Quirky Spottings Spotted... (Edited)

Once again, the quirks in the land of singapore surfaces again, and this time it's in the eastern eastern region of this island with Nicholas and Matthea...

The What Card?

Interestingly, this Now card produced by you-know-what company actually seemed strange... consider the following:

1. This platinum card looks nowhere near a platinum card other than the word "Platinum" on it. In fact, it's exactly the same template as the food court picture that I posted the other time... Hmmm... perhaps the words in silver was supposed to depict a platinum-like kind of feel to it?

2. Though called the NOW card, you can't get things as soon as now (ie. immediately). Thus, it seemed to suggest delusion? Or worse still... since the words are in black and bold, and the background is in red, it seemed to suggest rage and impatience (ie. "I want it and I will have whatever I want, NOW!!!")?

3. Perhaps with the extrememly simplistic design, it tries to indicate that users can now get nearer to their goal of purchasing their desired items since they're a dollar nearer to their goal? Of course, all these is done by removing any payment required for designing the card =)

4. Or Maybe... just maybe they were trying to promote some meaningful lessons in life? For example, "All that glitters is not white gold (ie. platinum), but just a piece of plastic", and "一寸光阴一寸金" (hence the word NOW, with the label 'Platinum')?

Thanks But No Thanks

Check this out! They company is so considerate towards its customers such that it invites all shoppers to use their lockers to keep their items so as to facilitate shopping. No doubt being more hands-free might cause one to subconsciously purchase more items since he/she may forget one's belongings (and hence the reminder on the notice) and feel that one could carry more stuff... but I think otherwise. This is because at the flip side of this notice is the following...

It facilitates their pockets too... =\

Question Marks???

Well, this quirk left me somewhat thinking about why they do things the way they do. Well, in the case of a fire, which option would one choose? Hmmm, since the two people here may be an inaccurate gauge, check out the following picture, whereby a 1.8 m model (ie. Nicholas) has so kindly volunteered to stand beside the fire hosereel...

If for some reason the hose is jammed, I think even a 2.0 m guy would have problems untangling the hose. And interestingly, I believe a poodle could easily reach the extinguisher. Moreover, with the water pipe going all the way down, horizontal and up, it would decrease the water pressure at the exit of the water hose to a small extent. But then again, there must be some compelling reason for things to be done this way... and as such, the possibilities that I could possibly think of being possible in such an impossible situation is possibly as follows:

1. Based on the trend that kiddos and this generation are growing taller because of good food, they have built the hosereel with the future in mind, with the prediction that humans would reach the height of 3.6 m over the next decade.

2. They were trying to save more space for excessive human traffic in view of the kiasu (ie. afraid to lose out) singaporean mentality, whenever a good deal pops up in this ulu (ie. isolated) part of singapore. And since firemen are supposed to be equipped with all kinds of tools, reaching this height should not be a problem.

3. Since singapore is having their go-green campaign, saving water is also an important aspect. Since a hosereel uses more water than a fire extinjuisher - wait, come to think about it... a fire extinguisher does not use any water at all - placing it at a generally inaccessible height would help to save water in the case of a fire. Hmmm... yup yup. This must be it.

4. Somehow, when the building was first constructed, they might have planned the hosereel to be at this position to facilitate any showers in the hot afternoon on this sunny island =)

5. There was a hidden conspiracy between the engineer/architect/whoever-that-came-up-with-this-planning and ear specialists such that anyone trying to spend lots of time with the dangling hose would be deafened by the bell in the event of an emergency and that the water hose need to be used. With this comes more business for specialists. Hmmm... idea.

6. The engineer/architect/whoever-that-came-up-with-this-planning might have suicidal tendencies, because anyone who planned things this way ought to be shot...

Conclusion: The number and type of quirks lying around never fails to amaze me...

Special thanks to Nicholas for ideas and for spotting two of the quirks in this entry =)