Hypermarkets the venue for bad behaviour

WHILE hypermarkets are providing shoppers with a wide variety of goods, they are also places where the ugly side of Malaysians is displayed.

Just the other day, as my mother was shopping in the grocery area of one hypermarket, she noticed two ladies in their mid-40s unpacking a bag of lady’s fingers. They snapped the tips of each of the lady’s fingers and selected the freshest from the batch. They then placed those they had selected in one bag and shoved the rest into another. Didn’t they know that the price was based on the weight of the vegetables inside the bag?

What’s even more appalling was that they left another bag of lady’s fingers that other customers would not buy because they were damaged by the rough handling.

This wasn’t the first time my mother and I saw ugly Malaysians in hypermarkets. A few days ago, we chatted with a lady who was selling mooncakes in the hypermarket. She said she couldn’t sell nearly 15 packets after a child poked holes in the mooncakes while she wasn’t looking.

I can’t help but wonder if our education system has failed to instil a basic sense of respect and decency in our citizens. Or are Malaysians deliberately behaving badly in places like hypermarkets because they think the customer is always right?

I believe these are issues we should discuss with the young ones to ensure that we as Malaysians can shop in peace. Sometimes, we do need an awakening to realise that we are in the wrong. We must do what’s right even if others are doing the wrong thing.