A little whisper in the dark

Clear your own table

I eat at fast food restaurants, food courts, more the norm than the exception nowadays since I started working. And the area where I work, seems to attract a fair number of expatriate employees of the Western variety.

Now, being the little frog that BG Lee (who so kindly decided to remind me at the Fabric of the Nation display when he sewed a frog on a fabric) at the bottom of the well that is Singapore, I don't know what's the protocol in foreign fast food restaurants; heck, I didn't even know that a packet of ketchup runs you $0.30 in Australia! Anyway, I digress. These people tend to clean up after they eat - bring the tray, the trash, to the bins themselves.

Why don't Singaporeans do it more often? It doesn't happen often, I can tell you that. Walk into an eatery during lunch hour and count the carnage on the table.

Yes, I take issue with that. Perhaps these working individuals can't see the workers who are frantically trying to clear the plates as quickly as they're being left behind. Workers (who have to keep working after retirement because they can't afford to live on their pensions, who the gahmen encourages to retrain and keep themselves useful) who are above fifty. Sometimes so old they're bent double. Who should be bouncing grandchildren on their laps instead of shuffling and balancing trays of plates and trash. Who could be your dad. My dad. Your mom. My mom.

Yeah, I know, if everyone does it, then they'd be out of a job, some would say. So I'm creating a job for them by leaving my utensils behind. Well, if you're at peace with that.

I'm at peace with myself when I say thank you when they clear my table before I leave, and clear up after myself if they don't.

Do you see what I see, or are you as blind as the rest of the population?

posted by Chung Leong @ 2:23 AM