Seat ‘Chope-ing’ is such a pervasive phenomenon in Singapore that you can see it everywhere. From kids rushing into the MRT and putting hands on empty seats to indicate that it has been ‘taken’, and in hawker centres, where you see shameless people putting their tissue packs on the desk to the same effect. In fact, I have even seen an extraordinary pack of tissue with the big black word ‘RESERVED’ on yellow background.
Seat ‘chope-ing’ isn’t really an issue, unless you happen to be one of unfortunate souls who has joined the queue earlier, only to come back and discover that all the empty seats are now taken. But it is becomes a serious matter when this happens in church, and church members actually found an excuse to justify their own ugliness. Look at this lame justification here:
| Exerpts:
Thot I would like to share my view on this. Have you ever seen a family going to the movie theatre to watch a movie together, and then when about to buy tickets found that only singles seats are available all over the place in the hall, and WENT AHEAD and bought those tickets anyway? Even if it means there are all sitting seperately? I mean what’s the deal with sitting together?! You don’t need to sit together to watch a movie wat! The reason is because there is no logical explanation. It is call a FAMILY thing. Family sit together. Family do things together, and no one is going to tell them otherwise. Same in the church where cell groups are closely-knitted spiritual family, and they want to sit together, to worship God together, to be taught the word of God together, to grow together. As for whether it is fair to the other church members, I think most won’t mind since if they are members, they usually belong to cell group, and they usually reserve seats and sitting together somewhere else. Smile Usually it is the visitors who are more upset or annoyed. For them, I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience, and I want to encourage the visitors to join a cell group if they plan to commit and settle down in CHC. |
Tsk tsk. Whatever happened to being the salt and light to the rest of the people, huh?. When such a lame excuse can be given to justify seat ‘chope-ing’ even in church, the problem is really serious.
And here’s the fallacy of the argument. Isn’t the family supposed to be the entire church, and in extension, the entire Body of Christ?
The family does not consist of just your pathetic little cellgroup, or the visitors your cellgroup will bring. Ever imagined the disappointment of the rest of the extended family out there queuing, or how they would feel, when they discovered what the rest of their so-called ‘FAMILY’ has done to them.
And of course, the funniest part is that why family cannot be queuing together? And if family are really doing things together then why can’t family share the consequences of having no seats together?
That’s not even mentioning that the comparison to wanting to sit together in a movie is so lame. I have had gone to movies when the entire group has to be seperated, and that’s not a one-off incident. And how can movies be compared to church service when there’s probably several runs of the same old movie and it’s not always the same speaker will be speaking at the rest of the services?
All in all, it’s just the display of the deceit of one’s own heart in this lame argument. So much for this cell group lea-duh. Well done for proving to the non-believers that Christianity is not very much different from the rest of the other organised religions out there anyway.
Bway song with what I have written? Just drop it in the comments page. It might get published here, and on a day I am having a bad mood, you might just get more than you ask for.
This was taken from the Stooge Times.
What uncivil behaviour by reserving seats with tissue packs
July 27, 2007
I RECENTLY moved back to Singapore after being away for six years and I somehow regret coming back to a place where I should call home and be proud of it.
I did not expect the use of tissue packs to reserve seats at hawker centres, food courts and coffee shops. Since when did Singaporeans become so unethical, so self-centred and ugly? This was not the scene seven years ago before I left to work overseas. And I have not seen anything like this in other parts of the world.
I’ve even come across a man who uses a screwdriver to reserve a seat.
I have limited lunch time of just an hour, yet I find diners who refuse to vacate the seats even after finishing their food, preferring instead to chat no-stop.
I urge all Singaporeans to stop this practice. It is uncivilised and uncalled for.
Chan Jit Sen
It’s a ‘limited resource’ + ‘inconsiderate’ + ‘kiasu’ problem.
First, there are just not enough seats and too many people.
Next, the people who got to the seats first do not have the common sense to finish quickly and get off to allow those who needs one to get at them. (Excuse not to eat quickly and F.O.: “Why should I do so? I am ‘entitled’ to having my lunch leisurely.”)
End result: ‘Booking’ (chope-ing) of the available seat first.
The same in the church mentioned above. Even though the excuses are different. And you know, Christians are the nicest of people on Earth, especially to non-Christians. They just do the darnest things to their own.
Good take on that whimpy argument. Such justification is an utter disgrace to the Christian faith. I personally had been the victim of tissue-pack-reserved seats when I first got to Singapore. Thankfully, not in a church. Same for my parents when they visited the food courts, but they were bolder due to their ignorance, they pushed the tissue packs aside. I won’t apologise for not understanding the principle of “seat chope-ing”… I thought that would be something one did in childhood days.