Running the gauntlet
Wikipedia: Running the Gauntlet (or - gantlet) was a form of physical punishment by which a person is compelled to run through a double line of comrades who attempt to strike him as he passes.
Whenever the AIA insurance people picket by the escalator leading from Woodlands Regional Interchange to Woodlands MRT and I had to pass by them, I feel like I'm running the gauntlet. Armed with the infamous can-I-do-a-short-survey-with-you opener, these determined individuals just would not take no for an answer. If you stop, or if it looks like you are stopping, they will just move in and start making their sales pitch. I mean, I have no interest in getting any insurance from them (I already have an insurance advisor from, guess what, AIA) and I really have no time to be polite and listen to them for "5 mins", so I'd just quicken my steps and try to pass them asap, hence the running-the-gauntlet feeling. They use to leave you alone if you do not make eye contact, but today, one of them tried to stop me anyway. I guess it's the officewear, they never seem quite so interested to approach me when I'm clad in my shabby t-shirt and bermudas.
Bottomline is, I hate being pressured into anything, especially buying something. During my matriculation at NUS, some enterprising individuals in NUSSU decided to set up a blockade at the old MPSH. Passage was only allowed if you buy the S$20 matriculation file from them. They tried ways and means to sell you the file, the chief method being blocking your way (bodily) through to the exit. I was just a poor student then wondering when my NS allowance will run out and how to get by university beyond that. S$20 can last me a week and anyway, the matric file just isn't worth the money.
I was never subtle and more liable to bash my way through than to get around, and I guess the army never really tempered my tendency to take rash actions. Well, in this case I didn't manage to bash my way through (I'd have to literally bash someone up to do that and even my bad temper knew that was a bad idea.) But eventually I got so frustrated that I jumped onto a table and climb up to the spectator stand of the hall (fortunately, there were no spectators that day) and circumvented the entire matric maze thinggy. Or rather, as I was circumventing the matric maze, a livid NUSSU President ordered me to come down.
He was fuming mad, either because I had not exercised the maturity and intellect befitting a NUS undergrad to get past the blockade in a more subtle manner (this is on presumption that the blockade was set up for us to exercise such maturity and intellect) or because I had thought out of the box (nay! I climbed out of the box) and escaped a scam to make a quick buck from innocent freshmen, but I'm more inclined to believe the latter reason. Btw, any legal contract formed when a freshmen pay S$20 for that matric file as a result of this blockade would probably be rendered void by the Singapore Court of Law on grounds of contracting under duress. Anyway, I got down and left the hall, quite mad but somewhat sheepish for what I did. My friends also made their way out some time later, wallets unscathed, and told me that I should just kept my cool and wait for the NUSSU people to lose their patience and let us through, but I thought maybe they are not so insistent after I lost my cool.
Whenever the AIA insurance people picket by the escalator leading from Woodlands Regional Interchange to Woodlands MRT and I had to pass by them, I feel like I'm running the gauntlet. Armed with the infamous can-I-do-a-short-survey-with-you opener, these determined individuals just would not take no for an answer. If you stop, or if it looks like you are stopping, they will just move in and start making their sales pitch. I mean, I have no interest in getting any insurance from them (I already have an insurance advisor from, guess what, AIA) and I really have no time to be polite and listen to them for "5 mins", so I'd just quicken my steps and try to pass them asap, hence the running-the-gauntlet feeling. They use to leave you alone if you do not make eye contact, but today, one of them tried to stop me anyway. I guess it's the officewear, they never seem quite so interested to approach me when I'm clad in my shabby t-shirt and bermudas.
Bottomline is, I hate being pressured into anything, especially buying something. During my matriculation at NUS, some enterprising individuals in NUSSU decided to set up a blockade at the old MPSH. Passage was only allowed if you buy the S$20 matriculation file from them. They tried ways and means to sell you the file, the chief method being blocking your way (bodily) through to the exit. I was just a poor student then wondering when my NS allowance will run out and how to get by university beyond that. S$20 can last me a week and anyway, the matric file just isn't worth the money.
I was never subtle and more liable to bash my way through than to get around, and I guess the army never really tempered my tendency to take rash actions. Well, in this case I didn't manage to bash my way through (I'd have to literally bash someone up to do that and even my bad temper knew that was a bad idea.) But eventually I got so frustrated that I jumped onto a table and climb up to the spectator stand of the hall (fortunately, there were no spectators that day) and circumvented the entire matric maze thinggy. Or rather, as I was circumventing the matric maze, a livid NUSSU President ordered me to come down.
He was fuming mad, either because I had not exercised the maturity and intellect befitting a NUS undergrad to get past the blockade in a more subtle manner (this is on presumption that the blockade was set up for us to exercise such maturity and intellect) or because I had thought out of the box (nay! I climbed out of the box) and escaped a scam to make a quick buck from innocent freshmen, but I'm more inclined to believe the latter reason. Btw, any legal contract formed when a freshmen pay S$20 for that matric file as a result of this blockade would probably be rendered void by the Singapore Court of Law on grounds of contracting under duress. Anyway, I got down and left the hall, quite mad but somewhat sheepish for what I did. My friends also made their way out some time later, wallets unscathed, and told me that I should just kept my cool and wait for the NUSSU people to lose their patience and let us through, but I thought maybe they are not so insistent after I lost my cool.
Captain's orders by Parrots of the Currybean at 11:09 PM
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