Singapore – An auntie was spotted eating her meal at a hawker centre and refused to leave despite being patiently advised by social distancing ambassadors.
A video of an auntie eating her kwai chap in a hawker centre and refusing to eat her meal at home while arguing with people advising her of the situation, is circulating in various social media platforms.
Uploaded on Sunday (April 19) on All Singapore Stuff and SG Covidiots, the video has been shared over a thousand times in total. Netizens highlighted underlying issues, such as the lack of compassion and understanding being extended to the elderly in the country and the proper approach to handling such citizens. Many also commended the way the social distancing ambassador dealt with the situation.
According to Fabian Low and Joan Chua who translated the video, the auntie was adamant about eating out and was not scared of the S$300 fine for breaching circuit breaker measures. “The ambassador said if (she) still didn’t heed the warning, (the ambassador) will call the police, but the auntie said she not scared,” translated Mr Low.
Another guy talking to the auntie advised her to just ‘dabao’ her food because it was not worth the S$300 fine. The guy could be heard saying “S$300 can eat a lot of food.” He even offered to repack her food, but the auntie persisted. Ms Chua shared that the auntie was experiencing back pains and would rather eat her food there and be fined than to order a takeaway meal.
“Scared of noodles soggy? Get something else instead,” suggested Mr Low in a comment. “All of us in Singapore are having to make sacrifices or changing the way we do work.” He added that if she wanted to rest for a bit before travelling back home, as long as she had a mask on, there would be no problem.
Netizens provided a few suggestions to prohibit similar cases in the future, such as advising hawkers to only provide utensils to essential workers ordering food such as delivery riders who need to eat outside. Others ordering takeaway would be forced to eat their meals at home. “I feel like all the hawkers should cover up all the tables and chairs with those huge mesh cloth,” Flora Aurelia Tan suggested because the plastic covering was still easy to remove.
Heng Keline wondered if the auntie had any family members who could order her food for her given her back pain.
While it was concluded among the comments that the “stubborn auntie” was hard to deal with, many appreciated how the ambassadors handled the incident.
https://www.facebook.com/allsgstuff/videos/217887802873502/?v=217887802873502
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