Levels

I saw something about a week ago which had me shaking my head in disbelief. I was at 1 Utama and I saw a bunch of people, not many, but still a bunch of people waiting for an elevator. Needless to say, they were crowding the door. When the doors opened, they streamed in and after they had all got on, I saw an elderly lady in a wheelchair emerge from the lift being pushed by, what I presume is the family maid and followed by the (again I presume) lady's daughter. Who was, blamelessly and understandably, looking quite pissed off.

The crowd weren't all young people. I've always bitched and whined about today's younger generation but I would think even they'd have the sense and respect to have allowed the wheelchair and its occupant to have exited first. These people rather were the people who will be raising the future generation.

Sad isn't it?

I was in Singapore for a number of days before Christmas. No one can pack shopping malls like the Singaporeans! Crowded. Not a complaint though. Merely an observation. Why I've mentioned this is what I noticed at the MRT stations. The level of desperation at the doors of the MRT is in relation to how many people are waiting to get on the train plus the number of people already on the train. If there is ample room on the train and not many people waiting to get on, the niceties are observed and people wait for others to exit first before getting on and stand to the side of the doors. If however, the trains are packed, people get on at the first opportunity regardless of other people trying to get off.

The level of politeness in these types of situations is adverse to the level of desperation.

It would be fair I'm sure if I had used the LRT in KL/PJ as a comparison but I haven't taken the LRT in years. Based on what I saw in 1 Utama, I dread to think what it's like now as it was already pretty bad when I did take the LRT all those years ago. And from what I've been told,
it's even worse now - with untold levels of desperation.