Until today. I was having lunch w Kenneth and Laureen at Marine Parade food centre and was occupying a table waiting for them to come back with chicken rice.
This man in his late fifties (and of a darker skin tone) came up and asked if he could sit down. I told them that the table was occupied. At the back of my mind I saw and knew there was a totally empty table just a few steps away. He probably just didn’t see it. So when I told him it was occupied, he took a few more steps and there he saw that empty table and sat down there.
About 5 minutes later, Ken and Laur were still not back. At this moment, a Chinese (Singaporean) lady and her daughter asked if she could take a seat at the table. I hesitated for a moment but seeing that there were no empty tables in the vicinity, I told them they could take the two seats. After all, we were occupying only 3 of 6 seats.
Who would have known, but about a minute or two later, the man from earlier came right up to me and demanded why I didn’t let him sit at the table. I was shocked and at a loss of words. Before I could say anything, he passed comments calling me a racist and that just because he was of a different race and skin colour, I did not allow him to sit. I was flabbergasted. There I was - minding my own business and he had to come and butt his head in and call me names. I did not respond to him at all.
A while later, he left. When Kenneth and Laur came back, I related the incident to them. Throughout our lunch, he kept glaring at our table. After he was done, there came part two. He marched over once again and repeated the same tirade, this time calling me a bastard. Saying how he was born in Singapore and how we should not be racist blah blah. Oh come on. As though I was not born in Singapore? I ignored him and just let him say his peace. Like whatever. I couldn’t be bothered wasting my saliva on him. He finally left after 2 minutes or so.
However, I was still fuming inside and couldn’t really enjoy my lunch properly. I was called both a bastard and racist at the same time. Like Wth. What does he know about me and the race of friends I hang out with? Seriously. A while later, the Chinese mum and her daughter left and two elderly Malay ladies asked if they could be seated. We gladly dined with them. Too bad he didn’t see that. Or even if he did, would he come round and call me a sexist now?
Sidenote: The main reason why I told him the table was occupied was because I knew there was an empty table moments away and figured he would prefer to be seated there rather than to dine with strangers. I mean, if I were him, I would definitely take that empty table there. I let the Chinese lady and her daughter sit at our table only because there were really no other empty tables around the area. There was certainly no preference over race or skin colour.
