The New Year is
barely five-days-old and Singapore’s patch of cyberspace is once again ablaze
with self-righteous indignation.
Apparently, a Filipino radiographer at Tan
Tock Seng Hospital “tweeted” something unfortunate about how the Filipino’s
were taking jobs away from Singaporeans and were going to take away our promised
land from the wimps that we are.
Singapore’s so
called guardians of national pride are up in arms. The general refrain is that “how
dare this Pinoy whom we gave his cushy job to insult us – fuck off back to
Pinoy land if you don’t respect us.” The usual complaints about how the
Filipino’s and other dark skinned Asians don’t know how lucky we Singaporeans
are has allowed them to come in and work at wages that they could only dream
off.
The comments
that were made, were indeed rude. They were insulting to Singaporeans and let’s
face it, no host likes being insulted.
Having said
that, they were stupid remarks and should probably be left there. You could say
the guy is an arsehole and leave it at that.
What we should
not do is to try and get ourselves worked up over the presence of the Filipino
community in Singapore, which is the community responsible for helping us enjoy
the cushy things that we do. Whatever one may think of the Singapore
government, one has to admit that our physical infrastructure is pretty darn
good – it’s actually comparable to anything you get in the developed nations of
Western Europe or the USA. What we should remember is that someone has to
maintain it and keep things going and that task falls heavily on the Filipino
Community.
I’ve worked in
a restaurant for the past two years. The restaurant business is great place to
see how things function in Singapore. We, as a well to do nation enjoy the fine
things in life. Singapore’s national pastime as they say is having a good meal.
As we become more affluent, we start to appreciate finer dining establishments,
serving things like good steak and a nice bottle of wine. If I take a look at
who the big spenders at the restaurant are, I’d say that there is an increasing
number of local Singaporeans. Yes, the Expats spend more on average but local
Singaporeans can no longer be counted as bread and butter customers.
Unfortunately,
you need people to keep things moving. The restaurant business is a people
business and despite the technological advances we’ve made, you still need
people to serve you, cook the food and wash the plates. This is a business that
is notorious for long hours and low pay (As stated a few times before, I’ve
made more from writing a single press release than I have in a month of working
in the restaurant).
Herein lies the
rub – there’s work to be done but it is physically demanding and the pay is
nothing to shout about. You live with the fact that your busiest hours are
everyone else’s rest periods. This combination makes the job terribly
unappealing to Singaporeans with more than two brain cells.
So, who steps
in to do the work? In the case of Singapore’s restaurants it’s usually the Filipinos.
The community has become essential to the backbone of Singapore’s food and
beverage industry. Go into any dinning establishment and chances are you will
be severed by a Filipino.
What you won’t
see is the fact that the Filipino chap will often be the most overworked and
underpaid person in the establishment. If you think of small establishments,
you’ll find that the Filipino is often the chap who has worked in both the kitchen
and the service line. As well as working as the waiter and kitchen helper, he
will also have to double up as electrician, plumber and general repair man.
This is the chap who works 12 hours a day, six days a week and does so without much
complaint.
By contrast,
you have the Singaporeans who won’t take on fifty percent of the jobs that are
available. I’m not talking about people with pots of money who shun these jobs.
The people who shun the jobs on offer, are the very people who could do with
the money. In Singapore’s rather strange definition of “pride,” these are the
people who are too proud to be seen to scrub dishes in the kitchen but are
proud enough to ask you to top up their bus cards and buy them a few beers.
The most common
excuse that these chaps give for not wanting to do jobs that are done by the
Pinoys and other Asians is the fact that they can’t afford to work them. Wages
are too low for them and apparently you can’t support a family on the wages
that are on offer. However, the guys who make these statements are the guys who
haven’t supported their families in years and somehow they’ve got the idea that
no pay is better than low pay
.
That’s at the
most extreme. If you get Singaporeans entering the industry, you’ll find that
they’re the least inclined to work properly. I think of my Christmas in 2014. I
wasn’t scheduled to work the lunch shift. However, I got a call begging me to
come down to help out. The reason was simple, the Italian and Pinoy that I work
with were overwhelmed with customers. Their assistant was Jie-Jie-Ka-Ni-Na
(Hokkien for Older Sister Motherfucker). Jie-Jie’s idea of help was sit by the
cash register and avoid trying to push buttons in the cash register. After two
attempts at pushing buttons, the young lady in question was about to go into
cardiac arrest from overwork. My presence in the restaurant helped boost morale
or rather it was the fact that I showed up, carried three dishes and reminded
Jie-Jie-Ka-Ni-Na that there is no such job title as “Bosses Wife.”
Sad to say,
what I’ve seen doesn’t stay in the restaurant business. It applies to many
crucial industries. Take nursing as an example. Everyone wants to be a hot shot
doctor. Nobody wants to be a nurse and so, where do we get the nurses from? We
got to get them from elsewhere.
Like it or not,
we’re an island filled with “Proud” people who won’t lower themselves to do “menial”
work, no matter how bad their personal situation. As such, the reality is that
we do need to get people from elsewhere to do basic jobs.
You might not
like the presence of Pinoy’s, Bangla’s, PRC Chinese at al in Singapore but
unless you’re willing to do the jobs, they’re here to stay.
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