A man shared a story of him trying to be a smart aleck and tried to argue with a safety distancing ambassador. However, the man did not receive any empathy from netizens but got scolded instead
Here is his “complaint”:
Had an unpleasant experience at Satay by the Bay this evening. Had gone there with the family (total 5 of us, 1 child) thinking it would be nice to have a meal outside after such a long while, albeit in 2 separate tables.
That’s right, I assumed 2 instead of 3 cos I tot the child, being unvaccinated, could sit with my wife and I, while the other two adults sit at another table. Seems I misunderstood the ruling for F&B where 5 can sit together along with the unvaccinated child of the same household.
Anyway ordered food, and along came this safe distancing ambassador coming up to our table and told us in an unfriendly tone that we cannot sit with three in a table and we had to split up. What irked me was not so much the message but her tone, and I told her that I had assumed an unvaccinated child could sit with the parents.
She stated flatly that Satay by the Bay was a hawker centre, not F&B, so we had to separate. Perturbed even more by her tone now, I told her I would check online there and then, and if verified, I would move (afterall if there were people coming to my house claiming they had a right to enter my house there and then to verify there is no party going on, I think I deserve that the right to verify if that is the case then.) Anyway she snidely said if I wanted to check to go ahead but first separate or she would take our pictures.
That became a threat. I refused to reply to her knowing my own short fuse would escalate the situation quickly and let her take whatever she needed. I spent a couple of mins checking and indeed seems 2 is the rule irrespective of child or not, vaccinated or not. I humbly complied and move to another table alone to eat my humble pie. What spoiled my evening was of course my own shoddiness to developments and also the general demeanour of the safe distancing ambassador. I understand she was only doing her job, but so so many things could have averted this unpleasant incident. Clear posters at the entrance reminding patrons, she on seeing the whole family coming in could have reminded us rather than spending the additional time trying to ambush families for infringements and going into unnecessary entanglements with them.
Everyone is stressed, mental health for many are at the fringe and we are trying to get through it together. It only takes a spark to start a forest fire. These ambassadors are in a delicate position and thankfully most are wonderful as they balance sensitivity with doing their job; this lady I feel fell far below the bar.
EDIT:- I need to leave a note that my issue is with the way the message was communicated and not the message per se. Am sure there are lots of careless people like me in such times of upheaval so sometimes details may slip past us. We are not Badge Persons, so a tactful reminder or a little patience would suffice.
Thank you, Darius, you must be MR EMPATHY PERSONIFIED.