Minor complaints

One of the few good things about a long streak of bad luck is that you realize that a lot of annoying things just aren't that important. Since things have turned around pretty well for me since last year, that means I'm easily able to recognize that the right to complain about minor things is really kind of a luxury. Since I haven't had much to say on the blog lately, now is as good a time as any to note a few such things I've noticed about my current home. As with every great place to live, not everything is great. But close enough - usually.

Probably the ultimate Singapore stereotype is that people here are excessively slavish to the rules, down to the letter and common sense be damned. It's always "do exactly what you're told - even if it's not really what you're told after all." I was reminded of this recently when I ordered a coffee at Starbucks. The barista apparently rang up an iced coffee when I had not ordered it iced. When I got to the other end of the counter, the guy there called "Grande iced coffee!"
"I ordered a hot coffee," I told him.
"No, it says iced!"
Oh, well then, my mistake!
I did get my hot coffee, so no hard feelings. But geez.

Life here is extremely efficient, too. Sometimes that means details get lost in the hurry. Sometimes it's worse than that. While out to lunch a few weekends ago, I gave the waiter my order and noticed that he kept jumping in with an "Okay!" before I was actually finished with each part of the order. I knew without a doubt he was going to get something wrong, since he obvously wasn't really listening in his haste. Sure enough, when the drinks arrived, I could see something was wrong. I had ordered two sparkling waters. The sparkling water at that restaurant (like most) always came in bottles, but he had two glasses of what looked like sparkling water.
"Last time, I got a bottle..." I began to enquire.
Again, he was super-quick to the draw. "No! Always in glasses!"
When he'd set the glasses on the table and gone off, I figured out what didn't add up. It wasn't sparkling water, but Sprite. Same first syllable, you see, and he simply hadn't listened to the rest of what I said.
Once again, I did get what I really wanted in the end. But how frustrating is it when you see a problem coming, sense that something is off and try to ask about it, and still end up with a mistake? I was, of course, soon laughing it off as another distinctively stereotypical moment. And I was ever so slightly relieved the waiter had let me speak long enough to explain his mistake. I did have to talk fast.

This one isn't unique to Singapore, but is especially common here with all the malls and hawker centers: I really do not like it when people "camp out" on tables at food courts, leaving their umbrellas or packs of napkins or such to stake their claim to the table while they're off getting their food. I get that it's a competitive society and you've got to do what you've got to do. What does bug me is that someone often gets a table ahead of someone who actually got there first but got straight in line for food. If I get there first with my lunch, that means I probably got to the food court first, which means you can wait your turn.

Not a complaint, but a rather interesting observation: the local Borders accepts Brunei currency. I'm not sure why I find that interesting, but for whatever reason, I do. Last time I was there I asked the cashier if they get much of it, and she said they do. They don't accept currency from Indonesia or Malaysia, even though they're both much bigger and somewhat closer.