SINGAPORE: Many netizens did not take too kindly upon seeing a mum have her little boy stand up on the checkout counter at an NTUC Fairprice grocery store, especially because he was with his shoes on in an area where food items are usually placed.
A video of the boy and his mum was posted on the COMPLAINT SINGAPORE Facebook page on Thursday (Sept 28), with the caption, “Dear NTUC, please educate your staff and customers that area is for baskets and packing of shopping items including food products. Was the kid wearing a brand-new clean pair of shoes?”
At the beginning of the video, the mother can be seen trying to check out the items she had bought while attempting to control her child.
Being no more than three or four years old, the curious, and probably even bored, little boy was all over the place.
At one point, however, the mum lets go of her son as she takes care of her transaction, and the boy slips and begins to fall from the counter.
Had he fallen to the ground, there could have been a serious accident as the height of the counter appears to be as tall as he is, or even taller.
Luckily, as he begins to fall, his mum quickly grabs him by the arm and puts him back on the counter, where it clearly says “Place Basket.”
A disapproving “haaanh” can be heard said by someone near the person who took the video.
The Independent Singapore understands that the clip was originally posted over TikTok earlier this month, but upon checking, the video and the account are no longer there.
“We understand that it is challenging to do grocery shopping with toddlers. We advise our customers to watch their children in-store and to get help from our store assistants when needed. In this case, we are thankful that the toddler did not get hurt,” a spokesman for NTUC Fairprice is quoted in AsiaOne as saying.
Netizens commenting on the post slammed the mum for allowing the boy to stand with his shoes on the counter, calling this unhygienic and dangerous for the child.
One commenter on the post on COMPLAINT SINGAPORE wrote that the Chinese text overlay on the video reads: “Not sure if people (sic society) nowadays studied too much (i.e. so their brains damaged from overuse) or have brain damage. The label (on the platform) indicated for baskets but (she) placed her child on it.
The staff told her nicely to put the child down, but was shown a displeased expression. The moment she (the mother) spoke, it is from a country with power (literally translated, not going to explain what it means), so it means that when someone does something shameful in Singapore, it is not always a Singaporean.” /TISG