“1st world mentality” — Singaporeans stack complaints about overflowing tray return station after coffee shop cleaner falls ill

SINGAPORE: In Singapore, an overflowing tray return station can cause word wars, with irate netizens quick to call out untidiness or unhygienic situations and point fingers at blame.

This appeared to have happened when a netizen posted a photo of one such tray rack at Block 110 Lengkong Tiga in Kembangan, which was so full that dishes, trays, and cutlery were already piled up in front of it.

“This is 1st World mentality,” a Complaint Singapore Facebook page member wrote on Oct 25. They sarcastically added, “Really Homat Senjata,” an army drill command which means to respect or salute.

Commenters on the post were quick to blame various parties — the cleaner, the company the cleaner works for, the owner of the coffee shop, the government, and the diners themselves.

However, there was a more straightforward and human reason for the uncleared tray return station.

According to a report in 8world, the cleaner assigned at the coffee shop, a 28-year-old man named Rohit, had fallen ill that day.

Though Mr Rohit reported for work by 8:00 am, he notified the company that he wasn’t feeling well and went home to rest.

The company was only able to get a replacement cleaner for Mr Rohit later in the day, and in the meantime, the diner’s used plates, trays, and utensils had piled up in the return station, as seen in the photo.

By that evening, however, 8world posted a photo of an immaculately clean tray return station, and regular patrons of the coffee shop were quoted as saying that this was its normal state.

It was their first time to see the tray station overflowing that day, only because the cleaner had fallen ill.

Nevertheless, commenters on the Complaint Singapore post were not very patient with the situation, and the post author even joked that it had been an occasion to invite birds to eat.

How to clear up after dining has been a contentious issue for Singaporeans for some time now.

From June 1, 2023, the National Environment Agency (NEA) and the Singapore Food Agency said that people who eat at hawker centres, coffee shops, and food courts but do not return their used trays and dishes would receive warnings and be fined.

“The stepped-up enforcement on table littering from 1 June onwards aims to ensure that the good efforts of the majority who return their used trays and crockery are not marred by the inconsiderate behaviour of the minority,” read the joint statement from the NEA and the SFA, which can be found here. /TISG

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