‘I was from ACS. You can’t tell?’: Woman baffled after date became fixated on his school background

SINGAPORE: Most people try to make a good impression on a first date. They put their best foot forward, show off their personality, and try to highlight the qualities that might make someone want a second date.

One Singaporean woman, however, found herself in a rather bizarre situation when her date became strangely fixated on his secondary school background, turning what had started as a pleasant evening into an awkward conversation she could not wait to escape.

Sharing her experience on Reddit’s askSingapore forum, the woman said her date initially seemed “nice and sweet,” and everything appeared to be going smoothly.

That was until he suddenly told her, “Hey, guess which secondary school I came from. Most people can guess because of my accent.”

The woman said he did have a strong ang moh (Western/foreign) accent, but she had absolutely no clue what school he was expecting her to name.

“I had attended a neighbourhood school, so I wasn’t sure what he meant by guessing from his accent. I answered with the only school I could think of… ‘Raffles?'”

According to her, the mood changed almost instantly.

“Dude immediately stopped smiling, as though I had said something terribly wrong.”

He then replied, “I was from ACS. You can’t tell???”

As if that wasn’t awkward enough, he followed up with another question.

“By any chance, are you from RGS? You speak English very fluently.”

The woman admitted that the conversation completely put her off. She couldn’t understand why two adults who had both been working for nearly a decade were still so hung up on where they went to secondary school.

“I told him it wasn’t important, but he kept probing and refused to accept no for an answer. Finally, I told him my very lame, unknown neighbourhood school, and he was like, ‘Huh?’ LOL.”

Still baffled by the encounter, she turned to fellow Redditors and asked whether anyone else had experienced similarly cringeworthy interactions with people they considered “elitist or pretentious.”

“I’m curious to know if anyone has had similar or even more siao (crazy) experiences.”

Redditors share their experiences

Her post quickly drew responses from fellow Singaporeans, many of whom shared stories of people who seemed unable to move on from their school affiliations, achievements, or social status.

One commenter recalled going on a date with a man who brought her to Tanglin Club and repeatedly reminded her how exclusive the place was.

“One guy brought me to Tanglin Club and told me it wasn’t easy to get membership there (it was invite-only or something) and I should feel lucky to be able to experience the club because I was with him. By the way, he was also from ACS.”

Another said a group of former colleagues, many of whom were from RGS, once turned school backgrounds into a guessing game.

“My colleagues from a previous workplace were all from RGS, albeit different age groups. They were playing a “guess which secondary school” is so and so from a game. 

“I was from the most neighbourhood school anyone can come from so when they kept pressing me for the of my school and I reluctantly told them, the game ended. While on the cab back to office, they starting singing their school song and chanting the cheers.”

A third wrote, “I know someone who still constantly ‘casually’ mentions that he was in the Forbes 30 Under 30 even though that was about 10 years ago.”

A fourth shared that her boss still judges new employees based on where they studied, 

“My boss is 50 and still cares about which secondary school and JC every new joiner comes from. If elite school, boss will say ‘Wah this one very smart!’ From the neighbourhood school, she will say, ‘Huh? Never even heard before.’”

In other news, a 33-year-old man has been left heartbroken and unsure of his future after his 31-year-old wife confessed that she has feelings for a male coworker and, more painfully, revealed that those feelings had been there even before they got married.

In a post on the r/asksg forum titled “Marital woes,” the man shared that they had been married for just 13 months when his wife dropped the bombshell.

Read more: ‘She likes him more than me’: Husband struggles after wife’s confession