Peculiarities of Working in CBD

I have worked at Raffles Place for coming to 5 years and I still feel so blessed to be working at the pulse of the Central Business District. Although my new location is not exactly as awesome as it used to be (where I was close to the River and would often take walks along the River, admire Marina Bay Sands, the floating platform and more), I am still very much in the thick of things. And working in CBD brings a whole set of peculiar behaviours that I thought I share with all of you.

1) Walk fast, walk quick, keep to the left
Morning commutes from the MRT station requires one to be on top of the game. Be focused, walk quickly out of the train to the nearest escalator and either keep to the left or walk swiftly up the escalator and out of the gantry gates. OR be prepared to be hissed at or take some 20 minutes just to get out of the station. Where else in Singapore would escalators be only up-riding in the morning and gantry gates fully open even without you tapping? Btw… repeat process for escalators out of the station to ground level.

2) Weave in, weave out
Ever wonder why TODAY and My Paper can charge so much for advertising? They leverage on intercepting the sheer mass of human beings trying to get to work. OK they do not actually intercept since the recipients are willing parties ready to receive the papers into their hands. Once again, a high level of co-ordination skills is required. You gotta weave in through the crowd, grab the paper and weave out before you knock onto those trying to weave in. What’s a little bit of exercise for those who will be stuck in the office for the greater part of the day?

3) Kopi Q
Now that you have made it out of the station AND gotten your free news daily, it’s time for the early morning wake-up cuppa. If you were fast enough, you would have made it to the back of an already long queue but at least you’re earlier than those struggling just to make it to the gantry gates AND through the newspaper distributors. Take it easy now cos you need the time to catch your breath after the earlier two activities.

Congrats the morning commute is over and you have it made it safe and sound to the office!

4) Chop seats chop
This practice of chope-ing seats using tissue paper is most prevalent in the CBD. Seriously! Try it at Orchard Road and a tourist may think who’s the nice Singaporean who left a tissue pack behind for others to use! Of course, you can use other items like umbrellas, the free daily (another reason why advertisers have to pay so much!), etc…

5) Roadshows a-plenty
The CBD area is practically a marketer’s heaven! Where else in Singapore do you have such a high concentration of the valuable target segment called PMEBs? And so you see roadshows after roadshows especially at Raffles Place Green, hawking the usual suspects of credit cards, down to the more unusual health campaigns to get working adults to exercise more. Definitely one of the perks of working in the CBD! You get all sorts of free stuff!

6) Salad bar galore
If you are a vegetarian or an Ang Moh, the CBD also makes you instantly feel at home. With a salad bar every two buildings, you will never starve! If all else fails, there’s still… Subway… Eat Fresh…

7) Live to eat or eat to live?
One great thing about working in the CBD is the abundance of food choices! Best of all, you can either choose to spend a lot or a little on food! Where else can you find food centres like Amoy, Maxwell, Golden Shoe and Lau Pa Sat for cheap AND good food? If hot and stuffy is not your cup of tea, there are posh-er options like Peach Garden, Jade @ Fullerton Hotel, Forlino @ One Fullerton… you get the idea!

No other place in Singapore do I want to work!