‘Cancel the BTO’: Locals share the most Singaporean breakup stories they’ve heard

SINGAPORE: Breaking up is rarely easy. No matter how carefully someone chooses their words or how gently they try to end things, the person on the receiving end is almost always going to be hurt. There is no magic script or perfect excuse that can make the end of a relationship completely painless.

Still, that doesn’t stop people from trying to soften the blow. Some opt for long, heartfelt conversations, while others come up with surprisingly creative, and sometimes downright bizarre, ways to deliver the bad news.

Recently, Singaporeans shared some of the most uniquely local breakup lines and excuses they have ever heard, with many saying the reasons were so Singaporean that they couldn’t help but laugh despite the heartbreak behind them.

The discussion began after a Reddit user recounted an unusual story involving a colleague.

“My colleague just got a call from her boyfriend asking her to cancel their BTO because ‘he thinks they should apply for a better location.’ They’re just 1 year away from collection. After some back and forth, it turns out he’s trying to break up. Damn sad, but it struck me as unique in a most Singaporean way.”

Before long, others began sharing the most memorable breakup reasons they had encountered in the discussion thread.

Several commenters said parental disapproval was one of the most common excuses they had heard. Some recalled being told they needed to focus on their studies, while others said they had been hit with the classic “my mother doesn’t allow it” or “my father doesn’t want me to date you” during their school days.

One wrote, “I got a ‘my parents don’t like you’, I only ate dinner once in their house lol.”

Others felt the most Singaporean breakup wasn’t a dramatic conversation at all, but the slow fade.

One said, “Singaporeans don’t break up. They start with the slow replies, and dating plans get cancelled or pushed back. You start to drift apart and become anxious and overthink till you decide to confront your partner. Your partner will give you tons of excuses, such as being busy with studies/work/family nada nada. Eventually, you get sick and tired of it and initiate the breakup, and your partner replies, ‘Ok.’”

National Service also came up in the discussion. One commenter recalled that while he was in Tekong, it wasn’t unusual for his bunkmates to receive messages from their girlfriends complaining that they were no longer making enough time for them, and for some of those relationships to eventually come to an end.

Others, meanwhile, agreed that using a Build-To-Order flat as a breakup excuse was about as Singaporean as it gets.

One shared, “Breaking up through the BTO is peak Singapore. In other countries it’s,‘It’s not you, it’s me.’ Here it’s, ‘It’s not us, it’s the queue number.’”

Another commented, “Breaking up but unable to finalise the divorce because stuck with BTO for a couple more years, so both parties mutually agree to part ways emotionally while dating someone else while still being married and living under the same roof and seeing each other everyday.”

In other news, a Singaporean fresh graduate shared on Reddit that she feels “dejected” after failing her probation at her first full-time job, an outcome she never saw coming because she believed things had been going well. Singaporelifestyle products

In an anonymous post on the r/askSingapore forum, the woman shared, “I was let go from my first job after not passing my 3-month probation. To be honest, it came as quite a shock.”

Read more: ‘I feel lost and embarrassed’: Singaporean fresh grad opens up after failing probation