Sorry sorry sorry
So I'm sure this won't come as a surprise to most people: Canadians are very apologetic. I mean, the number of times the PM himself has apologized I'm sure has far exceeded apologies by any world leader.
And this apologetic nature, or as some like to call it, politeness, is in very stark contrast to my experiences in Singapore. And you must be thinking - surely this has to be a good thing?! For the most part, I would say it is, it has taken some getting used to, but it's not the worst.
But then again, anything - even a good thing - if not done in moderation, can turn into a not so good thing. Here is something hilarious that happened a couple of years ago, when I went to watch a movie in a Canadian theatre with a fellow Singaporean friend.
So we're in the theatre, the ads are going on and all is good. Then the beginning credits for the movie begin... for some reason it's all silent, and at this point we're just assuming that the makers decided to play credits in silence. Then the movie starts, subtitles are going, and it is obvious that there has to be some sound - but it's still completely silent. My friend and I look around, and everyone seems confused, but also unfazed. No one makes any attempt to discuss this with each other. So my friend and I are like hey guys we think the audio is not switched on. And everyone is like yeah maybe it'll come on in a bit.
... what?!
So these wonderful Canadians thought it would be better to just wait it out, than to go out and tell someone to fix this... because who wants a confrontation?!?!
Well my friend and I decided that enough was enough, and after 10 minutes we decided to go out and tell the staff to fix the audio. The staff, unsurprisingly, was very, VERY apologetic, and restarted the movie with audio for us. We also got free tickets for another movie in the future.
I do wonder... if my no-nonsense Singaporean friend and I were not in the audience... would anyone have bothered to tell the staff at any point???
And this apologetic nature, or as some like to call it, politeness, is in very stark contrast to my experiences in Singapore. And you must be thinking - surely this has to be a good thing?! For the most part, I would say it is, it has taken some getting used to, but it's not the worst.
But then again, anything - even a good thing - if not done in moderation, can turn into a not so good thing. Here is something hilarious that happened a couple of years ago, when I went to watch a movie in a Canadian theatre with a fellow Singaporean friend.
So we're in the theatre, the ads are going on and all is good. Then the beginning credits for the movie begin... for some reason it's all silent, and at this point we're just assuming that the makers decided to play credits in silence. Then the movie starts, subtitles are going, and it is obvious that there has to be some sound - but it's still completely silent. My friend and I look around, and everyone seems confused, but also unfazed. No one makes any attempt to discuss this with each other. So my friend and I are like hey guys we think the audio is not switched on. And everyone is like yeah maybe it'll come on in a bit.
... what?!
So these wonderful Canadians thought it would be better to just wait it out, than to go out and tell someone to fix this... because who wants a confrontation?!?!
Well my friend and I decided that enough was enough, and after 10 minutes we decided to go out and tell the staff to fix the audio. The staff, unsurprisingly, was very, VERY apologetic, and restarted the movie with audio for us. We also got free tickets for another movie in the future.
I do wonder... if my no-nonsense Singaporean friend and I were not in the audience... would anyone have bothered to tell the staff at any point???
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