This is my first official blog post for my Business Communication blog! It took me quite sometime to think of an incident/ story that would truly demonstrate an interpersonal/ intercultural conflict. Well, I thought of this incident which did not exactly happen to me personally, but it was a situation which most of us might have observed in our everyday lives as a commuter.
I used to travel a lot back in my junior college days. I spent an average of three hours traveling everyday. It was really interesting during these journeys because I got the opportunity to observe and pay attention to the details and surroundings while I was on the public transport. On a couple of the trips I made to and fro school, there were instances where commuters openly display their displeasure and intolerance towards other commuters who may, in their perspective, be carrying distinctive smells that are considered unpleasant and unbearable.
To me, clearly, those smells were not a result of bad personal hygiene, but they were more likely to be due to traditions or personal preferences (type of food consumed, type of cologne etc). I thought the communters' response towards the smells was absurb, and I felt embarrassed sometimes, when I see a fellow Singaporean being so insensitive towards other people's feelings, especially towards people from a more diverse background and culture. Do they not think their actions were very rude and offensive? Or were driven by self-centredness and only cared about their feelings at that point in time? It was really apparent to me that those people lack basic courtesy and respect towards the minority.
Thankfully, their actions were not being confronted, not because the other party was not aware of the situation, but I would think it was because of the generosity that the other party displayed that prevented a conflict from arising. Despite the other party being forgiving, is there anything that can be done to prevent such a behaviour in the first place?
Perhaps on my part, I came from a culture where people were more sensitive towards each other's feelings, and we tend to not display displeasure openly. This definitely contributed to my annoyance towards people who are less sensitive towards other people's emotions. In this aspect, maybe on my part, I should also be more willing to accept individuals who are more expressive. Then again, to what extent should I accept such behaviour? And will it be so overbearing that it crosses the line and becomes ungracious and insensitive?
Hi Charissa, that's an interesting topic and there had been instances where I have seen such incidents too.
ReplyDeleteFor me, I personally feel that since Singapore is a multi-racial country, everyone should be more sensitive towards the way they behave in public and should try not to display their thoughts about the distinctive smells of them. It is only polite that we do that.
Also, I would like to point out that as Singapore has a fair share of foreigners, they may display their displeasure unknowingly as they may not know the reason for the distinctive smells of some commuters.
However, whether we are Singaporeans or foreigners, we should embrace the differences in people.
:)
Hey girls :). I suppose that as regular train commuters we would have witnessed if not had first-hand experience in such incidents :P.
DeleteI do agree with Li Quan that we have evolved to being a welcoming multiracial society. In such situations, many Singaporeans would react kindly - either by bearing with the discomfort or graciously making an exit.
Of course, if someone decides to overreact by making a scene over this issue, we should step in as an objective third party.
However, things can get interesting when the person who overreacts happens to be a child, don't you think?
Hello girls! (idk if JH is a girl anot ;p)
ReplyDeleteI have experienced such situations before, although my daily ride to school and back (when I was in JC) was merely half an hour (inclusive of train and bus).
I feel that generally, most Singaporeans do not show much displeasure to these kind of situations, apart from the occasional look (I do not think it deserves to be called a glare). I guess the environment that we are brought up in makes us "paiseh" to voice out any possible negative feelings in public.
In my view, I probably would not react in such situations, even if it becomes overbearing. I would attribute this to the Asian value of "face". Not just to save mine, but also that of the person himself. After all, we are all humans; everyone deserves some form of respect from everyone else.
Live and let live.
Hi Charissa, this is a very interesting topic and I felt that you managed to get your message across very clearly. Language used was good too, except for occasional and minor errors here and there - repetition of words eg "did not happen to me personally", some sentences were a bit too lengthy, and also one error in using correct tenses (third paragraph, "lacked"). Overall, I felt that this post was very well-written and use of correct tenses and subject-verb agreement was very good as well :)
ReplyDelete