A "Singapore Moment"

When you read this title you may ask yourself what exactly is a "Singapore moment". Well, this evening I had one.

My eighteen year old daughter and I decided to go to see the movie The Other Boleyn Girl. Darling hubby left for a business trip to Australia and my boys were happy to stay home, watch cartoons and eat leftover fajitas so my eldest and I decided to indulge in a true chick flick, period costumes and all. Now...although this movie is rated PG-13 in the U.S. here in Singapore it is rated N-16, meaning no one under 16 is admitted. Fine, probably a more appropriate rating than the PG-13 if you want to be honest, but my girl is eighteen like I mentioned before AND she was accompanied by her mother!! We get to the movie half an hour early, the man looks at our tickets and says we have to wait for the theatre to be ready. Again, fine we spend 30 minutes killing time around the mall. Then we go back to the movie, head in and are actually going to our seats when the tiny little man stops us and wants to see proof that Chelsea is over 16. We didn't bring her passport with us. I point out to the tiny little man that I am her mother and I am telling him she's over 16 but he is insistent so I tell him we need to talk to a manager. I argued with the manager for 10 minutes and pointed out to him that 1) if this same tiny little man had mentioned this problem the FIRST time he looked at our ticket (30 minutes ago) we could have gone home to get her passport, 2) that I am her mother and am the one responsible for her, 3) that the movie is actually rated PG-13 or 4) I'll never be giving this theatre my business again. None of these arguments made a bit of difference to the manager so we left after demanding a refund for not just the ticket but also the popcorn and coke we'd purchased, which he gave us. Then we went home, chose a different theatre, went there to a show that started an hour later and coincidentally they didn't even ASK for i.d. which of course we had brought with us this time.

One thing you have to realize about Singapore, in fact most Asian countries that I've visited, is that thinking for yourself is never a virtue here. Rules are made to be absolutely obeyed, circumstances (like the presence of a parent) are never considered, and no one has the ability to think critically or make a decision.

That is a "Singapore moment" and nights like this, where a person who is in a position of some authority and yet has absolutely no critical thinking skills or decision making ability manages to make your life just a little bit miserable are nights when I SO miss the U.S.A. Do you realize that in the U.S. people are taught to think for themselves and evaluate situations individually! I hope those of you who are there right now appreciate the next person who can listen to your situation and use intelligence and personal responsibility to respond appropriately!