Michael and Pratama are in a Hawker Centre. That day was a very busy day, and it is not a big of a surprise that they had a hard time finding a seat for themselves. After around five minutes of searching, Michael found an empty seat. The problem is, Pratama also found one, the one in which Michael was staring from afar at that very moment. Realizing that they are both going to take the spot, the both hurry to the seat; that they reached at the same exact time, only to find a someone's 'reservation' tissue paper lying on the chair.
Realizing this awkwardness, Michael said to Pratama, "I think this one is taken." Then Pratama said to him, "No, it's empty, look there's no one there!" It seems that Pratama doesn't know that in Singapore, putting a tissue on tables or chairs in food courts is a form of reserving the place. Insisting on his knowledge, Michael tries to explain about this particular custom to Pratama, but he didn't seem to believe Michael because in his hometown, a tissue on a chair is most likely to be a case of someone forgetting their stuff, not symbolizing any reservation at all.
After another four minutes of explaining and arguing between them, the owner of the tissue, and thus the seat, came into the picture. The owner, confused with what happened with these two people arguing about his seat, said to them, "Hey what are you doing here? Can you excuse me please I want to go to my seat." Then Pratama said to him, "Hey, we came here first! If anyone wants to sit here, it's certainly going to be one of us." Enraged by this statement, the owner said to him, "Hey, it's MY tissue, so I'M the one sitting here NOW!"
Michael can only stand by and watch them fight for the stupid seat. They fight, and they fight again to the point that Michael can't take it anymore. "STOP IT!", shout Michael. Both the tissue owner and Pratama came into a long pause. The situation became very awkward. At last Michael spoke, "Come on, it's not worth the time to argue about this stupid chair! I'm out of here. I'm not even hungry anymore." Then Michael left. Pratama felt really bad because of this, because he realized that actually what Michael said is true. Different place, different customs, right? After that Pratama said, "I think he's right. It's worthless to argue about this, it's my fault. I'm just not used to the customs around here yet." Then the owner said, "It's about time you realized. Not let me eat in peace, thanks." "Okay.", said Pratama, then he walks away to find another seat with a hungry stomach. "Whoa, that was a waste of time, I should not have done that.", he said, rubbing his rumbling tummy. It's never a good thing act without understanding the situation first, right?
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