SINGAPORE: Earlier this week, a Reddit user posted a photo of a lift heavily peppered with flyers on the walls, with some even on the ceiling, captioning it with “I burst out laughing walking into this lift.”
Ironically, prominently displayed at the back wall of the lift was a sign that reads, “NO FLYERS OR ADVERTISMENTS. CCTV SURVEILLANCE,” that also had a silhouette of a camera as an added incentive to keep the lift flyer-free, although it was clearly ineffective.
A lot of commenters on the post were just as amused as the post author, with many of them agreeing that it pointed to one thing.
“The sign of a newborn BTO,” was the top-ranked comment.
“I somehow can smell that ‘new’ lift from this picture. The smell of the plywood covering the floor,” quipped a Reddit user.
Another wrote: “Probably every BTO lift when people are moving in.”
To this, one replied, “True, I feel like it has its own aesthetics HAHA,” while another opined, “It’s like the shrink wrap on a box. That’s how you know it’s new.”
When a new BTO is completed, many businesses, including internet service providers, renovation contractors, interior designers, air-con servicing, cleaning, pest control, tuition centres, and childcare services, spring into action, seeing if they can get new clients for themselves.
Of course, this requires letting everyone know these businesses exist, hence the flyers posted in the lifts.
This is also a time when residents’ committees (RCs) and Town Council processes are still being formed, rules about flyer placement are not yet strictly enforced, and cleaning schedules may not yet be set, which is why the flyers end up “decorating” random areas for longer than in older estates, where cleaners, or even residents, remove them from areas where they should not be placed.
As a commenter explained, “The CCTV in the lifts in newly completed BTOs will not be activated until at least 1-2 years later. I know, because my BTO is like that too. We have complained to BSC, the town council, and MP, but can’t be helped.”
Seeing one of the flyers in the photo, a Reddit user wrote, “Someone in my neighbourhood got so pi**ed off with that ‘Smart door slide arm’ flyer guy because he was literally pasting 20 to 30 of the same flyers across an entire lift, that he/she took a snapshot of the person and pasted a warning about him being inconsiderate and spamming flyers.”
Another appeared to be amazed at the dexterity of those who posted the flyers, writing, “Just stopping to admire the effort required to paste flyers on the ceiling.”
However, to this, someone else replied, “Lol, I wonder who thought that anyone would look up just to see a flyer up there.”
“I am convinced that that ‘no flyers’ sign has been covered before with a flyer, which is why they had to put it up higher,” a commenter observed. /TISG
Read also: Netizen posts photos of damaged ceiling and doors at new BTO at West Coast
