Pkchukiss - Reality Wine

Singapore is known for its conservatives. We are careful with saving our money, way of life, and our speech. Best of all, we persist in arcane beliefs that people serving in the service sector are subservient to them. Cleaners, customer service personnel, maids… they believe that receiving good service is their right.

If you have read about the maid abuses in the newspapers, you would know that Singapore is full of pathetic beings who endure abuse abuse, and take it out on maids, or other service personnel they come across. If iron burns and nipple bruises were not enough, you see maids being deprived of their off days: the law has conveniently avoided legalising a compulsory rest day a week for maids.

I can’t blame the powers that be; as with all other Singaporeans, they depend heavily upon their household helpers to keep their houses together. Goodness, imagine the state of all the rooms in the house if the maid were to take a day off! Not to mention the layers of dust that would wantonly lampoon themselves liberally upon all the surfaces around the household.

Not to mention missing a person whom would personally fetch your water, briefcase, PSP, mobile phone, pen, paper, (the list goes on). Little wonder that they are reluctant to give maids a right that have long been legislated for the rest of the workforce in Singapore: a mandatory rest day in a week. It almost makes you wonder if maids were treated as being less than humans.

On another vein, Singaporeans hold the stereo-type that if an Indian customer service officer answers the call, it is damning evidence that the service support has been outsourced to India. That is where you see horrible humans at work. I have seen how a colleague of mine gets abused by customers who couldn’t understand her accent.

Perhaps, it is a never ending cycle. The top abuses the subordinate, who in turn passes on the problem down the line. The end result is something that the world’s 140th media hesitates to report: a culture of human abuses that stems right from the very high flyers.
Note: This is not to say that all high flyers are bad, but just some is enough to perpetuate a continual cycle of bad attitude to service personnel.

Enough ranting. I don’t want to be labelled as a partisan player in local politics, by making criticisms of the very foundation of our noble country without making suggestions for improvement. May I suggest a Hitler style persecution?

Filed under: General