A Review on the Past Three Months: Why I Am Never Coming Back

Upon completing full-time National Service back in June, I decided to take on a six-month full-time job and subsequently enrol in the January 2016 intake to commence my university education. This was the perfect plan at that time, considering that I would not be jumping straight into studies after two suffocating years in the army wearing a helmet that most probably made me dumb, if it hadn't already; and at the same time earn some cash to offset my hefty tuition fees.

It seemed all too convenient returning back to the familiarity of my internship position, considering my four-month stint there prior to enlistment. All I could think of was going back to the same work environment, doing the same no-brainer tasks and working with the same friendly people. Alas, how wrong could I be. My first warning bell went off during the interview of hire, whereby I was quizzed on what my expected salary would be. When I replied "at least $1800 considering that I had a diploma", I was brought down to earth, being told that paper qualifications do not matter at all in the pay scale of the company. Which now explains how I am currently drawing a relatively higher pay than my colleague who has a Bachelor's degree. Can you imagine that? Going through university education to be paid peanuts here? And that's precisely the reason why they do not want people to be discussing about their salaries, because the facts will all be laid bare. The "working with the same friendly people" plan was thrown out the window because the number of people left back from my time amounted to a meagre two.

Work was terrible, more horrendous than I would ever expect. We are still working the same labour-intensive scheduled 9.5 hour shifts, but the fact that for morning shifts, you are required to be in 30 minutes earlier at 5.30am and often clock out only at 5pm, you just did a whopping 11.5 hour shift. Goodbye sleep, goodbye social life, goodbye life in general. Overtime doesn't even have a structured system, which explains why I prefer not to claim OT entirely. Furthermore, they may even chide you for claiming OT when you were the one that couldn't finish your work within your scheduled hours. Which isn't necessarily true, because they have daily department meetings called "lineup" which often cross the 3.30pm shift ending time of the AM shift. Add that to the shift handovers and voila, you are still there at 4.30pm.

Working shift work leaves you lifeless no matter which shift you are scheduled for. Waking up at 4.40am for morning shift makes me a zombie even if I slept at 9pm the previous day. And to sleep at 9pm means I am missing out on all the meet ups with the cliques, basketball nights, or even dinners out with the family. Which translates into an anti-social, fatigued, prone to falling sick and bad-tempered me. I seek your royal pardon should you ever encounter any of those above-mentioned traits of mine.

Working the afternoon shift translates to me being able to sleep in, but reaching home at 1.30am means you will be sleeping till approximately 9am, which leaves you 4 hours of free time before you head back to that "hellhole". Mid shift seems more plausible then, spanning from 11am to 8.30pm. But considering the late clock-out and heavy traffic, it is only by 1030pm that I finally reach home. There was once I did a mid shift followed by a morning shift, which meant I had to sleep immediately upon reaching home, and wake up at 4.40am thereafter. I did not even have time to grab a bite before sleeping, fearing that my intestines would be put into overdrive should I sleep right away after gobbling. I missed my taxi the very next morning because I was so tired that I switched off my alarm. Twice.

And the roster. Gosh I don't even want to talk about it but I have to. The work roster is supposed to be released every Thursday, for the upcoming week commencing on a Monday. That is the reason why we have to submit our leave requests two weeks in advance, so the managers can plan their manpower and dish out ample rest to those who have been working more than five days in a row. Working 7 to 10 days in a row here is so damn common. And given our workload and the long hours, we could be working up to 60 hours a week. The thing about the roster is that it is never released on time. Most commonly, it will be released only on Saturday, giving you two days to plan your activities for the coming week. In addition, there are numerous roster changes so in the end, the finalised roster will only be confirmed on Sunday. How awesome is that? In addition, should manpower restrict, the company "has every right to compensate you in place of your public holiday off-in-lieus and annual leave". I am simply speechless.

And how the company preaches to you via propaganda posters about how employees are to be accorded the same treatment as guests, and how we are their most valuable asset is simply plain nonsense. The fact that the turnover rate is so damn high, coupled with the lack of welfare for staff, the terrible staff meals, and most importantly the pathetic salary, I would burn that poster down if I could. Work is terrible, I know I have said this a thousand times, but it totally is, because of the fact that figures come before employee welfare. Let's do the math. I have 20 tables, and when put to full utility, can accommodate a maximum of 4 occupants. That puts my maximum occupancy at 80 pax. During peak periods, we could be overbooked for all 106 rooms. And assume that three guests are residing in a room, we can have 318 guests fighting for just 80 seats.

Being overbooked during peak periods can only mean that staff are stretched to the limit. And when staff are stretched to the limit, guest service drops at a rapid rate. I don't have to be a hotelier to translate those facts for them. Naturally, overall satisfaction declines, and who is to blame? Us of course. Every single day, I am told how I should treat my guests, how I should wow them, and make them our guests for life. But did it ever occur to you, what good does that do me? Would I get incentives? Would I get commission? Would I get better employee welfare? The answer is none of the above. You may argue that that is part of my job, but what makes you think that I will go all out of my way to make a guest happy if I already have so many things on my plate? And if the guest is unhappy about what I have done for them and complain, who bears the brunt? Me. My bottom line is that, if you can't make your employees happy, they in turn won't make your guests happy. And that is when things will start to go downhill from there. Everyday at work, I overhear people in the different departments complaining about their workload. Not once do I even see genuine happiness on their faces. How true it is that we are all forced to put on a smile even when we are not in the best of moods, that our smiles become fake, and our happiness becomes obsolete, and the jubilant faces that we portray day in day out are just a facade at work.

Diversity at work is one thing, but having too many people of one race is a disaster waiting to happen. I hate to say this, but doesn't it feel as though hotels are starting to become communities of Filipinos? The way they address each other and the language they speak to each other all carry tinges reminiscent of their homeland. Isn't this Singapore? Aren't we supposed to converse in the common language of English? Somehow I just don't feel like I can fit right in.

I am not a purely negative person, but the environment at work has become so toxic that I have no option left but to bring forward my university enrolment date and commence my undergraduate studies at an earlier date. A revision of my tuition fees is just half of the reason, and the above-mentioned factors make up the rest of it. Passion can only do so much, but I am sorry to say that my fire burned out as my fuel of passion ran thin.