have been selling mooncakes at parkway parade over the last week plus. and it was certainly a very good experience. i had opportunities to interact with the staff from the neighbouring stalls during moments when sales were slow. these are short term contract workers who have been roped in to sell mooncakes.
by speaking to them, it was clear that they are unlikely to move up the social ladder. they belong almost certainly to the very heartlander class of the singaporean society and they are often lesser educated, not too well-off and of course, are predominantly dialect speakers - hokkien to be specific. and they really believe that they only have to work very very very hard to succeed in life. and their definition of success is often narrowly defined as "getting rich". yet, due to their limitations (in education, and so on), get caught in the working class layer of the society. well, i am stating this not from a derogatory angle. rather, i am stating this in the most matter-of-fact manner.
then again, the few things that i really enjoyed interacting with them was the fact that they are very real, and very down-to-earth. they say what they want to say. they laughed. they joked. they smiled. very straightforward. very unpretentious and very sincere. and at times, it seemed like we are all the underdogs of the society. hmmm... whether it is real or not, i am not sure, but certainly, i can say they have excellent work ethics and exhibit a own set of values that we do not often see amongst people of the `upper-class' (hmm... sounds rather atas here). camaraderie, discipline, hard-working... just to name a few.
reflecting, when they were young, they were mostly the people that we brand as ah lians and ah bengs in singapore. and of cos, very often, we (myself included admittedly) do not want to associate ourselves with them for doing so would be kinda embarrassing as they were considered uncouthed, loud, and often of bad background. they are now in their mid-thirties or older. and as they are lesser educated and not computer-literate, they avoid the computer (and the internet). and in doing so, missed out on the information and knowledge age and this contribute to the further alienation from the society... and of cos, they continue to spiral downwards in the society. but from my observations, a few things i could say for sure - they are damned hardworking, damned bloody conscientious in their work, and have damned bloody excellent good work attitude. they worked hard minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day, just to get that meagre pay (for some as little as $5 an hour) to sustain their family. and i give them my respect.
frankly, interacting with them reminds me of my own parents generation and the good old kampong days. it was those similar work ethics that managed to provide me and my siblings through our education and our lives. this feeling made me feel kinda warm and kinda close to them. and i wish them well and that their children would benefit from their hardwork as i did my parents.
:-)
by speaking to them, it was clear that they are unlikely to move up the social ladder. they belong almost certainly to the very heartlander class of the singaporean society and they are often lesser educated, not too well-off and of course, are predominantly dialect speakers - hokkien to be specific. and they really believe that they only have to work very very very hard to succeed in life. and their definition of success is often narrowly defined as "getting rich". yet, due to their limitations (in education, and so on), get caught in the working class layer of the society. well, i am stating this not from a derogatory angle. rather, i am stating this in the most matter-of-fact manner.
then again, the few things that i really enjoyed interacting with them was the fact that they are very real, and very down-to-earth. they say what they want to say. they laughed. they joked. they smiled. very straightforward. very unpretentious and very sincere. and at times, it seemed like we are all the underdogs of the society. hmmm... whether it is real or not, i am not sure, but certainly, i can say they have excellent work ethics and exhibit a own set of values that we do not often see amongst people of the `upper-class' (hmm... sounds rather atas here). camaraderie, discipline, hard-working... just to name a few.
reflecting, when they were young, they were mostly the people that we brand as ah lians and ah bengs in singapore. and of cos, very often, we (myself included admittedly) do not want to associate ourselves with them for doing so would be kinda embarrassing as they were considered uncouthed, loud, and often of bad background. they are now in their mid-thirties or older. and as they are lesser educated and not computer-literate, they avoid the computer (and the internet). and in doing so, missed out on the information and knowledge age and this contribute to the further alienation from the society... and of cos, they continue to spiral downwards in the society. but from my observations, a few things i could say for sure - they are damned hardworking, damned bloody conscientious in their work, and have damned bloody excellent good work attitude. they worked hard minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day, just to get that meagre pay (for some as little as $5 an hour) to sustain their family. and i give them my respect.
frankly, interacting with them reminds me of my own parents generation and the good old kampong days. it was those similar work ethics that managed to provide me and my siblings through our education and our lives. this feeling made me feel kinda warm and kinda close to them. and i wish them well and that their children would benefit from their hardwork as i did my parents.
:-)
1 comment:
i totally agree... :)
BB
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