A Reddit thread about Corporate Lunch Culture : Singaporeans versus Ang Mohs

[UltimaOnline]

Singaporean 'nattybattywatty' posted :
I'm currently working in an organisation where it's majority Singaporeans, but was from a previous company where the office was majority expats (mostly from Australia, UK). I've noticed that for the latter, they mostly like to either pack lunches from home, or buy from outside and bring it back to their desks and eat over work/leisure surfing/etc. In essence, they don't usually gather in a group and head out for lunch unless there is a special occasion like a farewell or working lunch meeting. On the other hand, we Singaporeans (unless like super busy), prefer to gather a lunch group and to head out to a kopitiam/food court/restaurant to eat lunch. Anyone else noticed this? I'm curious as to why there is this lunch phenomenon hahhaha.

Ang Moh 'cryptotom1' replied :
I’m English and used to work in London. It’s very common to eat lunch by yourself or just grab a sandwich and eat it back at your desk whenever your hungry and not at a set time like here.
A large percentage of people want to leave by 5pm to get commuter trains (in the cold, wet, dark weather) back to their hometown so lunches tend to be functional and quick and not social, unless it’s the summer and everyone wants to sit out in the sun.
My office here in Singapore come 12:01 it’s like everyone just disappeared on mass exodus and I’m the lonely Ang moh sat in the office on his own that didn’t get the lunch memo.

Another Ang Moh 'harrysforthnipple' added :
I've been working in Singapore for about 3 years now. Originally from the UK. I used to not like eating in big groups so I just grabbed something quick for myself and ate at my table. Now I grab lunch with them every single day at work. I do this now because there was once I went out alone during lunch break got something and came back to the office to eat and this guy looked at me like I just committed the biggest crime. He asked "Why you never jio us?" staring deep into my soul. I was so uncomfortable that I started going for lunch with them. Lunch with them wasn't too bad but the culture shock was definitely there lol.

Another Singaporean 'DuePomegranate' explained :
The first factor is the high cost of eating lunch out in many other countries, as others have mentioned. So lunch is either a sandwich, leftovers, or convenience food.
The second factor is that we Singaporeans tend to have longer working hours (e.g. 8.30 am to 6 pm, vs 9 to 5) and are expected to "show face" later in the evening, often sticking around after official office hours just to be seen. This means that there's more time & reason in the middle of the day to have a long lunch, tea break, etc. Unless the management controls it strictly, Singaporeans often have longer than a 1 hour lunch break. In America, employers are only required to give a 30 min lunch break. In the countries you mentioned, people want to finish their work ASAP and leave on-the-dot, or even earlier. They socialize with their friends and family after work; we socialize with colleagues or friends during lunch.


Full Reddit thread here :

 

[UltimaOnline]

Also read the RICE article : "The Inescapable Singaporean Office Lunch Culture is the Worst Part of Work"

The Inescapable Singaporean Office Lunch Culture is the Worst Part of Work
Grace Yeoh of RICE

Forgive me for being a wet blanket, but one of the most tedious things about being a working adult in Singapore is our uniquely Singaporean office lunch culture. For lack of a better description, Singaporean office lunch culture appears to be ridden with the sort of peer pressure that turns supposedly rational adults into teenagers.
As the hour of socialising descends upon the office anytime from 12 to 2 PM, the designated leader of the Office Lunch Clique poses the seemingly innocent question: “Lunch?”.

For the uninitiated, this is mere formality. The question is really an unspoken rule that we should leave the office for lunch with the team. It also assumes that we should want to hang out with our colleagues in a social setting, and that we are ‘anti-social’ if we choose to remain at our desks or have lunch alone.

Rejection of lunch invites is done at the individual’s own risk. The bold decision to consistently avoid eating our colleagues or to have a solo lunch at our desks may be mocked by more ‘sociable’ colleagues through tired retorts, like “bo jio”. If this happens often enough, we’re as good as social pariahs, thereby excommunicated from the Office Lunch Clique.

As the rules of Singaporean office lunch culture dictate, the only thing worse than turning down a lunch invite is not receiving one in the first place.
Following this rhetorical enquiry, a mass exodus of Office Lunch Cliques from offices streams into the surrounding malls, food courts, and hawker centres, ready to ‘chope’ their seats with lanyards, tissue packets, and name cards.

Regardless of which Office Lunch Clique we belong to, lunch itself is usually one hour’s worth of self-indulgent, unproductive drivel packaged as necessary employee bonding. While ‘lighter’ lunch topics can range from discussing weekend plans to talking about marriage/children/BTOs, many of us see lunch as an opportunity to air grievances about work.

For that reason, lunch hour can be spent dredging up shared dissatisfaction, feeding each other’s unhappiness, and ‘bonding’ over gossip. The result: a false sense of intimacy.

Essentially, the average Singaporean worker quickly learns to embrace Singaporean office lunch culture as a way of life. It’s a singular experience designed to make us feel accepted and excluded at once.

Full article :
https://sg.yahoo.com/style/inescapable-singaporean-office-lunch-culture-043115829.html

 

[rushifa666]

Why read thread from losers? All the sjnkees cheapo ezcuses is just making the non cheapos look bad

 

[AhMeng]

I hate lunch with others. Too much gossip and morale destroyer. Lol

 

[rushifa666]

Sinkies only talk work. Because they got no life. Learn what from them? Thats why i never ever have work friends. Worthless lot

 

[bic_cherry]

Singaporean 'nattybattywatty' posted :
I'm currently working in an organisation where it's majority Singaporeans, but was from a previous company where the office was majority expats (mostly from Australia, UK). I've noticed that for the latter, they mostly like to either pack lunches from home, or buy from outside and bring it back to their desks and eat over work/leisure surfing/etc. In essence, they don't usually gather in a group and head out for lunch unless there is a special occasion like a farewell or working lunch meeting. On the other hand, we Singaporeans (unless like super busy), prefer to gather a lunch group and to head out to a kopitiam/food court/restaurant to eat lunch. Anyone else noticed this? I'm curious as to why there is this lunch phenomenon hahhaha.

Ang Moh 'cryptotom1' replied :
I’m English and used to work in London. It’s very common to eat lunch by yourself or just grab a sandwich and eat it back at your desk whenever your hungry and not at a set time like here.
A large percentage of people want to leave by 5pm to get commuter trains (in the cold, wet, dark weather) back to their hometown so lunches tend to be functional and quick and not social, unless it’s the summer and everyone wants to sit out in the sun.
My office here in Singapore come 12:01 it’s like everyone just disappeared on mass exodus and I’m the lonely Ang moh sat in the office on his own that didn’t get the lunch memo.

Another Ang Moh 'harrysforthnipple' added :
I've been working in Singapore for about 3 years now. Originally from the UK. I used to not like eating in big groups so I just grabbed something quick for myself and ate at my table. Now I grab lunch with them every single day at work. I do this now because there was once I went out alone during lunch break got something and came back to the office to eat and this guy looked at me like I just committed the biggest crime. He asked "Why you never jio us?" staring deep into my soul. I was so uncomfortable that I started going for lunch with them. Lunch with them wasn't too bad but the culture shock was definitely there lol.

Another Singaporean 'DuePomegranate' explained :
The first factor is the high cost of eating lunch out in many other countries, as others have mentioned. So lunch is either a sandwich, leftovers, or convenience food.
The second factor is that we Singaporeans tend to have longer working hours (e.g. 8.30 am to 6 pm, vs 9 to 5) and are expected to "show face" later in the evening, often sticking around after official office hours just to be seen. This means that there's more time & reason in the middle of the day to have a long lunch, tea break, etc. Unless the management controls it strictly, Singaporeans often have longer than a 1 hour lunch break. In America, employers are only required to give a 30 min lunch break. In the countries you mentioned, people want to finish their work ASAP and leave on-the-dot, or even earlier. They socialize with their friends and family after work; we socialize with colleagues or friends during lunch.
Full Reddit thread here :

Singaporeans are a less uncivilized bunch of tribal people, so they still thrive on herd mentality.

But of course my analysis could possibly be wrong.

But many Singaporeans are indeed barbarians who like to sent mark their territory, so that until they have eaten their lunch, nobody else is allowed to sit at the table which they identify by 'scent marking' by leaving some personal belongings (name cards, tissue paper packets etc) to mark out their personal territory.

 

[Hypocrite-The]

Making mountains out of molehills