THE PERSISTENT CULTURE OF MESSY PUBLIC TABLES

Background: To tackle the difficult problem of persuading people to return their trays at hawker centres in Singapore, two hawker centres implemented a system of customers having to pay a small deposit of 50 cents to a dollar which they get back when they return their trays.

Why are customers of hawker centres so determined; nay, in fact, so hell-bent on leaving a mess behind at the dining tables after finishing their meals? You can almost imagine them walking away with a smirk on their faces, as if saying triumphantly to themselves: “You wanna use my table next? Ha, not so easy! You jolly well clean up my mess for me first!” That appears to be the only possible explanation for such adamant refusal to do their minimum duty of cleaning up after themselves, a basic human habit they should have mastered at pre-school, if not at their mothers’ knees. Patho-psychologists would have a field day if they were to come to Singapore from all corners of the Earth to study this unique phenomenon here for their next thesis. 

I really have no answer for this. Why would 50 to 90% of customers choose to carry hot bowls of soups and food with their bare hands just to escape using a tray; or to just return the trays but leaving their leftovers, bones, utensils and crockery still strewn on the tables? Just to beat the system? What does society owe them to make them want to take such revenge? I wonder.