Idiocy Kills
As the days went by, I got to know the people around me. Many were Filipinos looking for work just like me, but most of them ended up leaving within two-weeks empty-handed. I struck up a friendship with an Indian national named “Kumar,” who slept on the top bunk opposite mine.
Here was a guy coming from a completely different situation than mine. While I was dealing with a bad economy, he was dealing with a hyper-competitive homeland where top professionals are more or less forced to look elsewhere for employment that pays them more fairly.
While I was acting more like a tourist instead of a serious job-seeker, sending my resume and portfolio to only a few companies in the morning, and sightseeing the rest of the day, he was sending them out nonstop.
After about 3 weeks, that’s when I started to get worried. I had only received one email back and my wallet was getting much lighter. I had completely underestimated how difficult it would be find employment here.
If I could compare my idiocy to anything, it would be to how the British completely underestimated the Imperial Japanese Army during the Battle of Singapore (something I learned from a history-loving cab driver who was kind enough to enlighten me about Singapore history).
The only difference was that my ass was the one getting kicked – by the tough Singapore job market.
By then, I figured that I probably wasn’t going to get a job unless I started being more like Kumar. So I booked another month, leaving me with about $150. I panicked! But Kumar helped me get my act together so I could plan my spending with the money I had left and put my job search into overdrive.
1. You Will Suffer
At the time, I was a young, 25-year old in good shape. But making the switch from a lifetime of eating 2 or 3 meals a day to one meal a day at the Indian vegetarian stall downstairs ($2.50-$4.50) was pretty traumatic.
You never really get used to the stomach pains and constant growling that comes from not getting enough to eat.
I would actually buy bread to snack on if I wanted to quiet my stomach temporarily. If I ate particularly cheap one day, I would get myself a jar of jam or kaya to make snack time more flavorful. Kumar would also offer me some of the snacks he had (even though he was on a tight budget too), but I was too full of pride to accept more than half the time.
One thing is for sure, I was definitely was not getting the 2,000 calories nutritionists recommend for daily health.
I wouldn’t say I was starving, but I was losing weight. By time time my hard efforts finally landed the interview that got me my first job in Singapore, I had gone from about 72kg to 65kg.
2. You Will Need Support
That $150 dollars I had leftover barely lasted me the month. But by then I still had not landed a job, even though I was diligently searching for one.
I was broke. I was hungry. I was f****d.
My foolish hubris had put me in this situation. And I had to find a way to dig myself out of it. I was too far invested in my job search to turn back now. To borrow a line from my least favorite U.S. President, who got us involved in some unnecessary wars; I had to “stay the course.”
I had no choice but to pawn the only other thing of value besides my laptop, which I needed to continue my job search, my beloved Nikon D90 kit. To a designer, having to part from a high-quality camera is like having to eat your precious pet dog to keep from starving.
I guess I should put this under “suffering” too.
Unfortunately, I still had little money to pay for food after using the $500+ I got for my camera to pay for another month at the hostel. That’s when Kumar handed me $100, refusing to take it back because he felt I needed it more. At that moment, $100 had never meant so much to me in my entire life.
He just did what any decent human being would do – no, what any real friend would do.
-Steve
