一只鸡，一只鸭

Instead of packing from home, I decided to get breakfast from Subway this morning for a change.

In front of me in the queue was an older auntie, maybe 50-plus 60 years of age. Poor lady couldn't converse much in English. And the unfortunate thing was that the entire staff were either non-Chinese or non-Chinese foreigners. I think there was only 1 local staff (who happened to be Indian) amongst the crew of 5.

I had to help the auntie order and was her proxy to decide which bread to choose, which vegetables to add to her breakfast sandwich and which sauce to take.

Sigh...wonder how many of such situations are there around Singapore?

The elderly who can't speak English and getting hindered at establishments where they only have English-speaking staff.
The elderly who can't speak Mandarin and getting hindered at establishments where they only have Mandarin-speaking staff.

Another good example. My Dad and his friends are all kantang Peranakans in their 60s, 70s and 80s who simply cannot handle Mandarin at all. They get extremely frustrated at foodcourts where stall staff are China-born Chinese who cannot speak English or Hokkien. My Dad came home one day and ranted his head off because a Chinese stall helper got his order wrong and he had to spend an extra 10-15mins trying to rectify his order...