A netizen recently shared a story online about his relationship with a female friend that appears can’t be bothered about him.
Here is the story
So who is the toxic friend here?
Me: (Female)
– I make the plan to get her nice and rather expensive birthday gift (anyway my birthday is before her), Nonetheless, I gave the birthday present to her first. If I don’t get her the present, I guess she will not get for me either.
– I am usually the one who initiates the meet-up and adjusted to her timing.
– sometimes I get rather unhappy with her as she can post on her social media thanking her other relatives/friends for the gifts she received but she don’t really wanna post about mine? She told me she has forgotten. Am I not being appreciated?
– When I get angry and stopped talking to her. She don’t even bother to talk to me either. But keep saying she care?
– I just wanted her to make the effort, but I don’t see any from her. She told me being my friend is very tired.
Her:
– She gave me expired gifts on my birthday explaining that she never notice it. She just find it nice and want to gift me as a birthday present. While I make so much effort in planning her gift the other way round
– She told me her work is busy and her family is her priority. To me I understand that. But no one is ever too busy for a friend? Like what I said. She seldom initiate and plan for the meet up.
– I explain my concern to her feeling unhappy that I am not being appreciated because she seldom mention about me in socia media but she can do it for other people. I was being called childish by her.
– She get annoyed saying that I always pick up things and quarrel with her over small little things? That’s because I care for her so much? But what did she do? I felt I am not being appreciated. I guess she don’t even care and make the effort as a friend, perhaps to me?
– She felt tired and stressful being my friend.
Here is what netizens think
Part ways lah. Why you focus so much on this friend? To the extend “Wah u never mention me on social media”. Geesh. This is not your husband or bf right? If someone don’t appreciate you and treat you like donkey, you still want to post online and ask ppl to comment if you really are a donkey? Okay you are, pls move on.
The reason why you initiate the meetup is because you want to gain something from her!You are so materialistic loh! Why must you give her something and expect her to give you something in return?? Somemore need her to post on social media. Need to be so ego about it anot? I agree with her, you are childish and need to grow up.
Why do you validate ur friendship based on the cost n condition of gifts? isnt it what you give is from ur heart & dont expect anything back? Maybe what ur friend feel is that youre expecting the same value of gifts in return too much that she slowly feels its pressuring her thats why she says its tiring to be friends with you. If you value your friend without expectation, you will see a different light. Think about it.
A guy asks is it normal to for his girlfriend to sleep at her guy best friend’s house after a night out drinking.
Here is the story:
“Is it normal for your girl/boyfriend to sleep in her/his best friend’s house who happens to be a boy/girl?
So my girlfriend went back to Taiwan a month ago and she’s gonna come back in April. She has a lot of male friends, some of whom she has known for quite a bit of time. What she does is that she’d go out for a drink with them sometimes and sleep at her best friend’s house who allegedly has another vacant room.
Maybe I’m being too conservative and controlling, but I really don’t like her continuing to do this. She thinks I’m overreacting, and she says she’s disappointed that I doubt her and her best friends. I asked what she’d have felt like if I had done the same thing with a female friend, and she said she honestly wouldn’t care because she thinks it’s okay.
Am I an insufferable jerk? Am I being overly sensitive and protective…? Would you tolerate such behaviors..?”
Editor’s note: Your concerns are valid, that’s a red flag.
Suspects who are found guilty for money laundering can be jailed up to a maximum of 10 years and a fine of up to SGD$500,000.
The offense of carrying on a business of providing any sort of payment service in Singapore without a license is punishable by a fine of up to $125,000, jail term for up to three years.
For more information on scams, members of the public can visit www.scamalert.sg or call the Anti-Scam Hotline at 1800-722-6688. Anyone with information on such scams may call the Police Hotline at 1800-255-0000 or submit information online at www.police.gov.sg/iwitness.
All information will be kept strictly confidential.
A netizen, John Paul Tan, shared on Facebook his experience of falling victim to a phishing scam, and having the entire life savings of his and his wife wiped out.
Here is the story:
“I was an OCBC scam victim. This is my story.
I share a joint account with my wife. It was a Tuesday morning and I had just come back from the doctor because my 11-month-old daughter had HFMD. I was trying to get her to drink water, when my wife told me she received a strange message from OCBC, telling her someone was trying to access her account.
It was the phishing message, she clicked it.
Things started unraveling, she tried calling the bank and was put on hold at least twice. I didn’t think too much about it, I trusted her judgment and my daughter needed to be fed desperately.
Later that afternoon, my wife had brought my 3 year old out to the playground when she called me in a panic. She needed to go to the police station to make a report, our bank account was compromised. I logged on to the account and our life savings were wiped out. We lost everything in 5 overseas transactions.
I called the bank immediately and they said that it had to be taken up by my wife because she clicked the link.
Eventually, she came home and we called the bank together. They told us that they would try their best to get it back in 9 days, but the money was gone and chances were slim.
I immediately took out my calculator and bashed in all the cash I had lying around. What if I can’t pay my bills? How will my kids eat?
Alas, it wasn’t enough.
Distraught
I was distraught. I sat down in the middle of the kitchen with my head in my hands, going through various stages of grief. “It’s all gone…” was the last thing I said. I made plans to surrender an investment I made way before maturity and took a huge loss, but at least I’d have cash.
The next day, my wife came down with a fever and she too was diagnosed with HFMD. I couldn’t get out of bed for 2 days. My mental state of mind had completely collapsed.
I got my ass out of bed on Christmas eve, only because I had work. I logged on, passed the workday as normally as I could. At about 1pm, when everyone else had logged off, I penned a heartfelt email to my staff, thanking them for their work in the year despite whatever hardships they may have gone through. I sent it and logged off.
I collapsed back in bed – but not long after, I got up. Somehow, I had gained a little perspective. I had the cash, nobody would starve, what was I really upset about? I asked myself how I wanted to be remembered, especially by the girls. It was never going to be about how rich daddy was. I wanted to be remembered as a generous person with integrity, always doing what was right even in adversity.
I got out of bed and had a Christmas eve dinner with my family (lovingly prepared by my parents). We prayed together and we were determined to put this behind us.
I wanted a normal Christmas for the girls. So we opened our presents on Christmas morning and had so much fun with all the new toys they received. But not long later, my 3-year-old developed a fever. She had HFMD too.
“This is a modern-day replay of the book of Job” I told my wife, almost in jest. I turned on Albert Hammond’s hit, just to humour me how much of a disaster Christmas was turning out to be. We had no choice but to self-isolate over the festive period because of the HFMD bug.
“But this story isn’t sad”
But this story isn’t a sad one. My parents made more food, a close friend had bought us groceries, another bought us some nice food for Christmas and New Year, another gave us free legal advice. The investment money came in, we were out of the woods. After the turn of the new year, the bank managed to retrieve 2 out of the 5 transactions. Obviously I would want to get all my money back, but it was more than I had expected (because I had already primed myself to get back nothing).
My wife and I sat down at the dining table that night after the kids had gone to bed. We talked for hours about how blessed we were to come out of this relatively unscathed. Nobody was hurt, barring some serious mental trauma. Most importantly, as devastating as it could be, the family stayed together through it all. It was time to start again, but maybe slightly differently this time.
In that spirit, not every victim is as fortunate as us; some who weren’t even victims have it worse than us. If you haven’t already done so, consider getting in touch with someone you know who fell prey and think about making regular contributions to a local charity. Be nice to your colleagues and loved ones, you don’t know what they may be going through. Above all, hug your spouse and kids a little tighter.
FAQs
As a public servant, I have also prepared some FAQs here, so you wouldn’t need to overwhelm me with texts.
Q: Omg are you ok? What can I do for you?
A: Yes, I’m fine, the family is ok. We have jobs and regular salaries, things will eventually stabilise. Please don’t do anything for me, read the last paragraph of the story and find it in your heart to help someone else less fortunate.
Q: How much did you lose?
A: It was quite a bit but in all seriousness, it’s not really about how much. Most likely, those that lost less in absolute terms are likely to be impacted more.
Q: How could the bank do this to you?
A: We hope the bank can wrap up their investigations and we can then consider if any action is required. Hopefully, laws can also change to make sure banks are better equipped (i.e. not putting anyone on hold in their hour of need) and to have more impactful regulations to make banks sit up when there are scams, instead of being absolved.
Q: Aren’t you angry with your wife?
A: She explained everything that had happened, I accepted that she didn’t act in bad faith and it could have happened to anyone (400+ others to be exact). Being angry with the scammer and HFMD is probably more appropriate.
Q: What is an Albert Hammond?
A: It Never Rains in Southern California”
Editor’s note: Respect your positive outlook bro, praying for you.
A guy shared how he was in an all boys school all his life and never had the opportunity to meet girls and now he has given up on finding a girlfriend.
Here is the story:
“I was in an all boys school all my life. So obviously never had the opportunity to meet girls. Then come to poly, I was still relatively looking the same as I was before (nerdy looking, overweight) so girls never showed interest anyway, I’ve had 3 friends who are girls who all shared the same sentiments that women in general don’t go for nice guys, but more of the opposite.
Since poly till now, I have changed. Look different. Dress different. Lost weight. Put myself out there on online dating apps, and literally nothing. Lack of matches. The matches I get, either don’t respond or they’re looking to get their egos boosted.
I keep reading all this stuff about other guys going on dates with women, and how they’re expected to pay for everything, or how men are supposed to pick up hints from women *if* they are interested. I just find that so childish that men are expected to pay for everything in a day and age that ‘people vouch for gender equality.’
Anyways, all my classes are online. Which means I still haven’t socialised / interacted with women.
I’ve completely given up. It’s just never enough as a man. You can be the best version of yourself, and you’ll still struggle. It’s not worth the trouble and stress.”
A woman reportedly fell from height and landed onto the shelter of a walkway at the foot of a HDB block at Boon Keng on 14 January.
She later succumbed to her injuries and passed away.
Videos emerged online on Facebook showing paramedics and SCDF personnel on the roof of the shelter attending to the stricken woman.
Police officers were seen standing guard under the block and an ambulance was also seen at the scene, as passers-by gathered to watch.
The incident reportedly took place at Block 34 Whampoa West.
Semi-conscious but succumbed to injuries
The SCDF said that they were alerted to the incident on 14 January at about 5.15pm and the woman was manually rescued by SCDF officers from the shelter’s roof.
The victim, a 33-year-old woman, was conveyed to Tan Tock Seng Hospital and was in a semi-conscious state upon arrival before succumbing to her injuries soon after.
Preliminary investigations have ruled out the possibility of murder and at the time of writing, the police are investigating the incident.
Wong Yew Tien, 42-years-old, pleaded guilty to one count of voluntarily causing hurt and one count of using criminal force to deter public servants from their duties. A third charge for public nuisance was also considered for his sentencing.
He was sentenced to 7 months imprisonment yesterday (14 January).
Wong was seen in a viral video last year challenging the police to a fight before being tasered by one of the officers and arrested.
What happened?
On 16 July 2021, Wong was found lying on the ground at Block 802 French Road at about 1.35pm, at LEFA de Cafe.
An ambulance was called and paramedics soon arrived and attached electrocardiogram probes to his chest, but he suddenly became violent and started shouting and throwing chairs.
The paramedics couldn’t control him and the police called – the police were informed that Wong was on drugs.
Wong then started challenging people at the coffeeshop to fight as three passers-by tried to subdue him while waiting for the police.
The police then arrived and the three witnesses then released Wong, who then got back on his feet and challenged one of the witnesses, a coffeeshop supervisor, to a fight.
He then threw a table and challenged a police officer to fight, charging at the policeman and challenging another police officer to fight as well.
Wong was told to calm down multiple times but then charged at a policewoman, who fended off his attack.
Wong then attacked the policeman and bruised his forearm, before eventually being subdued by the officers after they fired 2 taser shots at him.
Previous convictions
Wong had many convictions prior, with the earliest dating back to 1994 for theft. He was previously jailed 6 and a half years in 2000 as well as given 8 strokes of the cane for culpable homicide not amounting to murder with common intention.
He was also jailed 3 months in 2014 for also voluntarily causing hurt to deter a public servant from duty, the same offence he was charged with in the present.
He was also previously ordered to go to a drug rehabilitation centre and is presently under a drug rehab regime.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) said today (15 Jan) that more than 100,000 children between ages 5 to 11 have already received their first jab.
This amount equates to about 40% of primary school students since the exercise started on 27 December 2021.
Come Monday, students can start to receive their second jab.
Sibling walk-in arrangement
On this initiative, MOE mentioned that there are good take up rates, as more than 2,800 jabs were given from this initiative where siblings can walk in together to receive their jabs as long as they have a prior appointment from Mondays to Thursdays.
On average there is one walk-in to about five appointments made.
Special students registered for jabs
As for the take up rates at special schools, two in three children have already registered for their jabs.
Health Promotion Board staff have deployed their mobile vaccination teams to help out in 12 out of the 20 venues since Wednesday and all of them are specially trained and experienced in supporting children with special needs.
MOE ended of by saying that receiving jabs will help protect the children as well as those around them who are medically ineligible to receive their jabs.
They urged parents to register their children for the jabs if they are medically fit as soon as possible before the CNY period where many gatherings occur and also be prepared against the upcoming Omicron wave.
The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) has said that in the weekends leading up to CNY, there will be more enforcement and safe distancing officers needed in Chinatown.
The dates are inclusive of Jan 14 – Jan 16, Jan 21 – Jan 23 and also Jan 28 to Jan 31.
The crowd situation in Chinatown will be closely monitored by authorities and they will implement extra measures if warranted.
STB also said that they will be working with the Chinatown Business Association and also various government agencies to manage safe distancing measures by ensuring that business operators do not extend their operations out of their allocated space.
They also urge the public to be socially responsible so that everyone can go through the festivities and enjoy them safely.
STB added that the public should plan their visits and try to avoid peak periods, and also to be reminded to practice their safe management measures like mask wearing etc.
There is also a CNY online bazaar which is organised jointly by Shopee and Kreta Ayer Community Centre and the public can avoid crowds by buying products online instead.
Two men aged 26 and 28 were arrested for allegedly attacking a man with a knife and will be charged in court today (15 January) with voluntarily causing hurt with a dangerous weapon with common intention.
The police said in a statement that they were alerted to an alleged stabbing incident on 14 January at about 10.30am, at Block 413 Commonwealth Avenue West.
The victim was walking towards a multi-storye carpark when the two alleged assailants approached him, with one of the men who was allegedly armed with a knife, attacking him from behind.
The two men then fled the scene.
The victim was conveyed to the hospital conscious with a slash wound on his left arm and a stab wound on his back.
Attack believed to be planned
The police said that according to preliminary investigations, they believe the attack to be premeditated, and investigations into the attack are ongoing.
The two men were arrested within 9 hours of the attack after officers from the Clementi Police Division established their identities through CCTVs and ground enquiries.
