http://www.tremeritus.com/2015/09/02/yet-another-view-against-hiring-of-singaporeans/
[h=2]Yet another argument against hiring Singaporeans[/h]
September 2nd, 2015 |
Author: Contributions
I am a restaurant owner who built up his business from scratch from running a
coffee shop stall to a full service restaurant in Central Singapore and then
another smaller outlet in the CBD.
The 5 years of my F&B experience are the toughest I have gone through and
I have gone through some pretty tough work. The biggest and the most persistent
problem I have faced is the issue with manpower, specifically Singaporean
manpower.
Singaporeans
have so far been the most fickle and unreliable; not turning up for work without
any notice, most fussy about work conditions (kitchens are a hot and humid place
to work) and most self-centred.
Before you castigate me for my comments, here are some examples:
A Singaporean ex-Executive Chef came in for an interview, looked all over the
restaurant without a word to acknowledge my wife and then TOLD me he wanted to
start straightaway.
I said I wanted a trial 1st as he was already over 50yrs old and we have to
move heavy cartons of food. Now, before you criticise me for discriminating, let
me tell you that I had seniors quit after a few hours of only peeling onions
while standing up.
Anyway, I was willing to try him out.
However, all he did was keep saying that he is definitely able to do the job
(and I haven’t told him the full job scope yet) and he doesn’t need to be
tested……..yeah, according to him.
Then he said that the kitchen is to his liking, which is kinda
fortunate…………for me, I guess.
Finally, he agreed to the trial as I couldn’t just take his word for it but
he didn’t want to wait a few days before trying out. Again, this is because he
finds my kitchen suitable. Despite such good fortune however, I needed time to
schedule him in appropriately.
I didn’t contact him again in the end. The reason is, there was nothing but
what he wanted, what he liked and his insistence that I take his word for
things.
The other thing about him is that he want to discuss how to improve the
workflow with my head chef. And this is after I told him that he will be playing
only a supporting role.
Basically, I believe that he was trying to get his way and modify the kitchen
to what he was used to; at my cost.
In other words, it was all about him.
Another recent example was the worst ever. This senior Singaporean chef came
in promising the moon and was so enthusiastic and offered to do so much for me
to the point that I had to stop him and ask him to see how things go after he
starts work. But after signing the appointment letter, he didn’t turn up for
work, saying that he found a better offer.
When I questioned his integrity and honour, he said it is not about that but
about what is best for him. I have the whatsapp messages to prove it.
I don’t want to bore you with more detailed examples but I can, on request.
Actually, many have already been detailed in my earlier posts.
And you know what? I never bargained a single dollar of pay from what they
asked for.
So, my point is that it is very hard to hire Singaporeans. PRs are no better.
They, like many Singaporeans behave as though they’re a gift from God to F&B
people like me. Even the young culinary graduates are asking for the sky.
To those who say, why don’t we pay more to get more good workers, I would
like to ask you how much you would like to pay for your steak, your char kway
teow, your laksa?
High staff salaries need high prices to pay off. But staffing costs are just
one aspect of F&B operations. Many F&B retail spaces charge more rent
than their non-F&B equivalents. Ingredient costs are also ALWAYS rising.
I am also quite sure that no Singaporean would want to spend 2hrs butchering
pork, 3-4hrs stir-frying mushrooms, to be burnt by splattering oil, scalded by
hot water, cut by sharp edges, corners and forming hundreds of meatballs by hand
etc.
In fact, a customer recently commented about the hiring of foreigners and I
asked him if he would approve of his son doing the work I listed above if I paid
him 10k to do it. This customer suddenly became silent.
=> Customer turned silent cos he knew the owner was talking cock?
And therein lies the problem. Most Singaporeans I have come across want too
cushy a job with too much benefits. No one seem to appreciate work for work’s
sake.
The young are far too busy, styling their hair, dressing up, taking selfies,
to get their hands dirty. God, I swear that some of these guys are more vain
than the girls.
Parents, you need to stop spoiling and sheltering your child. A little
suffering is good for them.
Another thing, F&B like some other jobs, require passion to do well. Most
customers want to be served by humans, food that was cooked by humans with a lot
of personal ie physical effort, ie NOT machines!
So pls don’t tell us to automate because you don’t know what you are talking
about. Customers want us to suffer for our art, just like other practitioners of
the arts. Such suffering increases their appreciation and frankly, it does make
the food taste better.
We can’t automate much anyway. Most reliable machines are too expensive and
are too big for individual restaurants. I hear from insiders that even such
machines used by big restaurant chains end up being white elephants. Makes
sense, these big machines cook in bulk and are more suited for for caterers and
central kitchens. At the restaurant, we cook food for individual servings or at
most a few servings at a time.
I blame all of this on the PAP. They have built an extremely superficial and
materialistic society that values mainly money, looks and fame but not how it
needs to be earned.
=> Even FAP ministers with 'pure hearts' are asking for $millions. So what do you expect?
And really, why can’t we blame PAP when they control everything and lead by
their very example?
And since it is elections time, how can you PAP-supporters carry on
supporting PAP when you see old folks picking cardboard boxes? Or how about the
way they treat their dissenters, even the juvenile ones.
This election, vote out this shameless, utterly shameless bunch of hypocrites
and bullies. If for nothing else, do it for Amos; we just can’t let them get
away with it.
And if we do vote them out, give us the blue collar foreigners who are doing
jobs that really, too few Singaporeans are willing to do at any price, and go
after the white collars instead.
The rot of the PAP has had 50 years to spread, we can’t expect to reverse it
overnight. In the meantime, let parents themselves learn the right values and
pass it on.
John Chan Chi
Yung
P.S. If you would like to work as a cook
or waiter, pls contact me. TRE would be happy to liaise
right?………guys?
* Submitted by TRE reader.
[h=2]Yet another argument against hiring Singaporeans[/h]
September 2nd, 2015 |
Author: Contributions
I am a restaurant owner who built up his business from scratch from running a
coffee shop stall to a full service restaurant in Central Singapore and then
another smaller outlet in the CBD.
The 5 years of my F&B experience are the toughest I have gone through and
I have gone through some pretty tough work. The biggest and the most persistent
problem I have faced is the issue with manpower, specifically Singaporean
manpower.
have so far been the most fickle and unreliable; not turning up for work without
any notice, most fussy about work conditions (kitchens are a hot and humid place
to work) and most self-centred.
Before you castigate me for my comments, here are some examples:
A Singaporean ex-Executive Chef came in for an interview, looked all over the
restaurant without a word to acknowledge my wife and then TOLD me he wanted to
start straightaway.
I said I wanted a trial 1st as he was already over 50yrs old and we have to
move heavy cartons of food. Now, before you criticise me for discriminating, let
me tell you that I had seniors quit after a few hours of only peeling onions
while standing up.
Anyway, I was willing to try him out.
However, all he did was keep saying that he is definitely able to do the job
(and I haven’t told him the full job scope yet) and he doesn’t need to be
tested……..yeah, according to him.
Then he said that the kitchen is to his liking, which is kinda
fortunate…………for me, I guess.
Finally, he agreed to the trial as I couldn’t just take his word for it but
he didn’t want to wait a few days before trying out. Again, this is because he
finds my kitchen suitable. Despite such good fortune however, I needed time to
schedule him in appropriately.
I didn’t contact him again in the end. The reason is, there was nothing but
what he wanted, what he liked and his insistence that I take his word for
things.
The other thing about him is that he want to discuss how to improve the
workflow with my head chef. And this is after I told him that he will be playing
only a supporting role.
Basically, I believe that he was trying to get his way and modify the kitchen
to what he was used to; at my cost.
In other words, it was all about him.
Another recent example was the worst ever. This senior Singaporean chef came
in promising the moon and was so enthusiastic and offered to do so much for me
to the point that I had to stop him and ask him to see how things go after he
starts work. But after signing the appointment letter, he didn’t turn up for
work, saying that he found a better offer.
When I questioned his integrity and honour, he said it is not about that but
about what is best for him. I have the whatsapp messages to prove it.
I don’t want to bore you with more detailed examples but I can, on request.
Actually, many have already been detailed in my earlier posts.
And you know what? I never bargained a single dollar of pay from what they
asked for.
So, my point is that it is very hard to hire Singaporeans. PRs are no better.
They, like many Singaporeans behave as though they’re a gift from God to F&B
people like me. Even the young culinary graduates are asking for the sky.
To those who say, why don’t we pay more to get more good workers, I would
like to ask you how much you would like to pay for your steak, your char kway
teow, your laksa?
High staff salaries need high prices to pay off. But staffing costs are just
one aspect of F&B operations. Many F&B retail spaces charge more rent
than their non-F&B equivalents. Ingredient costs are also ALWAYS rising.
I am also quite sure that no Singaporean would want to spend 2hrs butchering
pork, 3-4hrs stir-frying mushrooms, to be burnt by splattering oil, scalded by
hot water, cut by sharp edges, corners and forming hundreds of meatballs by hand
etc.
In fact, a customer recently commented about the hiring of foreigners and I
asked him if he would approve of his son doing the work I listed above if I paid
him 10k to do it. This customer suddenly became silent.
=> Customer turned silent cos he knew the owner was talking cock?
And therein lies the problem. Most Singaporeans I have come across want too
cushy a job with too much benefits. No one seem to appreciate work for work’s
sake.
The young are far too busy, styling their hair, dressing up, taking selfies,
to get their hands dirty. God, I swear that some of these guys are more vain
than the girls.
Parents, you need to stop spoiling and sheltering your child. A little
suffering is good for them.
Another thing, F&B like some other jobs, require passion to do well. Most
customers want to be served by humans, food that was cooked by humans with a lot
of personal ie physical effort, ie NOT machines!
So pls don’t tell us to automate because you don’t know what you are talking
about. Customers want us to suffer for our art, just like other practitioners of
the arts. Such suffering increases their appreciation and frankly, it does make
the food taste better.
We can’t automate much anyway. Most reliable machines are too expensive and
are too big for individual restaurants. I hear from insiders that even such
machines used by big restaurant chains end up being white elephants. Makes
sense, these big machines cook in bulk and are more suited for for caterers and
central kitchens. At the restaurant, we cook food for individual servings or at
most a few servings at a time.
I blame all of this on the PAP. They have built an extremely superficial and
materialistic society that values mainly money, looks and fame but not how it
needs to be earned.
=> Even FAP ministers with 'pure hearts' are asking for $millions. So what do you expect?
And really, why can’t we blame PAP when they control everything and lead by
their very example?
And since it is elections time, how can you PAP-supporters carry on
supporting PAP when you see old folks picking cardboard boxes? Or how about the
way they treat their dissenters, even the juvenile ones.
This election, vote out this shameless, utterly shameless bunch of hypocrites
and bullies. If for nothing else, do it for Amos; we just can’t let them get
away with it.
And if we do vote them out, give us the blue collar foreigners who are doing
jobs that really, too few Singaporeans are willing to do at any price, and go
after the white collars instead.
The rot of the PAP has had 50 years to spread, we can’t expect to reverse it
overnight. In the meantime, let parents themselves learn the right values and
pass it on.
John Chan Chi
Yung
P.S. If you would like to work as a cook
or waiter, pls contact me. TRE would be happy to liaise
right?………guys?
* Submitted by TRE reader.
