No Thank Yous, Picking up Papers from the Floor and Opening the Doors, we're Malaysians!

I know this topic has been blogged probably a thousand times but are we really that rude (besides on the roads) or are the tests rigged to favour Western countries? Here's the quoted Reader's Digest methodology in New York:

The routine in New York was similar to the one followed elsewhere: Two reporters — one woman and one man — fanned out across the city, homing in on neighborhoods where street life and retail shops thrive. They performed three experiments: "door tests" (would anyone hold one open for them?); "document drops" (who would help them retrieve a pile of "accidentally" dropped papers?); and "service tests" (which salesclerks would thank them for a purchase?). For consistency, the New York tests were conducted at Starbucks coffee shops, by now almost as common in the Big Apple as streetlights. In all, 60 tests (20 of each type) were done.

Source

And I'll attempt to guess why we scored so low:

1. No Thank Yous

Well, if you've read the Reader's Digest article, they only really mentioned the way they did it in New York, and they all did it in Starbucks! Wah lau, if these ppl who sell overpriced coffee and don't even say thank you, I'll be mad too, but since Starbucks is like a 'high-class' drink in Malaysia, I bet they did their test in mamak stalls since they are as common as toll booths. So, you expect mamak to say thank you and goodbye to you when you finish drinking your teh tarik and 1 piece of prata? Siaolah this angmohs, they'll be happy if you can just quickly finish your drink and cabut from the place, so more ppl can sit downlah. If you're lucky, then maybe you'll get a thank you written on the receipt but then this is probably a higher class mamak…lol

2. Picking up paper from the floor

I wonder where they did this but if the female reporter's above average looking, I bet almost every guy out there will come and help you. Anyway, nowadays with so many pickpockets around, if you drop the paper just like that without knocking into somebody or whatever, you'll be identified as a cheat rather than a clumsy person. Btw, who the hell these days carry documents around in the street? We all use email lah and if you still wanna carry your printouts put it in a bag mah…wah lau.

3. Holding doors for ppl

In the top 10 lists of the most polite cities in the world, all of them are from temperate countries. So in those countries, they still use doors which need manual opening, for insulation and all. In Malaysia these days, since it's so bloody hot, there are either no doors in shops or we use automatic doors, so I'm seriously wondering where they need to open doors. There's also a special door for the disabled normally, so if these RD reporters insist on using the doors, can they blame us for not holding the doors for them?

So, I think we need a rematch with these 3 simple tests:

1. Walking Test – saying Excuse Me/Sorry when you accidentally hit the person while walking.

2. Lift Test – see how many ppl will ask which floor you wanna goto.

3. Barber Test – goto a barber which doesn't have the same skin colour as the reporter and check out the reaction of the barbers and their regular customers. (this one might sound crazy, but just yesterday I went to an African barber and I get stares from everyone 'cos they were all wearing thick gold blings-blings with very short curly hair or dreadlocks and I was wearing like a t-shirt and shorts with very long hair, felt so uncomfortable I walked out after I finished reading the day's paper…lol)