Last Friday, Mildred and I had the day off from work so I thought we could finally try the much hyped about, newly-opened Jollibee in Singapore which is located on the 6th floor of Lucky Plaza. I had read that there were long queues and you needed to wait a long time to get served, but I thought that since it was a work day and not during lunch or dinner time, that there wouldn’t be so many people.
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| The Hobbit meme |
So after I had my hair rebonded, I headed up to take a looksie. This was around 4pm.
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| Jollibee Singapore in Lucky Plaza 6th floor |
It looks exactly like the Jollibees that we have in the Philippines, down to the bee mascot! Well, what was I expecting? Haha. The place is so huge, apparently with a 300-seating capacity.
I walked on to take a look at the queue.
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| Inside Jollibee Singapore |
Okay so there are quite a lot of people, but it’s not as bad as the lines I read about online. When Mildred joined me later on, she saw this line and said, “Well it’s not super long but I still don’t want to queue.” I laughed and said, “You think that’s it? Look at that,” and pointed out the sign that says queue starts this way, with an arrow pointing to the right. We followed the arrow and saw this:
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| Kiasu pinoys |
OMG. Kaloka. Who are these people and why don’t they have work on a Friday???
Singaporeans always say that they exhibit this trait called “kiasu“which pertains to them being so competitive that they’re willing to wait in long lines just to be the first to get something, like the newest iphone, for example, but I don’t think it’s just their trait – just look at those Filipinos in that line! I heard that it takes anywhere from an hour to three (yes three hours, OA diba??) to get served in Jollibee Singapore yet people willingly do so either because they miss Jollibee that much or they just want to hop on the bandwagon and have the bragging rights to say that they were one of the first to try the newest popular thing.
I remember all too well the Magnum frenzy that happened in the Philippines. When Magnum ice cream first hit the Philippines last year, it became a trending topic on Twitter, because everyone wanted to be “in” and post pictures of themselves enjoying the ice cream, never mind the fact that it is ridiculously expensive and not even that delicious to begin with!
I am not washing my hands here, though, because I am also guilty of this kind of behavior. The difference between me and those people, though, is that I have a limit. Like in this instance. I love Jollibee as much as your average pinoy, but it is NOT worth all that effort, okay? The food is not that overwhelmingly delicious, in case you have never tried Jollibee and wanted to know! It’s very average, people are probably just nostalgic about their childhood or something, hence the reaction.
So yes, Dred and I didn’t queue. I just settled for a picture with the Jollibee mascot coz like I said, I am still kiasu, if only up to this point. Maybe we’ll try again a few months from now, when the furor has died.
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| Me and Jollibee |
UPDATE: I’ve finally been to Jollibee. Thrice. In one day. Read all about it here.
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