11/22/2007
Run for your life
I was in the train this morning. Then I caugh a whiff of it. It was smelly. Something akin to smelly salted fish. I held on to where I stood. It hit me again. Then one local woman made her move and went to stand 5m away
And the train kept moving. The smell kept knocking at me now and then. I looked around. Everyone was so innocent. I knew where it came from.
After another two stations, another local woman also made her rude gesture by walking away, another 5m. Singaporeans are being forced to appear rude to foreigners.
Foreigners, please pass the word around that Singaporeans do not want to be rude to them. Please tell them to wash and wash and wash till the smell go away. Then we can sit side by side happily.
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15 comments:
Hi Redbean, topics of interest for your blog must be rather thin on the ground. You seem to go on about this body odour issue. Let me tell you, it happens everywhere. In European cities, especially in summer, London Underground not spared, we get the same problem. No big deal. I think you should give this topic a rest. I have read something about this subject, it seems it is a medical condition and some sufferers might not be able to help it. Just my 2 cents worth.
hi speed,
i am trying to defend singaporeans from being written off as being rude when the cause of their rudeness is actually from the other party.
i agree that some do have bo as a bioligical condition. but quite many obviously did not bathe, especially early in the morning. you can tell from the smell.
i remember one of the things they did to early migrants of my parent's era was to force them to bathe. other than the tropical heat, people from temperate land or farmers, do not bathe as often as we do here. when i was living with the brits, it was common knowledge that some bathe once a week.
we bathe an average of 2 times daily. and for the sweaty people, it may not be enough.
I have been in UK for many years. These days I think ALL or the majority of UK citizens shower at least once a day. All my friends and acquaintances do. In the old day when heating was poor in temperate countries things were different. Now all bathrooms in UK have showers and hot water is on tap, so all UK citizen shower at least once a day.
Often it is not because they have not bathe, but may be due to the clothes from the day before. Construction workers often wear the same clothes to work for many days because they may not have washing facilities. When I am in a situation where I detect BO, I usually tahan the journey.
try rubbing 'Hong You' (axe brand chinese medicated oil) under your nose or spray more cologne or perfume on your neck....might work.
or simply cover your nose and mutter 'stink' under your breath many times. BO guy may get your hint. if not, well, too bad.
what to do..it's Public Transport. just hv to find coping mechanisms (of which moving away is also one of them)
last but not least, if you can't beat them, join them...(just joking...)
...it happens everywhere. In European cities, especially in summer, London Underground not spared, we get the same problem. No big deal....
well it didnt happen here until now.. that which is no big deal to westerners do you mean it shud be the norm for everyone?... hullo we are in progressive asia not those backward places there.
these odour thing is not just an ugly personal hygiene problem but also abt respecting the rights and enjoyment of others in the community. becos when you FART in an enclosed public area knowing those around you have to tahan your actions, and you do it repeatedly as a pattern you must obviously be enjoying yourself in creating ill-will and inconvenience to everyone. how ordinary or normal can that be?
a public nuisance who enjoys invading others private spaces .. to me that sounds sick.
To anon 2.53, I must say your MRT has only been running for a few years. The old buses did not have air-conditioners. You said "well it didn't happen here until now" (I think you meant "recently"). I am sure during the early years when MRTs were not available and buses were hot, it did happen, but maybe people were a little more tolerant than you are today.
we are all looking for a better environment, first class or no class, we want to improve our lifestyle and the environment we live in.
the mrt is progress in a way. better convenience and travelling in comfort. we need the commuters to also move up the ladder together and enjoy the environment and the expensive facilities we have and paid for.
we have rules against eating, littering and carrying durians into the train. all these are for the comfort of the commuters. we need commuters to also maintain a certain hygienic standard and decency so that everyone is comfortable.
Redbean,
Do you hv any suggestions on how to help / educate our MRT commuters move up on the hygiene scale?
How to do it without being discriminatory?
smelly mischievous farters in enclosed public space and those that dun observe proper hygiene, are obviously wanting their sufferers to tolerate them.
but these uncouth and inconsiderate foreigners do not understand abt being considerate and respectful of others becos they lack proper "education".
becos of their fixed low level mindsets, these social misfits will argue till the cows come home abt their rights to do as they pleases whenever they wishes.
how do you tell a dog it is dirty to urinate under a tree with its leg in the air?
anon 12.29, you talk about foreigners without proper "education". You cannot even spell or write good English. Your grammer is bad and your spelling is even worse. What sort of education have you had?
anon 12.29, you talk about foreigners without proper "education". You cannot even spell or write good English. Your grammer is bad and your spelling is even worse. What sort of education have you had?
you know, you are so incredibily stupid that you dun even understd what that phrase "education" really meant.
"education" is a word, not a phrase. duh....
we have no spitting campaign, no littering campaign, no smoking campaign, etc
yes mrt or the govt can take the lead by educating and coercing the people to look after their personal hygiene. we want to put on black bow tie for dinner and we would at least want our waiters to dress as impeccably as well. we want to live well, we should also educate our people to raise their standard of living and uplift their lives.
being clean and not smelly does not cause very much. maybe the govt should not encourage people to bath lesser by reducing the cost of water consumption. and mrt is sleeping on this.
i will put up a separate post on this tomorrow.
Redbean,
Perhaps MRT should also step in to educate the public on such matters e.g. by posting up ads, announcements etc
i think i will try to write about this for the New Paper. have not written for them for a while.
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