Singaporean Culture of Work

There is a sense of urgency in the Singaporean atmosphere. Pedestrians walk moderately fast, nobody wants to talk to you (or me), and people in general just seem to want to do the opposite of "relaxation". Now this is exciting!

(1) Never in my life, have i seen such strong imagery of students in tuition class.

Adam Khoo unleashes kids into mathematics.

And it is normal for children to study on the move. My mum told me to gain 20 minutes on the train by reading.

School girl gains 30 seconds per traffic light waited upon.

So, not surprisingly, the first conversation i overheard in Singapore, was a squawk of mums in the MRT station talking about strategies to make their children learn faster. And i remembered them to be strategies taken upon by the mum, not the child.

(2) Singaporean promoters really know how to sell. I mean, Singaporean promoters really know how to sell in the most exerted way they are physically capable. There is a difference.

For a standard shop, the response from the shopkeeper, upon entrance of a customer, is to ask what they are after. If the customer tells them that he is just looking, the shopkeeper will most likely follow him around the shop while adding audio captions to the items. Example, a DVD shop: "Zhe ge 'Hong Jin Bao' dao yan zui xin de hen bu cuo. Zhe ge 'Tie Zui Yin Ya' hen bu cuo... Zhe ge... uh... ye hen bu cuo" ("This is good, this is good, these are all very good"). To which the customer responds: "Uh, oh. Oh. Oh. Oh." out of politeness.

The shopkeeper stops following the customer around when he notices that the customer is only pretending to genuinely browse the items, usually out of politeness. Having been pushed a few metres into the store by the salesmen and women, leaving immediately may hurt some peoples' feelings, and of course, look a bit weird.

Apart from that, bosses like to send stalled salespeople into the streets to promote products. The competition is high, and space is limited; every boss wants his product to be maximally advertised on the main streets.

Man with microphone demonstrates a nifty gadget that allows girls with long hair to chopsticks tie hair any ol' how and still look very nice.

Man with microphone demonstrates "super fix glue" that fixes just about anything. For broken pieces - it can stick, for missing pieces - it can be moulded to replace, for cracks - it can fill.

Old man with microphone gives testimony of a medicinal paste for skin. Can you guess why there were only really old people gathering around? (a) old people attract old people, (b) only old people need skin pastes, OR
(c) there was an aircon vent behind the stall.
answer: possibly some of the above, but the logical answer is that the man promoted in hokkien.

My favourite promoter stall has to be the one in the following video:

The product this lady promoted was an all in one slicer/dicer/peeler/ridder/squeezer for any fruits and vegetables.

Kids mesmerized and possibly inspired to cook by vast functionality of "fruit/vego all-in-one".

The tool looks like a normal peeler, but it seemed like it can be used on any vegetable or fruit, like cabbage, pineapple, ginger, potato, apple, oranges, cucumber, carrot, melon etc.

I was impressed not just because the tool can be used on absolutely anything, but also because the lady was able to say the same things over and over again, each time absolutely the same. The video was taken after i told her privately that she is "hen li hai" (very good at advertising) and can go on TV, to which she humbly said: "xie xie... xie xie... bu gan... ni ye mai yi zhi ba?" ("Why don't you buy one also.")

I stood to listen for at least four rounds of her explaining use of various vegetables, and i found her most repeated phrase to be: "Ru guo ni men yao de hua, yi ding yao gen wo jiang, bu ran wo zhen de hen luo suo." ("If you want it, you must tell me, otherwise i am very naggy.") She says it as though everybody needs one of these all-in-ones! Brilliant marketing.

(3) The pamphlet marketers of Singapore work shamelessly, and relentlessly. I really admire their thick-skinned face, plus their positive attitude towards rejection.

Here is a picture summary of a typical day for pamphlet marketers:

The lady says 'no' even before she even walked past, and look how fast her hands and legs are moving. Hows that for rapid rejection?

Man gets a fright by a marketer straight after putting down the phone.

Persistent marketer receives the "who-is-that-talking-to-me?" treatment. Totally, rejected.

I have noticed something rather interesting. That these marketers will never talk to anyone standing still next to their promotion area. And the reason i figured was because if they get rejected by the still-standing bystander, they will have to live with the rejection for as long as he stands there! The moving ones are okay because the marketers will probably never see them again.

As i stood and watched, my mind drifted. I thought it would have been effective if suddenly rhythmic dance music came on, and three of these marketers started breaking out in breakdance on the floor. After a minute of short-burst styles, a crowd would gather to see what these salespeople in suits were up to. Then, the DJ would switch off the music, and the marketers would start to approach those in the crowd with: "Hi sir how are you, would you like to apply for Citibank credit card, special promotion?"

One thing i cannot imagine is the crowd scattering and hurrying away in four directions saying "no, no, no thank you."