London = Polite Society?

While I was preparing to come to London, family and friends told me that I would be going to a place well known for its polite society. Images of people greeting each other, asking and wishing each other always appeared in my mind. But what I have experienced so far is rather different, to the extent of being the opposite. And I experienced it the minute I boarded the plane to London.

The behaviors of the air stewardesses were unlike what I have seen while traveling around Asia. They were impolite, rude and inefficient. I saw a passenger who was reprimanded for repeatedly asking for a newspaper that I didn’t think ever appear until the plane landed. I myself was scolded for crossing the kitchen area to go to the toilet located at the opposite aisle. I thought to myself if these people, who were hired to serve customers, could behave this way, what about the pedestrians walking down the street.

While clearing immigration at Heathrow Airport, I was treated like some kind of virus carrier. I was told I needed to go for a chest x-ray at the airport medical facility before I could clear immigration. Luckily I wasn’t charged for the x-ray. Then while trying to contact my cab driver while sitting at the waiting area of the medical facility, I was told crudely to switch off my phone. Honestly, I still can’t figure out why people can’t use their phone while waiting. By now, I already had a rather bad impression of this place.

True enough, having been here for about 1 month, I have not experienced something that I thought is worth commending. Services in banks, restaurants, etc here are like heaven and earth if you are to compare the equivalent in Singapore. Having said that, I think it will be some time before we can have a fruitful debate on the politeness of the man walking down the street.