Chope-ing
I love Singapore. It's an amazing place. But there is one small issue that really irks me. If you are a Singaporean or have been living in Singapore for a few months, you must have come across this scene in a food court: Some people standing with food trays looking for a table, but cannot find one even when they are surrounded by empty tables. The reason being these tables have been "taken".. by tissue papers or name cards or even umbrellas. The people standing with food trays are being punished for being considerate and not chope-ing (slang for reserving seats). Its become quite a norm to first reserve a seat then go stand in a queue for food which may take more than 15 minutes during lunch hours. If you apply the math, you can clearly see that such reservations add to the average waiting time for each person and is a lose-lose situation for everyone.
Why we still Chope
Even though you know it is not in the best interest of anyone to chope, you still do it, because if you don't, other people will and then you have to wait more. To get rid of chope-ing everyone collectively needs to decide they won't do it. This is impractical. You can try asking people not to do it, but I'm sure no one will listen to a random person. You can try collecting the tissue papers used for reserving seats and throwing them in the dustbin, but its kind of stealing and you would probably be ridiculed.
Exaggerate the Problem to get Rid of it
What works in such situations is Exaggerating the Problem. Exaggerate the problem in such a way that people who do it start feeling and understanding the negative effects of the issue. So if you are against chope-ing, go buy a few tissue paper packets (or collect some name-cards) and start reserving tables even if you don't need it. Let the tissue papers lie on the table even after you leave the table. After a while nobody knows which tables are actually reserved, and it is in best interest of everyone to ignore the reservations. Peace!