A sad tale of the parochialism that often afflicts Singaporean Chinese and Malaysians; assuming language proficiency in another even when it is obvious none exists and refusing to converse in a language both parties understand: yax-471 Here, the first thing people register is your race

"2 pm at Han's diner in the basement of Park Mall. The lunch crowd had not quite dissipated and the staff were still busy. A couple walked in and moved to find their own table, discussing between themselves, in English, whether to take the one on the left or another one further in.

From the guy's accent, I figured he was an American-born Chinese (often acronymed as ABC). There are an increasing number of them in Singapore as we draw more and more professionals from all parts of the world.

The woman seemed to be a Singapore-born Indian or of mixed parentage. Her accent was identifiably Singaporean.

Just as they had decided on the table to their left and were about to sit down, a waitress went up to them.



"Nimen shi liang wei, shi ma?" the server said to the guy. She ignored the woman companion.

"I'm sorry?" ABC said.

"Nimen shi liang wei, zhuo nabien." The waitress pointed to a smaller table with two seats. The table the couple preferred had four.

By her gesture, ABC could guess that she wanted them to sit at the smaller table. "This table is taken?" he asked in his unmistakeable accent.

"Zhuo nabien; nimen shi liang wei."

The couple got up and walked out.

The waitress didn't seem to care. She then turned to another customer, a silver-haired Caucasian man who had been gesturing for service for some time.

"Order already?" she asked him. She’s evidently able to speak English."

***

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