First there was the stressed-out Bus Uncle. Then came the Airport Auntie who threw a hissyfit on the floor after missing a flight (her performance has attracted almost 7 million views!!). And to add to Hong Kong’s growing collection of video hits featuring the city’s mentally unstable, we now have Paranoid-MTR-Jerk-Uncle (my suggested title may be a bit too comprehensive. Any other nominations?). In this video, an agitated man is reprimanding a small toddler for coughing without covering his mouth. He taunts the boy by imitating the way he coughed, yells a series of expletives at both the boy and the boy’s mother, and then HITS the kid! Mind you, this is not even his own child!
Now, clearly this guy has issues, but he’s not the only one who’s taken Swine Flu paranoia to an extraordinary level (remember that Hong Kong lost nearly 300 people in the SARS epidemic in 2003). A couple weeks ago, while returning to my flat from vacation, I ran into my neighbor. She casually asked where I had been (Beijing and Shanghai) and then we both entered our flats. A moment later, I popped out to run an errand. Unbeknownst to her, I was standing in the hallway waiting for the elevator when she cracked her door open, stuck out a large aerosol can, and disinfected the entire entrance to her flat. Fine, I thought, given that Hong Kong’s first suspected Swine Flu victim had flown from Mexico to Hong Kong via Shanghai. But then a couple weeks later, after the week-long Metropark Hotel quarantine had already ended, it happened again. My husband had just left for work when I realized he had forgotten his cell phone. I ran out to catch him before the elevator arrived, and there she was again. Door open, hand extended, can spraying her door. Even my self-professed “serious germ freak” colleague agrees that this is extreme behavior.