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International gay lifestyle purveyor says sinkieland too low class for his new cafe

Rogue Trader

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Monocle boss not sold on service in S'pore

20140204_tyle_tnp.jpg


Tuesday, Feb 04, 2014
Natasha Ann Zachariah
The Straits Times

Magazine publisher Tyler Brule is eyeing Singapore as a possible location to set up a cafe.

But the editor-in-chief of the uber-stylish culture and international-affairs magazine Monocle, which already has two cafes in Tokyo and London, has hit a stumbling block: Singapore's service culture.

Speaking over the telephone from London, where he is based, the 45-year-old says: "We're exploring options to set up a Monocle cafe in Singapore. But unlike London and Tokyo, where people want to be part of our brand, it's hard to find Singaporeans who are committed like that."

This, despite the magazine's first pop-up store at indie bookstore BooksActually last February being a hit with fans here.

The store sold items such as stationery, prints, fragrances and luggage, which are available in Monocle stores around the world. It attracted more than 400 people and made $10,000 in sales on opening night.

Mr Brule, who also runs his own branding agency, Winkreative, says the trouble in finding staff for a cafe here highlights a bigger problem.

Singaporeans, he says, do not see working in the hospitality industry as a legitimate career choice, which affects Singapore's desire to be a top business and leisure destination.

He explains: "Singapore is very different from Japan, where there's a growing culture of young people who are assertive about their choices.

"It's a respectable option if you want to run a cafe or go into the hotel business to be a general manager, rather than work towards becoming a CEO of some company. Singaporeans see it a little differently... Such jobs are for the labour class."

Service is not his only bugbear about Singapore, as readers of his weekly Fast Lane column for the Financial Times' Weekend Life And Arts section will know. In a column titled A Gnome On A Garden Bench in November, Mr Brule recounted how he decided to give a hotel here a second chance after it had failed to live up to his expectations on a previous trip.

During his second visit there, he found himself distracted by its decor and furniture while trying to conduct a business meeting at the hotel's newly refurbished in-house restaurant.

As Mr Brule described in his column: "As your trousers contact with the banquette, you brace yourself to settle in but you keep sinking into the seat cushion and feel as if you're in free fall.

"As you descend into the foam, feeling not unlike Alice in Wonderland, your chin almost hits the edge of the table but you're saved at the very last moment with a thud when you finally settle.

"Blinking up at your client, who's towering over you from a chair that seems fit for a tennis umpire, you're at a loss for words."

Mr Brule declines to name and shame the hotel, but summarised the experience in print: "How can a designer, a furniture wholesaler and a hotel manager get this so wrong?"

However, he says that bad hotel design is not just a Singapore problem. He calls it a "global pandemic", with principal designers kitting out a hotel without even visiting the property - leaving it to local contractors and designers to interpret their designs.

Mr Brule, who is due to return to Singapore in a couple of weeks, is unsure if he will ever find the perfect hotel experience here: "Goodness knows, I might have to buy an apartment."

This article by The Straits Times was published in MyPaper, a free, bilingual newspaper published by Singapore Press Holdings.




Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.


 

BuiKia

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Re: International gay lifestyle purveyor says sinkieland too low class for his new ca

This guy really sound gay...they are problematic, full of themselves and feels that they are never wrong.
 

looneytan

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Re: International gay lifestyle purveyor says sinkieland too low class for his new ca

who need another cafe! we oreddi have yakun
 

myfoot123

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Re: International gay lifestyle purveyor says sinkieland too low class for his new ca

He sounds like a difficult boss to start with even before Singaporeans decide to consider whether service industry is their cup of tea. From service standard to hotel design to finding it hard to recruit Singaporeans, he should first look at himself and tell us whether he can promote a friendly, open and work-life culture and offer good pay career prospect to his employee. Otherwise, we don't welcome this sort of Anton Casey's mentality to set up office here.
 
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LITTLEREDDOT

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Re: International gay lifestyle purveyor says sinkieland too low class for his new ca

He can be as high-class as he thinks he is but, at the end of the day, he is just a salesperson, selling coffee. So he don't have to be a snob.
 

yellowarse

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Re: International gay lifestyle purveyor says sinkieland too low class for his new ca

I've been to Tokyo, HK, Taipei, Seoul, London, NY, Paris, Melbourne, Bangkok. Retail and F & B service in these cities beat Singapore's hands down. Ditto for product knowledge.

Brule may be an arrogant SOB, but he is spot on about our low service standards, in part due to the disdain for the service industry that most Sinkies have. In other countries, people take pride in their jobs, from the shoe store salesgirl to the restaurant manager to the hospital admissions clerk.

Here, we look down on such people, leading to a vicious circle where poor respect for service personnel leads to poorer service and even less respect. End result: deplorable service, high staff turnover, and recourse to foreigners.

And we wonder why F & B outlets have so much difficulty recruiting local staff, and why we see so many Filipinos in the hospitality industry who always serve with a smile on their faces.
 
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Rogue Trader

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Re: International gay lifestyle purveyor says sinkieland too low class for his new ca

This guy really sound gay...they are problematic, full of themselves and feels that they are never wrong.

I had subscribed to Monocle after picking up 2 copies at an airport... had found the articles about urban planning, transport systems interesting.. then increasingly the content became more and more frivolous.

That's when I realised it was gay shit. Even more shocking was the magazine is strongly endorsed by our very own EDB! (not kidding! check out their website!)

PUI PUI PUI!!
 

Rogue Trader

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Re: International gay lifestyle purveyor says sinkieland too low class for his new ca

He can be as high-class as he thinks he is but, at the end of the day, he is just a salesperson, selling coffee. So he don't have to be a snob.

This guy started out as a journalist then turned magazine publisher... but he is well-heeled and taps on the upper class hipster market. I bet the coffee at his new joint will be $15 a cup.
 

laksaboy

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Re: International gay lifestyle purveyor says sinkieland too low class for his new ca

I thought the pappies are all for increasing the GDP?

Think of the high net worth individuals you can attract with a gay lifestyle hub. :wink:

Ian McKellen on CNA:
[video=youtube;9VE6ENgkR7M]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VE6ENgkR7M[/video]

You have opened casinos, let in all sorts of rubbish foreign job stealers, welcomed murderers and dictators. Now is not the time to get on the high horse when it comes to dealing with the faggots. :cool:
 

McDonaldsKid

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Re: International gay lifestyle purveyor says sinkieland too low class for his new ca

As Mr Brule described in his column: "As your trousers contact with the banquette, you brace yourself to settle in but you keep sinking into the seat cushion and feel as if you're in free fall.

"As you descend into the foam, feeling not unlike Alice in Wonderland, your chin almost hits the edge of the table but you're saved at the very last moment with a thud when you finally settle.

"Blinking up at your client, who's towering over you from a chair that seems fit for a tennis umpire, you're at a loss for words."

What a pompous and tedious twat.
 

streetsmart73

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Re: International gay lifestyle purveyor says sinkieland too low class for his new ca

who need another cafe! we oreddi have yakun



hi there


1. bro, just another one of those cruising joints mah.
2. also pick-up points hoh:biggrin:
3. who's who there mah.
 

myfoot123

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Re: International gay lifestyle purveyor says sinkieland too low class for his new ca

I In other countries, people take pride in their jobs, from the shoe store salesgirl to the restaurant manager to the hospital admissions clerk.
.

In other countries, their govt respect their citizens. In ours we do not have such motivation becaue PAP kept putting Singaporeans down. Besides, those countries employers are willing to pay their workers, in Singapore every damned local SMEs are complaining about paying slightly more. Singaporeans are willing but we do not have the right mindset from this govt and its cronies of SMEs. It takes both hands to clap. Countries whose govt believe in citizen's welfare will usually motivate the workers to work hard. In Singapore, we work hard to feed PAP who will in turn called those workers daft and repent for 5 years. All these little bad gestures coming from the govt adds up to what Singapore is today - lack of courtesy, low productivity and no motivation to serve others.
 
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yellowarse

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Re: International gay lifestyle purveyor says sinkieland too low class for his new ca

In other countries, their govt respect their citizens. In ours we do not have such motivation becaue PAP kept putting Singaporeans down. Besides, those countries employers are willing to pay their workers, in Singapore every damned local SMEs are complaining about paying slightly more. Singaporeans are willing but we do not have the right mindset from this govt and its cronies of SMEs. It takes both hands to clap. Countries whose govt believe in citizen's welfare will usually motivate the workers to work hard. In Singapore, we work hard to feed PAP who will in turn called those workers daft and repent for 5 years.

Agree. In other countries, they have minimum wage. This could come in the form of government legislation, or a pan-industry wage to be negotiated and agreed upon for each industry by the unions and employers. In the absence of minimum wage, companies will always try to exploit workers to eke out more profits.

Here, you die your business. Our government is only pro-big business, pro-employers.
 

myfoot123

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Re: International gay lifestyle purveyor says sinkieland too low class for his new ca

Agree. In other countries, they have minimum wage. This could come in the form of government legislation, or a pan-industry wage to be negotiated and agreed upon for each industry by the unions and employers. In the absence of minimum wage, companies will always try to exploit workers to eke out more profits.

Here, you die your business. Our government is only pro-big business, pro-employers.

Adding insult to the whole affair, we do not have an independent pro-workers union. All we have are just fake union talking loud and big as if they care. This so-called "labour union" of ours, is in fact operating and running commercial business out of labour's monthly subscription. Singapore is really in bad shape from all angles. When foreigners look at us, they should not criticise why Singaporeans behave the way we did. These big investors should look at the whole picture of our whole exploitive and screwed up country managed by few elites out to screw every lesser mortal in their path, causing Singaporeans to feel resentment of our very basic existence, thus affecting innocent foreign investors who do not have a clue of what went wrong here..
 

Jah_rastafar_I

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Re: International gay lifestyle purveyor says sinkieland too low class for his new ca

I've been to Tokyo, HK, Taipei, Seoul, London, NY, Paris, Melbourne, Bangkok. Retail and F & B service in these cities beat Singapore's hands down. Ditto for product knowledge.

Brule may be an arrogant SOB, but he is spot on about our low service standards, in part due to the disdain for the service industry that most Sinkies have. In other countries, people take pride in their jobs, from the shoe store salesgirl to the restaurant manager to the hospital admissions clerk.

Here, we look down on such people, leading to a vicious circle where poor respect for service personnel leads to poorer service and even less respect. End result: deplorable service, high staff turnover, and recourse to foreigners.

And we wonder why F & B outlets have so much difficulty recruiting local staff, and why we see so many Filipinos in the hospitality industry who always serve with a smile on their faces.

It's a cycle. Cos in sg if you work in such jobs be prepared to be treated like a slave by the customers.
 

Froggy

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Re: International gay lifestyle purveyor says sinkieland too low class for his new ca

I had subscribed to Monocle after picking up 2 copies at an airport... had found the articles about urban planning, transport systems interesting.. then increasingly the content became more and more frivolous.

That's when I realised it was gay shit. Even more shocking was the magazine is strongly endorsed by our very own EDB! (not kidding! check out their website!)

PUI PUI PUI!!

WTF never know it's gay, been spending $20 a month for a long time in this. Ok better stop now.
 

myfoot123

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Re: International gay lifestyle purveyor says sinkieland too low class for his new ca

It's a cycle. Cos in sg if you work in such jobs be prepared to be treated like a slave by the customers.

You are only half right. If you get slapped, punched, kicked by your wealthy customers. Our court only protect the rich or at most do a token fine of couple hundred dollars as so-called "deterrent". You get the whole picture here why service industry take up rate is low? No union, low pay, no legislation protection, not lucrative by PAP standard, no nothing at all.
 
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Rogue Trader

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Re: International gay lifestyle purveyor says sinkieland too low class for his new ca

WTF never know it's gay, been spending $20 a month for a long time in this. Ok better stop now.

The magazine content certainly set off my gaydar.. Anyway the boss is a flaming gay.

I haven't had time to read many magazines recently but one of my favourites was GQ (besides penthouse, hustler and playboy of course). Dunno if that's still around...
 

garlic

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Re: International gay lifestyle purveyor says sinkieland too low class for his new ca

Problem with Sinkies/ FTs in service industry is that these people do not take pride to do their job and that is attributed to the fact that the employers do not want someone who love their job, but they only want someone who is able to do the job cheaply. For example, go to Mcdonald's today and order the prosperity chicken burger and ask the counter staff which part of the chicken is the patty made of. I did that every time i ordered this burger and so far only one staff gave it correctly as chicken breast. All other staffs had no clue what cut of meat the chicken patty was made of. I had one replied "It's chicken". Go ahead, try asking. :biggrin: You will be surprised, these people do not know what they are selling for your consumption.
 
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JHolmesJr

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Re: International gay lifestyle purveyor says sinkieland too low class for his new ca

Brule is right that its hard to find the right staff...but its not impossible.

I sometimes go to Tobys Estate down by robertson quay and the staff are very nice....local kids who can explain exactly what each strain of coffee is all about. Not overfriendly or withdrawn....just good service.
 
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