Businessman insulted, made to feel like 'criminal' by property agent -- for dressing in T-shirt and shorts

A businessman has taken to Facebook to share how he was racially stereotyped and made to feel like a criminal after showing up to view a house in T-shirt and shorts at around 3pm yesterday (Jul 3).

Stomper Jenny alerted Stomp to a Facebook post the businessman, Bhai, made at around 7pm on the same day, about the incident.

In the post, Bhai began by saying that he had gone to view an old residential bungalow off East Coast Road. He had the intention of renting the house for storage purposes and might sublet one or two bedrooms to offset rental costs.

According to the Facebook user, he had asked the property agent via text if the owners will be fine with that arrangement, to which the latter replied:

"Hi Mr Bhai, owners will NOT have a problem with that."

As the house was two minutes away from his current home, Bhai decided to wear a T-shirt, shorts and slippers to the meeting. He also tied his hair into a bun. He later drove to the bungalow to meet the property agent.

He described what happened thereafter in his Facebook post:

"As I was nearing the house in question, I noticed the agent alighting from an Uber/Grab car. He was probably in his 50s, close to 60, in a short-sleeved shirt and jeans. He opened the gate to the car porch and I drove my car into the home. He turned for a bit while unlocking the grilles to the main door and signalled a hello to me.

"I switched off my engine, got out of the car, locked it and started walking towards this agent. 

"I noticed that the smile he had on, had faded, and the welcoming gesture he gave to me whilst I was still in my car, had now turned into a nonchalant thing.

"I walked up to him and said 'Hello'.

"Here was his reply after seeing a non-shaved 'hooligan' in shorts, slippers, with a man-bun, that just came out of a Batmobile...

"Agent: 'You are Mr Bhai ah? You are not Chinese? What exactly you wanna store in the house ah? If you do any illegal business or store anything illegal ah, me as the agent and the owners have no problems calling the Police on you!'

"My jaw literally dropped to the floor. I had barely taken off my slippers and taken one step into the house when he said this to me."

"Two seconds later, I picked up my jaw from the old terrazzo flooring of this pre-war detached house, put my face three inches from his, and said in a soft but solid tone:

"'F*** you, you piece of s**t. You are very lucky that you are an old man.'"

Bhai then drove home thereafter.

Stomp reached out to the businessman to get his thoughts about what happened following the incident. Here is what he had to say:

"At that point in time, I was pretty pissed. Honestly, perhaps things would have gone differently if the agent was younger. But, after I got home, I realised, perhaps, I should have dressed a little bit better.

"I was two minutes away from home though, so I thought it would not matter what I wear to a meeting with a property agent.

"I was in shorts and slippers. And I guess when he saw me get out of a big luxury car, he just assumed I was a drug dealer or something else worse. Haha.

"I do own a successful flooring business. I live in a 3-storey semi-detached house in Siglap and I do have three cars, but I am into music in my free time, I have a band. I'm into the Rock genre, I have shoulder-length hair which i tie up sometimes and I tend to dress down a lot, unlike conventional businessmen. Haha.

"Maybe I should revamp my wardrobe. This has never been an issue until now. 

"I am who I am and I wear what I like to wear. I guess if it gets me stereotyped sometimes, so be it.

"I'm not about to change who I am."