Your views: 'Choping' - selfish or not?
'Choping' is selfish
I refer to "It's just practical to 'chope'" (The New Paper, May 4).
I cannot believe reader Lee-Lian Chew wrote in to say there is nothing wrong with "choping" seats at food centres. It is discourteous and selfish because you deprive someone of a seat while you are waiting for your food, which may take 15 minutes if the place is crowded.
Someone else could have finished his meal by then.
If it is simply first-come-first-served queueing, the seat should go to the first person who has already got his food. That would be fair, and no one will complain or get upset. - LAWRENCE SEOW
No, it isn't
I find it okay to "chope" within reasonable limits, especially during peak hours.
If there is a group of people lunching together, with one person sitting at the table while the others buy their meal, how is that different from the person who is alone and has left a packet of tissue to hold the seat?
Without some way of holding seats, the group would most likely not be able to sit together, and we will simply have more people walking around in a crowded area with trays of hot food.
I believe most Singaporeans have a common understanding on this. What is important is to keep a seat no longer than you need to and to share graciously with others as far as possible. - SHELLEY WU
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