Episode 697: MRT Rant

Why is it that older women insist on cutting in front of me at MRT stations? Do I have a face that says, 'Please step in front of me. You don't even have to pretend you're not doing it because I'm too polite to call you out on it!' Not being sexist here. It is absolutely true that every time this has happened to me, it's been an older women. By older, I mean someone old enough to be my grandmother. Okay, I get that we should be considerate to the elderly. What ticks me off is that some of our elders seem to think that old age gives them an automatic right to behave in a manner that would get people of any other age told off. (Or at least complained about in an angry letter to The Straits Times Forum.) It's not even like I was jostling them out of the way or anything. Being old is not a free pass for being rude. I can't be the only one who experiences this on a semi-regular basis, so why don't we hear more about it? Is it because it's politically incorrect to suggest that the elderly should behave with the same level of decency that we seem to be encouraging the rest of the population to emulate? Another group of people who irritate the hell out of me are those who insist on fiddling with their mobile phones while in the middle of a crowded carriage. Honestly, would it kill you to not send that SMS when the carriage is so packed that your hair is brushing my face? I secretly hope that these people will drop their mobiles and not be able to pick them up. I suppose all I really want to know is why more Singaporeans can't behave like me. More often than not, I find myself giving way to people in this country, and it makes me feel like a doormat because all these people seem to think it's their prerogative, to have others give way to them. Well, to all you ill-bred Singaporeans out there, it's not, okay?