My Dad always argued with me, “Get yourself a tissue, its disgusting!!” when I was sitting at home, too lazy to get up and grab for a paper to cleanup my nose. Back then I was of the opinion there’s is nothing wrong with snuffing my nose, saving the energy of walking and getting a tissue, for the “natural” solution (keeping the slime in my body :)
Sorry Dad – You Were Right
Today, some many years later, I look back, and I have to say “Sorry Dad, I agree!” And I mean it and I totally support it…just…no i feel like being the only one – it would consume 95% of my daily time to run around in Singapore asking people to get their tissues out of their pockets (the problem isn’t that no one has tissues, the problem is no one uses them) to clear their slime away…
Daily Disgusting Encounter
So I enter the train in the morning, turn around and immediately jump out again, being most afraid of already having caught some evil brother or sister of the Avian or Bird flu.
10 minutes later, after having jumped over to Watsons, getting one of those funny hospital-doctor masks, I try to overcome my fear and board the next MRT to Raffles Place once again. People look at me as if I was the one being sick…”No guys, I’m only a huge Michael Jackson fan and I’m afraid I will die before he does..” (Actually i thought it would be common that people who ARE ill wear these kind of masks, preventing their aggressive viruses to spread around the public).
Get Sick – Ride MRT
However the guy in front of me just tries to brake the record of permanent snuffing without breathing, and I think he migth be actually close to it, i count 30 seconds of straight snuffing and going…
Right next to him is a lovely lady… if not there would be this transparent slimy…blob..growing bigger and bigger beneath her nose (I’m totally not kidding). I almost urge her to finally let go and snuffle her nose! “No its ok Ma’am, I’m used to the lovely sound, can hear it 8 straight hours a day in my office…”
Singapore – The Clean City?
When I arrived in Singapore I had the image of a very clean and sterile city. Today I still can say this about Singapore, but only its streets and shopping centers not the, well, health management. The first thing I came across in my new office was the big almost red blinking sign in the bathroom, explaining you how and where to wash your hands, the signs next to the elevator telling you to go to the doctor at the slightest sign of illness…heya! Now my healthy life can begin, well, not really. Soon I experienced that its obviously better to stay in the office half dead and very soon and sure infecting half of the whole crew instead of missing a day off on medical leave…
Today I got me a small cubicle that I will put around my desk, it was only 10 bucks and sold as a tent in Carrefour. But the best was, it came with a voucher for 2 free mouth masks. Healthy life, here I come again!
…And guys…please take this tissue pack out of your pocket and just blow your nose in the future…its disgusting!
by an Asia experienced 26 year young expat living and surviving in Singapore since years!
Discovering new interesting and strange things everyday, he provides guides, news and tips for how to survive Singapore and how to best prepare for it.
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1 Comment for this post
Nov 30, 2008 at 11:36 am
[...] BLOG: Tissues are for your nose not table blocking [...]
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