How did the use of tissue packets to 'chope' seats get started?

Answer 1

I guess this started in the hawker centres in the business district. The lunch crowd is exceptionally huge in the area. There are queues at the food stalls and there are many people waiting for empty tables / seats.

Most office workers carry tissue packets, especially ladies. Hence, they use tissue packets to "chope" (means reserve in Hokkien) the seats that they can come back to after they have bought their food. Instead of having one person sit at the table to reserve the other seats (for the rest of the same lunch group), then wait for her friends to return before she can queue for her food. This method saves time as the lunch hour for most office workers is only one hour.

It has since developed into an unspoken rule that if you see a seat with a tissue packet, it means that seat is taken.

Furthermore, you won't suffer much loss if your tissue packet disappears, say compare to using other personal belongings to "chope". Recently, as a result of this unique behaviour, some companies even give out free tissue packets to lunch crowd at Raffles Place (business district in S'pore) with the word "RESERVED" as a marketing effort.