EXPAT KIDS EAT DRINK ON MRT TRAIN AND THINK THEY VERY SMART

So, this happened on 1st April. I was on the Downtown Line home, looking forward to a nice Friday night at home after a week of crazy. Then in comes these 3 kids, either 12-15 years old, definitely expat, rich and well to do, one caucasian and the other two are like American asian or mixed or whatever.

One has a Starbucks drink in his hand, the other has a Subway sandwich, the third was a good boy (let's call him Smart One).

So Subway kid was really hungry, couldn't handle it, starts eating his Subway sandwich. It's annoying, but fine, whatever, I'm going to ignore it because I'm not banal. Other people on the train was staring but then (as usual) they just stare but never do anything. Then Starbucks kid saw the $500 no eating/drinking sticker and was like "dude there's a fine for eating on the train, I dare you to keep on eating". Subway kid starts getting *paiseh* but I think his growing teenage body was screaming for nutrition so he kept on chomping on his sandwich.

By now I was starting to get annoyed because 1) if you don't know about the rules, then fine, but you saw the stickers and you kept on going 2) Starbucks kid was being a douchebag egging his friend on. Starbucks kid caught me looking at him and stared back WHILE TAKING A NICE SLOW SIP OFF HIS DRINK. So that was when I decided to tell them off. I put on my best American accent and told them, "if you want to eat and drink, do it off the train. don't do it here". Starbucks kid was like "we're not doing anything", and I was "wtf you guys were eating and drinking and you know it was wrong, but you kept on
doing it."

He kept denying and I told them I have pictures of them doing it, so they better stop or I'm just going to kick a fuss. They apologised and decided to stop.

Smart One decides to take out his handphone and starts checking on stuff. I was minding my own business again, because I seriously can't be bothered. After 15 mins or so, they stopped their hushed whispering and then Starbucks was like "excuse me, did you say you have pictures of us? because that's against the law, and we can bring you to the police". Starbucks starts asking for my name (I gave a fake one but I should have given something like Cao Chi Bye or Canny Nah).

I started asking for their names and asked them where they studied (they said some international boarding school in the UK) and if their parents lived here (this they tried to avoid giving an answer so I'm guessing the parents do).

At this point, I was lol-ing deep inside at the ridiculousness of this all. I was like "that's just stupid, these pictures are of YOU GUYS breaking the law, so if you bring me to the police, you're going to be incriminating
yourself" Starbucks kid was like "we are fine with paying the fine, but you're going to get fined $5000 or get 3 years of jail time for taking pictures of minors without their permission"

Smart One started reading out the Chapter and Act like as though his life-goal was to be the Magistrate or something, and I was like "guys, that law is for Paedophiles. I'm not a freaking Paedophile."
Ah Beng who was sitting nearby laughed out loud. Starbucks had a small smile and then tried to be serious "we don't know if you're a Paedophile, but if you don't delete our pictures, we will bring this to the police"

I'm a mid-20s WOMAN with no interest in men younger than 30, on a train, arguing with 3 kids. It was seriously annoying and amusing at the same time. They asked me to remove their pictures, I was like, nope I'm not going to. They insist on bringing me to the Police, and I told them this is ridiculous, but sure, let's go to the train station, get you fined, and then we go to the Police. They seemed quite satisfied and Starbucks told me that I'm making a mistake because I could be facing jail time and a fine (very confident and ballsy!) but I told him why not.

So we got out of the train at Botanic Gardens, and they were so glad of their little victory and kept telling me that I'm making a mistake. They wanted to take the stairs but I insisted on the escalator on the other end (I heard Starbucks kid saying something rude about my size and they all giggled). At this point, I was 1) exasperated 2) amused at how ridiculous this is and 3) having period cramps and all I want to do is lie in bed and watch TV. I was, in no way, interested in these kids or dealing with MRT controllers or police or even their parents.

So, the moment I heard "doors closing" beeping sounds, I said "Bye guys" and jumped into the train. Man, the look on their faces was epic. Starbucks kid tried to take a picture of me but the train was leaving. I was smiling to myself at how ridiculous this whole thing was.

But deep down, I felt a bit sad. These privileged kids, they'll never know hardship like normal people do. They'll breeze through their lives never really worrying about money or work, because their parents probably have gotten all those covered for them. They'll never worry about the law, because they've got the money to get them out of sticky situations. They'd spend their birthdays in exotic islands, on yachts and private resorts. They'll grow up to be the kind of guys who would be bosses and directors purely because their parents could afford to send them to Harvard and Cambridge to get fancy credentials and their parents have the network to put to high places.

I am putting this up not to shame them, but I hope their parents will come across this and give them a proper punishment. Ground them or whatever. I am perfectly fine with expats in Singapore, but at least, indoctrinate your children to respect the rules of whichever country they are in, even if they are "just visiting". The world has enough douchebags already, don't let them grow into one.

Cheers,
I.S
ASS Contributor