25 Dec Mon 2:23p.m.
"Excuse me, Ma'am... Where is Clarke Quay?".
I was shooting out around the corner towards Clarke Quay MRT at The Central yesterday. It was what appeared to be a Malay man with his wife & group coming up behind him.
Ma'am?? I thought.
While walking away without stopping, I gave a fake smile & said, "Not sure.". The fact that I even bothered to give any sort of smile was already giving them face.
Another man behind him said, "You don't know Clarke Quay?" in a tone that implied I was bullshitting.
So? Do I look like an information booth? Am I being paid to give directions? Am I obligated to give directions?
With all the shit going on in my life & how much I used to spend on face products, people still just conveniently call me "auntie" "ma'am".
What I went through, do you know? How sad I am because of what's happened in my life, do you know? Nobody help me, do you know??! When I was younger, I help anybody who asked. But now when I need help, who helps me?
You & your happy, happy, ignorant existence.
If you went through the years of crap that I've been through & now with this spiritual shit disturbing us, you would also look as tired & worn out as I. I dare you to still be able to look fresh & young.
Since he thinks I'm "Ma'am", it means he thinks I'm old. In which case, I have no time & no youth left to waste on him. Let him ask young people who have the time & youth to waste in answering his question. Don't ask me.
Why can't people just start a question with just "Excuse me"?? Or "Hi"?? Why must they add a derogatory term in front? If they are fine with being called by their age, that's their own business.. Nobody else has to conform to their uneducated mentality.
Have respect for a person's right to be called by their name, or not at all if you don't know their name.
At my previous work place, the dishwasher's name was Dave. A very nice, respectable name. But employees still called him "uncle". Why? He has a name. Why can't people call him by his name? Instead of a right to his name, he is suddenly shrunk to an anonymous nobody called "uncle". Why?
What makes people think they have a right calling people based on a person's age??
When I look at these people, they are not young. They themselves are already old & look worse off than me. Many times, those foreigner women who look like shit themselves, call me "auntie". These foreigner women have such narcissistic, high esteem of themselves, they don't even see the age that they are wearing on their own faces. They think they are still kids.
It seems to be an Asian mentality to add a derogatory label on people based on their age. It's called Ageism. Age discrimination. You don't see westerners doing it. They address people by their names. They respect the individual.
