Japanese woman accidentally takes hawker table 'choped' with tissue box: 'I'm like, who littered?'

If you see a tissue box at a hawker centre table, would you think the table is 'choped' or throw the box away?

For Zumi, a Japanese woman born and raised in Singapore, her response was almost the latter, she shared in a TikTok video uploaded on Monday (July 27).

The 26-second video has since garnered over 31,400 views and over 460 likes.

In the video, she is seen arranging her belongings after sitting down at a hawker centre table.

But a man holding a bowl of food and cutlery enters the frame behind her, staring at the seat she is on.

He approaches her and can be heard saying "sorry", catching her attention.

Zumi then realises that the man had left the tissue box on the seat and was attempting to reclaim it.

"Oh, sorry!" she exclaims. "You were ['choping' the seat], my bad!"

The man can be seen walking off with the tissue box, giving an amicable smile.

Turning to the camera, Zumi admits: "This is 100 per cent my fault. In Singapore, you kind of 'chope' a place… you hold and reserve a spot with a tissue box."

But she thought the box was empty.

"I'm like, who littered? I was going to throw that tissue box away later… I did see it, I just thought it was an empty tissue box," she said, laughing.

She also wrote in her post: "Chat calls me fake Singaporean."

Some users questioned if she was actually Singaporean, while another felt that using a tissue box to 'chope' is "overkill".

AsiaOne has contacted Zumi for comment.

In July, TikTok user Charmlsyy spotted five seats at a hawker centre 'choped' using rambutan.

"Just eat it," a commenter egged Charmlsyy on.

Another questioned: "So if a bird takes it, can I sit there?'

Charmlsyy replied: "It's the bird's table now."

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