People have different ways of dealing with conflicts, and it seems like these exasperated residents prefer taking a more scathing yet non-confrontational approach to admonish a neighbour for obstructing lift access in their block. On a post uploaded to the Facebook group Complaint Singapore on Monday (Jan 16), some residents left notes for their neighbour after they had dumped a sofa near the lift landing at an Ang Mo Kio block.
The long sofa was obstructing access to the walkway and lift.
There were several notes – written in English and Chinese – pasted on the neighbour's sofa.
In the English note, which was written in cursive, the residents call out the neighbour's inconsiderate behaviour and called them "poor" while using rather a flowery language.
"I write to protest the grave inconsiderate act of yours," the resident wrote.
"I comprehend you are probably weighed down by a scarcity mindset and tunnel vision and that is why you are so poor.
"Your wanton attitude and inconsiderate mannerism put you at risk of making bad choices that feed your poverty cycle."
The writer then chided the neighbour by explaining the detrimental implications their behaviour has caused, such as a potential fire hazard and reduced accessibility for "physically challenged" residents.
"Yes, you may be poor, albeit you do not need to behave like a persona non grata," the letter reads.
"That is both unacceptable and wrong."
There were also other notes that were written in Chinese, although it's unclear if they were written by the same resident.
In the Chinese variation, the writer took a more poetic approach.
"In society, there're people of high and low status, but there's no lowliness or nobility in character," the letter reads.
"As such, why would you choose to be a lowlife?"
In the comments thread, one netizen added that the owner of sofa could have just brought the item downstairs, instead of inconveniencing others and "making it difficult to walk along the corridor".
According to SCDF's fire safety guidelines, no objects wider than 1.2 metres should be placed along the common corridor.
Taking the stairs due to neighbour's clutter
Nonetheless, clutter which blocks lift access remains a relatively common problem.
Just last month, a Bukit Merah resident took to Stomp to complain about a neighbour's clutter, claiming that his family has had no choice but to take the stairs as they are unable to walk pass the clutter to the lift.
"It has been like this for almost one week. My family and I have to climb up and down the stairs because the lift is on the other side of the corridor," Stomp contributor Cinop said.
"Till when will I need to climb up and down the stairs with my little ones? It is very disappointing and frustrating whenever I open my door to look at this every day."
In response to a Stomp query, Jalan Besar Town Council said that they have received a complaint, but the feedback provider allegedly "did not indicate the unit number".
While a team was deployed to the block and discovered a unit with excessive items outside, no one answered the door when an officer approached the unit for verification.
"Among the items found outside the flat was a gas cylinder. For the safety of residents, our team removed the gas cylinder immediately.
"We have also served advisories to the owner of the unit to remove the excessive items along the corridor and will follow up closely on this."
This article was first published on AsiaOne and republished on theAsianparent with permission.