Monday, January 29, 2007

Honestly, I myself don't know what the word tulan means, but you could ask Kenny Sia (whom I do not know) or Chang Yang (whom I do know). Anyhow, that's how I felt this morning at 8.30 am.

Let me explain.

I needed to go to the post office, so having sent my brother to school at 7.30, I proceeded to drive to the nearby post office. I reached the post office at 7.45, to find that it opens at 8.30, so I entertained myself by walking around looking for a place to eat Maggi Goreng, but I failed on that account. No matter.

8.10: I got back to the post office at about 8.10 and proceeded to take out my book to read. There were 2 persons there at that time, a husband and wife. I was thinking if later I somehow was in front of the queue I would let them go first, since they arrived before me.

8.10 - 8.20: As the time approached 8.30, more and more people arrived and congregated at the door, so I decided to stand behind 3 or 4 other people who came later but went right to the front of the door ("Give them lah", I was thinking) just to make a semblance of a queue.

8.25 - 8.30: The aforementioned husband barged his way through to get to the front of the front (lol). More and more people arrived, and they all just went in front of me (because I didn't want to appear like them so, the way I was standing, there was a gap in front of me). ........................................ So much for forming a queue.

8.30: The Final Straw. The doors opened. Everyone who was behind me suddenly rushed in front of me, each of them with a face that read "I know what I'm doing is wrong, BUT I DO NOT CARE, since everyone else is doing it, thus I musn't lose out." I ended up being the 16th person to get in. Third to arrive, sixteenth to get in. -_-

What's worse is that all of them were uncles and aunties, meaning that they all probably have kids. What example are they setting to their children?

The question here is: Was I too soft for letting them get past me? Should I have done what they did?

Or should I have opened my mouth to chide those people? (I'm sure I would have got bashed if I did this. Furthermore, I'm a coward. ;p)

In the end, all I did was suffer in silence.

p.s. actually, I think that if the group of people were replaced by young adults or teenagers, the whole situation would have been more civilised, but then again, maybe that's just wishful thinking.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

tsk tsk....i get what you mean "tulan".However, I myself find it too crude to use it. Then again, having read your post office incident,this is so so typical of Malaysians. I have experienced it myself before, but what I would have done is not so much as to rush in with the rest, I would just stand behind a person who is closest to the door and close the gap so that people behind me would not shove their way in. Or...i could just start by forming the line myself by standing at the door. I supposed its easy to say but if i were to execute it would be a totally different matter. Oh wells...what to do...its either you join them or being "disjoined"

Anonymous said...

Haha thanks for promoting the glorious word.. :D Anyway your tulan threshold a bit low worr, I only got tulan on the third visit to JPJ, you got tulan already after such a very normal Malaysian event. :P But anyway takziah... And I wish you good luck for your trip to JPJ tomorrow.

Anonymous said...

i think it'll be the same if they were youngsters instead of uncles and aunties...
u shld try QUEUE-ing in CHINa ( no offence but seriously) and experience what is called "zee ultimate queue"!

ccc

EdmondLee said...

It's kinda normal in Malaysia la. It's even worse on the roads. I had seen a car cutting queue from a KM behind up to within a few cars away from the toll booth. And when another driver cut queue just like him, he honked at the driver. The robber blowing wistle at the thief. The only thing we can do is "dulan". The next day i got myself a SMART TAG.

crushedguava said...

lololol

you got a SMART tag just because of that is it?

EdmondLee said...

that incident spurred my thought for weeks into action. HAHA! SMART TAG not that smart, but at least a bit fast.

crushedguava said...

maybe should be called FAST Tag then...

EdmondLee said...

SMART is an acronym for Sistem Membayar Automatik Rangkaian Tol according to www.touchngo.com.my; So funny that they tried so hard to make up a name to form this English acronym. And it is misleading since the whole system is not that "smart" at all. I would prefer "PINTAR", 'P'akai 'IN'i di 'T'ol 'A'wak Relaks-lah

crushedguava said...

lol

you terlalu free la

PINTAR Tag where got nice.