad-ass-jerk towards a well-meaning old folk... who then thinks "youngsters these days..." and decide that youngsters don't deserve respect and thus give up their gentle behaviour...sigh.

On a separate note, remember last Friday (24th Aug) you posted, "So I've decided that every Friday, I will post a little blog about my favourite skincare/makeup products..."

...and I immediately cautioned against committing yourself?

See lah, your next "little blog" about your fave skincare/makeup products was due yesterday, Fri 31st Aug... didn't come! Tsk tsk, don't mean to gloat but... told ya so!

Andrea Fonseka said...

oops. lol ok i take that back.

the posting every friday i mean. ;)

I think its only best to post when I have gathered all the material i need for a proper skincare post eh? :D

vicente said...

Scorpion: I think it's really the "double standards" that irks people.

The point is that, whilst the youth are taught to respect others and learn to give up seats for the needy (read: the elderly, pregnant, and handicapped), too often has this kindness been taken for granted, and not returned in kind. To this end, it's really hypocritical of these guilty elderly if we are expected to give up our seats to them, and yet they are of the opinion that their shopping bags are more deserving of a seat than us.

And I'm not saying it's right for "young, able-bodied people" to take up aisle seats and not move in, etc. But honestly, when was the last time you saw a young punk refuse to move in for others or do something as obnoxious as to put their shopping bag on the seat beside them?

Oh, and who else has had the experience of having an elderly squeeze past you (standing on the aisle, on a crowded bus no less) even though there's no apparent reason to do so (no seats at the back of the bus, etc).

Anonymous said...

Hi Andrea,
I would suggest that you put yourself in their shoes for just a day, and perhaps then you would be able to see a view that many of us may not be able to visualize? I know that it might be alittle difficult/inconvinient for us when we find the elderly taking "things for granted"(ie. taking the aisle seats on buses), however i do not see it as a huge burden on us(able-bodied ppl) to endure alittle inconvinence. It is good to see the younger population being more considerate, but i reckon we should give the ageing a break! Trival matters!!!

Anyway have a goodwkend everyone.

Anonymous said...

just wondering, is gwendolyn from deal or no deal a lesbo? her 'boy boy' looks like a girl

Anonymous said...

hmm... kinda agree with andrea actually. i realised that every time the old folks will be like walking real slow, but when the train or mrt arrives...*BOOM*, they change gear and squeeezes between ppl. and the fact that they always stand in front of the door way of the train really irks me...

Lou said...

I agree about leaving your belongings on the other seat being not right. But if a person chooses to sit on the outside seat I think it is perfectly fine. The person who gets on the bus first has the choice to sit on the outside for his/her own reasons: like the window seat is getting too much sun, the aircon is too cold etc.

If the seat is still empty people who come on the bus later have the perfect freedom to get past the person sitting on the aisle to sit near the window.

Good Nite ` Kimmi said...

for me i think that in their year, there's no bus around. so their parents didnt teach them when they are young .


and when the bus are around,
i think there's afew bus wif the word " pls be considerate " around rite? i guess they don know how to read english .

Good Nite ` Kimmi said...

oh ya! and the video, the bday song abit short le. lols scared cannot sing finish in time then cut short arh? haha

Good Nite ` Kimmi said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Babe, bigger things that could cause the world to disappear-think about it. Frustrating, fair enough but aiya...old folks. If you want the seat, just tell them-oi, take your things away k. Seat for backside, not for plastic or paper bag hor! I reckon if people don't ask, they pretend they don't know. If you ask, I don't see any possible logical response they can have *NOT* to remove that bag. If they come up with some ludicrous reason then not for one of trying, right?

Qarezma Kaps said...

this is just a fraction of the observation one can make in public transports.. those who prefer to sit on the aisle side of the seat, dont usually bother to signal to others or at least give a gesture to show that it is ok for us to sit by the window.. most often i just ignore that seat thinking that person is probably out of his/her mind, why should i bother putting sense into them anyway

about telling them off on their behaviour.. tell me guys, if someone is behaving uncivilised with you, should u stoop that low to make them realise? my answer is no

Anonymous said...

not only on buses, you also see old phogies and young punkies alike. they hoggg d machines as if it is theirs... chit chatting and doing set after set after set eventhough you are in full view of them and clearly waiting for your turn. So, it is mandatory to 'Open Mouth' - "escue me ah, i oso wanna use ok"?... More often than not, they usually comply lah. The bottom line is... (a) Open Mouth, try 2b polite, not gd to suffer in silence (b) You'll have your fair share of old phogies and young punkies... therefore, may not be correct to generalise and stereotype that only a certain demographic of people behave the way they do

(:

Unknown said...

A, just do what i normally do lor....

whack the old foggies on the back of their heads with your bag until their dentures hurl out from their mouth!!!

then, tell them off.. "OEI, old man/woman, you think this bus/seat/mrt (feel free to insert any word that's appropriate) is your GRANDFATHER own wan ahh?!?!" :P

p.s - just be careful that they don't swallow their dentures when you wallop them..... LOL

there's a reason why it is said "School of HARD Knocks".. hehe

Vespa_ch3f said...

Aha, finally found someone who feels the same things about this Give-up-your-seats-for-someone-else.

Perhaps we should start a campaign or something. People nowadays have forgotten the word RESPECT.