What is wrong with people here?

[JoyousBaby]

Yes agree mummymoo.. Most times helpers with their employer's child they helped me with the door!! So I really hope the children here pick up good habits from the helpers!!! N their parents may pick up from children hahaha.. I know too far fetch.

 

[marie313]

oh now i feel bad about my 'pushchair rage' comment! i only do it occasionally when people are really really annoying! But it is so frustrating how people can be so oblivious to others who need help. But like i said, i have noticed an improvement over the past few years, and when i have asked to sit down or asked someone to help me carry the pushchair up stairs, they have always been happy to do so. I think that it just doesn't occur to them, or maybe they worry that that are interfering?
anyway, i agree what other posters said that it is better to rise above it and be a good role model to my children by showing them how to help others.

 

[carang]

some of the rudest (and I'm genuinely surprised by this) people I have met have been long term expats (sorry Cara- I am NOT referring to you). It's like they have taken on Hong Kong characteristics +++. Not all but a few.

i have my days! LOL!... but mostly, i am the one who stops tourists on the street trying to figure out their maps to see if they need help... or picking up hikers waiting at the bus stop when i know the next bus isn't for another 30 minutes...

 

[nicolejoy]

oh now i feel bad about my 'pushchair rage' comment! i only do it occasionally when people are really really annoying! But it is so frustrating how people can be so oblivious to others who need help. But like i said, i have noticed an improvement over the past few years, and when i have asked to sit down or asked someone to help me carry the pushchair up stairs, they have always been happy to do so. I think that it just doesn't occur to them, or maybe they worry that that are interfering?
anyway, i agree what other posters said that it is better to rise above it and be a good role model to my children by showing them how to help others.

Even though I said I try to help others and keep it in focus, I've had my fair share of push chair rage - as has my husband. Particularly when people are so obviously trying to cut in front of me... I can't tell you how many ankles I've bumped, or how many people I've deliberately blocked their path... Whenever I think about it later, I feel a bit embarrassed by my aggression!! But some people here make me mad I'm sure that there are MANY others here who've done the same...

 

[Newbie_hk]

I know we shouldn't go on about "back at home" when we all live here now but this issue reminds me of an incident I encountered one morning on a train in Sydney. The line that I take goes through 3 big schools & during peak hour, students do give up their seat. However, that morning, the train driver told off a bunch of students to stand up, offer their seats & show some respect (his words). He obviously saw something he didn't like & announced it on the PA. It is EXPECTED that students offer their seat in public transport but here it seems that kids feel a sense of entitlement.

 

[2010-NewDad]

I don't know what the reasons behind it are, but I do agree that there is a distinct lack of civic politeness here.

Like others, it enrages me when I am with my child and I do struggle to keep above it and not sink to the local level. The place I invariably fail at this is on the MTR where incoming travelers do not wait until everyone has alighted. I must admit to using my gweilo size premium and just walking through the most obnoxious violaters of this common courtesy.

 

[hk1]

Nicolejoy your post made me laugh because it is so true. I've been there for sure!!

I remember one time I bumped someone with the stroller by accident when walking in a very crowded area. I try to be very aware of the stroller and knocking people and say sorry if I do but this time I didn't realize I had bumped a woman (she was a local HK person). She stopped and told me how inconsiderate I was. I seriously just about lost the plot. I kept thinking I'm inconsiderate what about the 50 people who just bumped into me, pushed me out of the way, didn't hold the door open for me. I was so angry because I felt like how dare she single me out as inconsiderate in a city that I find incredibly inconsiderate a lot of the time. I think she saw the steam starting to come out of my ears because she quickly walked away. Now I look back on it and see how silly it was a actually how amusing my reaction was but at the time...

 

[nicolejoy]

I had the worst experience with a Filipina maid - I was pushing my stroller on the left side of the travellator between HK and Central station, and she was standing on the right. She decided she wanted to walk and didn't look but just stepped into the side of the stroller, ramming it into the wall. She gave me a dirty look and muttered something to herself and I just lost it - I said "How dare you, I was walking and YOU ran into ME!!" She said "What, do you expect me to look behind before walking??" and I told her "Well, YES" - it was crazy... I just stormed off but she was really itching for a fight and kept shouting at me. My husband was with me and he actually joined in because she was so aggressive. (I feel like I'm at confession here )

 

[Ureshii3]

JoyousBaby it's what we wud say in our sg lingo 'It's like that one lor' Once in a supermarket my toddler was in horizontal position in the sling trying to sleep after a bad tantrum and there's this 30ish guy in walking in my way not giving way at all and was so ready to bang into me if not for the quick shun I managed which almost caused me a fall I was so pissed and wud have $&@ at him if my boy was not trying to sleep I had similar encounters in MTR and lifts just as some members did Kind souls who gave up seats to me or wait for me to get into lifts - mostly foreigners, helpers, elderly women I'm sure not everyone but being rude & inconsiderate seems to be a 'norm' here and I shared same sentiments with a poster above mentioning about something wrong with the heart of the society I find it ironical that locals make such big fuss and go extreme lengths over multiple schools' waiting list to enrol their kids into but some of these output are exactly what we are all talking about here Once I was choosing oranges in a supermarket there were two other local 40ish women just opposite me doing same thing I didn't see what one of them did but her friend commented on her actions 'why did u do that' Seemed like mishandling the oranges somehow And so the other women replied proudly something like 'Well everyone does things for their own interest, to survive, that's life, that's how it SHOULD BE, everyone does things for their own benefits!' And so I begin to see more clearly why the 'norm' around here and guess that's probably something ingrained in some of them...

 

[meilengyong]

It is a highly competitive society. People are too busy with themselves. I go through all my kids kindy books, they introduce a lot of vocab to the kids but I have yet to come to one story to tell the kids to help others.....or simple manners!! Please and thank you is all they learn....again it is vocab driven rather that simply being nice to others!!! You will learn to accept it when you stay longer. Most people can only afford one child, so it is really difficult to cultivate the sense of "sharing" and "compromise" in children. Digital toys are preferred over simple playdates. Children as young as 2 have to attend interviews to get into schools...... All these add up when they grow to become young adults!!!