by: Ghui/
Adrian (not his real name) has been selling food at a canteen in a university in Singapore for 6 years. Each contract lasts for 3 years and Adrian has successfully completed 2 terms. Earlier this year, he submitted a request for a further 3 years. He was not anticipating any changes as his food was generally enjoyed and business was steady. In the second week of May, he was sent a letter informing him that his contract was not to be renewed and that he was to clear out by 31 May 2011. No reason was cited.
Adrian was shocked as he had no indication that he would be rejected after 6 years. As far as he was concerned, he had complied with all regulations and had done nothing wrong. He simply could not understand why his livelihood was being so unceremoniously removed from him without explanation. With a family to feed, he is understandably worried.
Perhaps administration wanted to be efficient and did not think twice about the fact that this was someone’s entire life, his means to survive and feed his family. By informing someone in the second week of May that they have to clear out by the end of the month is truly callous.
Has a thought been spared for the poor man who now has less than a month to secure another premise? It is not easy to clear out 6 years of your life and look for a new premise in under a month. At the same time, the bills have to be paid and the children have to be fed.
Since a reason was not given for why his contract was not been renewed, Adrian can only speculate. Perhaps it was that one time when a professor complained that he has used a microwave to heat up his food.
In a bid to speed up long queues and ensure that customers are served in a timely fashion, Adrian sometimes uses a microwave to heat up his food. I, for one have no issue with this. I have seen many food sellers do this and to me, it is just part and parcel of the food business. Restaurants do it too. The only difference perhaps is that food vendors in canteens have to do it in front of the customer.
In Adrian’s case, a particular professor complained to the canteen supervisor who insisted that Adrian remove all of his microwaves overnight with immediate effect. When Adrian tried to explain that the use of microwaves to heat up food was commonplace, he was informed by the canteen supervisor that a professor had complained and therefore the offending microwave had to be removed.
It would appear that the canteen supervisor never once thought to question the professor on this seemingly illogical complaint. It was a case of someone more senior to me has said this, so I have to press down on someone lower on the ‘food chain’ to ensure that it is done, even if it appears nonsensical. No investigation was done. This mentality must be eradicated. Those high up in the ‘food chain’ can be wrong too.
Adrian is but one of the victims of our “efficiency above all else” system. While being fast and effective are of vital importance in remaining competitive, a balance must be struck such that individuals like Adrian are given a chance to make a living.
Adrian is willing to work hard and has indeed worked very hard in the past. I understand that he works from 7 am to 8 or 9 pm from Mondays to Fridays and half days on Saturdays. Every Sunday afternoon, he has to go back to his stall to prepare for the week ahead. The spoils for his toil are not high either. Each dish on his menu is only priced between $2.50 and $3.50. On top of that, Adrian has to give presentations and attend interviews when his contracts are up for renewal.
Adrian does not begrudge the hard work or the hoops that administration and bureaucracy has made him jump through. What he feels is the stink of being jilted by the system despite his hard work, the frustration of not being given a reason and the stress of having to secure new work and pack up his old livelihood in less than a month. At the same time, he does not have the energy or the time to question the system. He has a family to feed and even if he had the time to question the system, would they pay any attention to him?
I am not criticising the quest for quick and competent resolution of administrative matters. However, there is such a thing as being efficient for the sake of being efficient. In this case, would it have hurt to type a few extra lines in the letter, explaining to Adrian why his contract was not renewed?
If that is too much to ask, can they not give him a little more time? He is a human being and needs time to mentally prepare and emotionally accept the termination without reason. He could also do with a few extra weeks to search for alternative premises and/or employment and pack up. In the interim, he can continue selling food such that there is a seamless handover between him and the new vendors such that the students are not inconvenienced in any way.
The plight of Adrian reminds me of our need to help fellow citizens and to continually raise awareness for those who have fallen through the cracks of our system.
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@carebear – the hygiene to me is a problem in that if it is case of unhygienic practice, Adrian has to be warned – and not be allowed to continue serving the food just because he is still on the contract. if he is not warned, then unless the university is lackadaisical about the welfare of the staff or students, we have to assume that hygiene is not an issue.
Microwave – unless it is specifically mentioned that Adrian and all other hawkers are not allowed to use this fairly standard equipment, how can it be an issue? using the microwave can affect food quality and taste – then that is again another issue – but if this is the issue, Adrian will suffer the natural consequence of poor patronage anyway.
However, there are missing gaps in this story – i suspect that once a contract has expired, the space is open to competition. it could well be that someone else won the contract – on what basis – who can tell.
Still, even if we want to look at it from the point of view of free market competition, giving two weeks for someone who has to relocate or sell equipment, on top of worrying about finances is reflective of the attitude that is becoming unpleasantly pervasive.
Most likely they subcontracted the whole canteen to foodcourt operators
@writer.
My heart goes out to you.
That is why I fear for the younger people who commit to huge debts for housing. Hardly anyone can rely on job security any more.
Hang in there.
As for whether you want to give them any notice- remember regardless what they have done, you do want to damage your own reputation.
take care
you do want to damage your own reputation.
do = do not.
Thanks, Sophia for your heart :)
I am not young and maybe at my age, my reputation does not matter much, LOLz! But more seriously, point taken! Thanks for the advice.
I am shocked and surprised that such thing happened in Singapore.
to reprimand one for a ‘WRONG’ is one thing.
to penalise the innocent ‘offender’ in the way that is is being done is obviously a bigger ‘WRONG’ in itself?
how many UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS cook their food in microwave ovens at home?
tell me NONE?
THIS IS SURELY UNCALLED FOR in our seemingly democratic society and the PROFESSOR AND THE CANTEEN SUPERVISOR ouht to be further investigated in stead of the poor vendor getting punished and deprived of his humble livelihood.
HIW COUDL A ‘PROFESSOR’ be so NARROW-MINDED and NARROW-HEARTED,what kind of an INTELLECTUAL IS he?
now,does the university management stipulates that using microwaves to cook is forbidden in the first place?
secondly,perhaps this ‘erudite’ professor wants to LOBBY against the use of MICROWAVE OVENS in SINGAPORE?
The daughter of our greatest MIW very often uses microwave oven to cook her food as mentioned in her story. So she got alot of illness ? This professor’s life is more precious than her.
hawk you fricking sob,why are you defending the f professor,i guess you are ft like him,get the hell out of my face,if the sysytem is fair there would’nt be so much pain and anger,go prepare your fricking own food or eat somewhere else,let honest people earn their living the dignified way,they work hard for their money it’s not charity,for all you know it’s people like you that makes the sysytem sucks.
The professor is probably one of the many foreign “talent” hires!!
hawk, you may want to revisit your stand. To suggest to citizens to give the ruling party second or more chances, to collect their millions, after poor policies and executions, and yet put down a food operator with one stroke does not sound logical.
I have yet to understand why the writer did not put the name of the university down. I am not sure if it’s premature to conclude the true reason for non-renewal, but we can have an open book system for all.
In a land, where Human Rights are not even spared a scant glance & welfare is a Dirty Word, one MUST make provisions for the unexpected & unforeseeable events of such nature. Hire & Fire, don’t forget this is a Company – not a Country. Sad but true….
The risk of doing business is like that.
Business people has to submit to authority or otherwise being kick out of service.
Hopefully another Singaporean is being selected to take over the premise and not foreign talent or PR or new citizens.
This is kind of a one-sided report.
How much has Adrian earned across the 6 years? What is the cost of his rental per month at the university?
Has anyone asked the university for an explanation? Is the professor truly to blame? Or could something have happened that Adrian has neglected to raise. Not casting aspersions on his character but before we pass judgement and attribute his misfortune to the system (kind of a stretch) I think a clearer picture should be presented.
Pay and pay is back. Starhub is raising prices. SINGTEL too for sports package. Electricity bills going up too.
Why does Starhub n SINGTEL compete? Both government owned. Is this another complex way to tax us?
Hey Sophia,
I agree with you. What I was trying to say was that I took issue with how the matter was handled. When I said that hygiene was not the issue what I meant was that irregardless of why he was asked to leave, the method in which he was asked to leave should have been different.
QSY, I guess obviously the story is told from Adrian’s point of view but having had personal experience with mindless admin, I think he is probably not too far from the truth anyway.
At the end of the day, it is not why he was asked to go but how.
And you are knocked down by FTs invited by your idol leaders – this is the result of irresponsible & blind participation in democracy!
Adrian should see the minister of education or his MP.
The professor must be a FT, FT who blocked local academics from returning to Singapore to teach. FT that is given PR and new citizenship and their balls are now so big that they will complain at the slightest.
Welcome to the new Singapore where you recently gave mandate for them to bring more of such petty people.
like tat also got pple blame PAP.
Maybe that stupid professor is someone like SDP Chee , the usual troublemaker, who think only him is right, the whole world is wrong.
One side of view make a story, it take many side of story to show the truth. When anyone lose their living , they will always shout not fair, when pple got retrenched, they will always said company suck, they will never tell u that they take MC 14 days a year, tea-break 4 times a day etc.
why so quick in finger-pointing?
this is fact of life for hawkers…
each job has it own job hazard(s) or downfall…also as a hawker, u are self-employed. If u fail to plan for rainy day u get flooded…
we can’t really comment on such one-sided story…
i hope TOC can present only articles with backing…
You missed the point; people who lack compassion & forget that society shd. be organized to serve the common people have only themselves to blame since they tend to choose leaders who take after them with the resulting unintended consequences…
seen like many of u keep asking for demogracy and dont know wat it is about?
When things goes wrong, some of u who cry for demogracy are the 1st one who jump up and blame the other 60%..
WTF!!!!
liketatalsocan 2 July 2011
like tat also got pple blame PAP.
Maybe that stupid professor is someone like SDP Chee
………………
hey STUPID! you meant there is another dr chee professor in a pap run government aided universities?
ARE YOU NUTS or stupid?
Not everyone is stupid – some just are too lazy to use their brains for fear of killing too many brain cells & becoming senile! Fear rules the locals & prevent them from thinking clearly! Remember not to blame others for your own choices & choose responsibly as politicians are very cunning people – irregardless of party! Don’t fight amongst yourselves but unite against the FTs! :)
the air we breathe in Spore is more harmful than microwave food. the prof should just sue the government who double the population and increase the pollution.
Maybe this is a professor in food chemistry. But still..
Reminds me of a scene in the play “An Inspector Calls” by JB Priestly.
@iVOTEahMENG
U will be surpriseed there are many prof like Dr chee in our university.
I am not nutz or stupid. The stupid oe are those who listen to one side of story, do stupid thing like rite letter to US president, shouting for democracy and dont know what it mean. When thing goes wrong, jump up and blame the other 60%.
THAT IS NOT DEMOCRACY!!!
THAT IS STUPID.
What should the gvt do?
http://sgthink.wordpress.com/2011/07/04/listening/
profchee 3 July 2011
@iVOTEahMENG
U will be surpriseed there are many prof like Dr chee in our university.
I am not nutz or stupid. When thing goes wrong, jump up and blame the other 60%.
………………
and without a doubt the so many professor liked dr chee do vote for the pap party just liked you says
so if they are too TIMID to vote for the oppositions
what is there more to says?
you 1st your cake to be warm..yet you cannot used the microwaves
what do you do?
be a caveman and do a survivor inside the nus canteen?
Prima facie, the refusal to renew Adrian’s contract can be attributed to his using of microwave to heat up food, which has apparently caught the attention of a professor, who obviously was unhappy with what he saw or experienced.
If eating microwaved food is unhealthy, then Adrian has no choice but to do without the microwave ovens, if he wants to continue with his business there. That, apparently, was made clear to him by the canteen supervisor.
But the notice to Adrian to clear out within a month seems too short a notice, and harsh in the circumstances. It smacks of a callous attitude, as someone has commented. The professor mentioned above is now probably standing on the sidelines, and probably not aware, or not giving a damn, that the notice to Adrian for the non-renewal of his canteen contract was too short for Adrian to set up business elsewhere; maybe, this is something provided for in a formalized agreement and not something of relevance to the professor.
Hello TOC.
The canteen in the picture appears to be Canteen A in NTU. However, this canteen is not run by individual store owners. It is run like food courts under a single owner (not sure what the name is).
Therefore, if “Adrian” is working in canteen A, the party guilty of dismissing him is not the university or ‘the system’. It is the owner of the food court, and we must investigate the cause of this dismissal.
If “Adrian” is not working in canteen A, then it is misleading to use the picture of canteen A and not what a proper journalist should do.
Now…let me point out that I have been to various canteens. Sometimes, the store owners / workers there use microwaves to heat food up…except that they don’t seem to be bothered to do it well. Imagine yourself biting into ICE COLD fish while having your meal, and having to eat or waste $ to dump it (because the same canteen staff would be rude/ignore a student’s complaint). Is it surprising that eventually, one of their victims is not a “lowly student”, but a professor…probably even an Ang Moh professor, who then loudly complains to the manager?