S'porean serving SHN uses Post-its to befriend SHN guest in opposite hotel, buy each other bubble tea

Old-school friendship.

Ashley Tan | February 21, 2021, 04:45 PM

Serving a Stay-Home Notice (SHN) might get rather dull for many people, having to be cooped in a single place for two weeks.

One Singaporean however, managed to make the most of her stay, and even came out of it with a new friend.

Post-it conversation

Carmen Wong shared with Mothership that she and family were previously living in the United States.

Upon returning to Singapore, Wong had to serve a SHN at Fairmont Hotel.

Documenting the entire exchange in a series of Instagram stories, she said she had initially pasted some Post-its on the hotel window to entertain her two kids.

Photo from Carmen Wong

Surprisingly, someone in the hotel opposite, which was Hotel Swissôtel The Stamford, responded in kind several days later with their own Post-it message, saying "Hi!".

Photo from Carmen Wong

The Swissôtel guest then proceeded to ask how far Wong was into her SHN, with the Post-it message reading "DAY #".

Wong assumed that she was the one that the Swissôtel guest was communicating with, and replied to say that she was on her eleventh day of SHN.

Photo from Carmen Wong

The fellow hotel guest then responded with a "Yay!", perhaps expressing happiness that Wong was close to freedom once her SHN ended.

Photo from Carmen Wong

Exchanging gifts

Soon after, Wong received yet another pleasant surprise in the form of a new message from the other guest.

The guest had used Post-its to spell out the message: "bbt rm #".

Initially confused, Wong's questions were soon answered when the guest changed her message to: "bbt? rm #" — a request to gift her some bubble tea.

Photo from Carmen Wong

Photo from Carmen Wong

Wong responded with her room number at Fairmont, hoping, as she stated in her Instagram stories, that the bubble tea would be zero per cent sugar and "less ice".

Photo from Carmen Wong

The next day, Wong was informed by the concierge that a delivery was on the way.

Photo from Carmen Wong

New friends during SHN

And ta-dah, two cups of KOI bubble tea had arrived for her.

Wong shared that the guest had kindly provided her Instagram handle on the bubble tea receipt, which allows a more efficient means of communication than Post-its.

She found out that the guest was another woman named Lydia Low, who had just returned from working in Denmark.

Low was serving her SHN at Swissotel with two other colleagues, and like her, all loved bubble tea.

Photo from Carmen Wong

As Wong's SHN neared its end, Low even sent over a "farewell" cake to celebrate her last full day of SHN, and wished her a "goodbye" with more Post-its.

Photo from Carmen Wong

Photo from Carmen Wong

Low also shared how she would miss her new "bbtf (bubble tea friend)".

Photo from Carmen Wong

The whole exchange had definitely perked up her stay, said Wong.

She added that she believed she and Low will remain in contact after this, and might even meet up in person to go grab some bubble tea together.

Top photo from Carmen Wong