“We are short staffed so you can’t quit!”

I just started this job two weeks ago. Very short staffed office. So short staffed that I am working entirely through lunches (timeclock deducted) and also staying over after scheduled shift time.

Since this is an ongoing issue, I am looking for another job. I have not made anyone aware of this, but I have started “quiet quitting” which includes 10+ restroom breaks a day, slowing down my work, and when people comment on my speed I just nod.

My boss came in Friday and told me my coworker just quit. This person was training me.

She knows her company sucks and said to me “you aren’t thinking of quitting are you? You’ve really grown on me and I kind of like you.”. Oh please.

Another co-worker casually hearing this conversation knows how screwed I am now that I have the workload of two people and says “She can’t quit. We just spent two weeks training her and (quitter’s name) is gone.”.

The rest of the day, I had random people approaching me commenting saying “you got this!” and saying “take one for the team!”

No. F off. Hire someone else. The guilt trip is sickening and your company sucks.

Edit: I am allowed to snack at my desk but am absolutely NOT allowed to get up and go sit in the lunchroom at all. There are no breaks. I experience extreme burnout so the bathroom breaks are the only way I can take any break from the receptionist area in a 9 hour period.

Netizens’ comments

1. “If you like me and want me to stay, PAY ME MORE MONEY.”
2. You need to stop working for free over your lunch period. I would leave immediately though.
3. Take your lunch, and go home at your assigned time.
4. What are they going to do? Fire you?
5. Maybe you feel better telling us this, but there’s no other advice to give you than quit. Now.
6. Stop working through lunch and staying late without OT. Learn to set boundaries.
7. “You are going to be even more short staffed now.”

To put this into context, myself and my friends have always enjoyed going out for dinner and drinks together, as friends do. There have been a few occasions over the years where I’ve came home feeling a bit peeved over how much I’ve had to pay. Someone please tell me – am I the petty one here?

Rewind to around 12 months ago. I had just lost my job and money was tight. Nonetheless a friend was leaving the country and we organised a bit of a get together over dinner – needless to say I didn’t want to miss it, and set aside some cash to get the cheapest thing on the menu. I ordered a salad and tap water, relaxed in the knowledge it only came to $15.

All around me, my friends were ordering lots of cocktails, starters, mains, deserts, steaks etc. They were giving me weird looks when they saw I had ordered a salad, and more weird looks since I was driving and therefore not ordering alcohol. The time came to pay and without any discussion we split the bill. It came to around $70 each (reminder that I ordered a dumb salad and water). When I raised this I got disgusted looks from some of the people at the table, a couple of people told me ‘dont be such a tramp’ and I sucked it up, as mortified as I was.

Fast forward to last night when I was faced with a similar situation. Again, money was tight, I was driving and therefore didn’t order any alcohol. Again, we split the bill and I had to fork out around 60, despite ordering the cheapest thing on the menu with water. My friend said ‘look, if you can’t afford to split the bill, don’t go out for f-ing dinner’.

A highly embarrassing situation to be in, and now I feel like I can’t go out for dinner with my very well to do friends unless I’m prepared to go all-out and order everything on the menu.

My partner insists that splitting the bill is the done thing and I shouldn’t go out for dinner with my friends unless I’m flushed with cash.

Am I the wrong one here? I kinda feel that if someone at the table isnt ordering wine, cocktails and steaks then it shouldn’t be expected that they pay for everyone else’s. Am I being miserable here? I wouldn’t expect someone else to pay for mine, in fact I would step in and say ‘that person literally ordered a salad, how about they just pay for theirs?’

Some advice would be appreciated, including tips on how to deal with these scenarios in future (no stupid answers please.

I’m sharing this story not for people to judge my friend but hoping that the comments can “wake him up”.

Like me my friend is 29-years-old and he has been taking money from a woman in her 40s for several months. Initially, he told me it is a personal assistant job but it ended up as a personal F-toy to that woman, at her beck and call.

The woman pays him an average of 7-8K a month to satisfy her needs.

This includes shopping, drinking, singing together and going to a hotel room… The woman is a successful insurance agent and she has 2 cars, one of them was given to my friend to use.

So here comes the screw-up part of the story, whenever the woman is drunk he would need to take a taxi to pick her up or drive her car home. But it always ends up with my friend going to the woman’s house to get down and dirty.

So my friend basically stays at home every day until his phone rings or when the woman needs his…

My friend is a degree holder from a local university but he refuses to seek a proper job, the woman has been commanding him up and down like a slave in the bedroom.

He also has to accompany her to the boys club and be her personal chauffeur, meaning he sits there and did not drink.

I didn’t want to expose him, but his mother has been calling me asking why is her son going home so late and often come back home either smelling like a lot of perfume or alcohol.

I had to lie on his behalf and said that he is doing IT sales job so he has to drink.

My friend likes the money but obviously he is not happy. I don’t know how to help him.

I was travelling with a friend who enjoys the red lights but does not enjoy drinking. I was having a swell time drinking as it was much cheaper in Thailand than in Singapore.

So my friend who was very hungry decided to go to Soi Cowboy to find the girl of his dreams…

There were two girls sitting with us and I didn’t mind buying a drink and chatting casually. My friend on the other hand is all about his “hands”. He stretches into the woman’s clothes and does what many men enjoy.

I’m no saint, I just don’t find them attractive.

Soon after the girl touched him back he was like a dog in heat and starts to strike a deal with the woman, the woman wanted 3,000 baht + 500 bar fine for the “shot”. My friend turned to me and asked me to negotiate with the woman as I could speak Thai.

I managed to get the price down to 2,500 baht.

After drinking we returned to our room and he began to do his “job” while I sat in the living room and continued to drink my beer.

After a couple of beers, my friend was out of the room and told me that the girl got drunk and climbed on top of him and riding him before he had a chance to wear protection.

I asked if he stopped he said he was in heat like the mating season of some wild animal and he could not stop.

Soon he started to develop a rash around his neck & genitals and he insist that it was because his clothes are dirty and its not some diseases.

I told him to go see a doctor if the symptoms persist, and also to go see his reflection in the mirror to reflect on himself.

I am a recent grad and have been working for a big company for about a year in an office job. Feeling really mentally stressed and burnt out. I have been wanting to change some job which I am overqualified for, like a diploma level job or a blue collar job like plumber or carpenter.

I feel that companies in sg have overly high demands on employees in degree white collar jobs. We usually have to multitask and take on a wide jobscope.

On top of that, we still have CCAs like organising meetings and events, writing minutes, being in some commitee etc which everyone have to do on top of their already packed jobscope.

Because of all these demands, I often have to work overtime or do extra work at home to clear my load. I have known from my many friends that this is very common across many different companies and industries.

I envy those in non-degree jobs such in admin or support roles or blue collar ones who only need to focus on one jobscope and their work is quite routine.

They can usually leave on time, don’t have to bring work home and don’t need to do much CCAs. If I join these jobs, I surely will need to take a big paycut but hey, life isn’t just all about work right? Many of these people work these jobs their whole life and are able to support a family, buy a house etc.

Here are what netizens think:

• Changi Aviation industry have a lot of mid to blue collar job. Comfortable environment too. Pay range from 2k to 4k plus. Technology or white collar 3k to 5k range.

• It’s ultimately down to whether u’re ok with it… And u REALLY gotta be ok with it cos it could be a path of no return…U take that path, u find the pay too low, u’re gonna face challenges if u wanna transition back to a grad position cos employers will wonder why the heck u took a paycut to do a brain-dead job in the first place. It would be time wasted.Not all employers will be willing to let u “try”. And after doing “relaxed” jobs for awhile, u’ll find it even harder to adjust back to a demanding, high-pressure environment.Not to mention that u would have lost years of experience, and you would be starting in the same level as fresh grads younger than u and more hungry than u.

• Be a tutor, stress free work.

I drink very often and sometimes the places I go will have hostesses working there. For me I don’t really care if there are any women, I just want to meet my friends.

Be it a coffee shop or pub.

So I was drinking at Macpherson mall last week and they have quite a number of girls from different countries. While I was chatting with my friend one of them approached and asked if they can have a drink.

My friend quickly said yes but I knew what was coming next, It will either be Lady’s Drink or Flowers. This kind of typical joint.

So the girl started chatting and I was being polite and kind of entertaining the lady, Just when we were about to go have to supper the lady ask for my number and I did not think much of it and gave it to her.

The next day she started to text me and asked If I can go down to the pub and drink again. I told her no, as I do not want to go out unless I’m meeting my friends, I rather drink at the coffee shop downstairs my block and relax.

This goes on and on, she texts me daily and I was a bit annoyed and I block her on Whatsapp. Soon after she switched to another telephone line and started calling me.

I blocked her again, she used my phone number to add me on Wechat and started sending crazy messages saying that she loves me and it was love at first sight.

Obviously, I did not accept the Wechat friend request.

Finally, she used the third number and I told her that we only met once and we were just drinking and not out there finding girlfriends.

She accused me of cheating on her, I was like WT?!

I warned her that I will call the Police soon as I know that she is secretly working in the pub without a valid permit. I knew that she has a day job and she is secretly working part-time in the pub for extra income.

“All work pass holders must only work for their designated employer. They must not take on additional jobs or engage in activities to earn additional income”

Quoted from MOM, I send it to her telling her to buzz off or I will make the calls.

She disappeared soon after and stopped contacting me.

Xuay xuay after 1 month, I go Geylang eat supper with my friends bump into her. She approached me and said she is sorry asking if we can be friends.

I told her to go fly kite and left the place with my friends.

Nowadays Singapore disco scene has moved from not only just foreign girls but also Singapore girls working.

a girl working at a local disco made more than $40K after her first few months in Singapore.

In the past, discos would always hire girls that are here on travel visa and work by selling flowers or ladies’ drink. Some smarter girls even get the ‘boyfriend’ to provide a local address so they would be able to enter Singapore more easily.

Nowadays discos get smarter, they apply for an entertainer work permit for the girls and make them work here legally. This kind of flower business is “not illegal” as this is a mutual trade between the customer and the disco.

Many SG boys hang thousand of flowers a month and get nothing in return. Some do it for ego and want to be famous in the disco.

Nowadays it is common to see Thai girls post photos of them being rich after working in Singapore, Korea, Japan and etc. Now even local girls join in the business because of the sheer amount of money they can earn.

The best part of this it is better than prostitution, the girls don’t even need to offer themselves to earn. They will call you darling, teeruk or boyfriend and go out and have a meal with you and alot of SG morons will buy them diamonds and gold chains and get almost nothing in return.

The girls would often be offered a place to stay at a very low price and sometimes.

When the visa or permit is finished the girls go home with a pile of cash and the so call SG ‘boyfriend’ will be left behind and becomes an ultimate loser. This also applies not only to local guys but also to local girls who frequent “duck joints”.

Just my 2 cents after working as a bartender for many years.

Hope locals will share this and wake up and use the money for something better like investing in property or buying a dream car.

I was walking near Yishun MRT and a man in his 60s approached me and complimented my short haircut. I said thanks and the guy was not giving off red flags on the approach.

Then he started walking with me… I suppose I should have stood still and not kept walking- first thing I could have done differently. He said he hoped he wasn’t bothering me and I honestly said that he wasn’t.

Well then he wanted to touch my hair and I was so… idk.. surprised? by that I actually said okay… and while I didn’t like it.. I felt like maybe that’s the end of it or maybe he actually cuts hair for a living. (He doesn’t, I asked.)

Then he wanted to know if he was bothering me and again I said no ( I was starting to be a little panicked and hoping it was over) at which point he asked if he could ask me a more personal question. oh boy.

He wanted to know if it was shaved down there. When I said I preferred not to answer he was like why not?

I said I prefer not to answer. He said the correct answer is ‘yes.’ At which point we came to an intersection and he said he was going one way and I said I was going another.

I hate to think he had gotten his jollies and was running for home at that point. And now I’m at home thinking about how he knows where I get my haircut and feeling gross.

Reading this I see many things I could have done differently, but specifically, I need help with getting the courage to act differently.

My whole life I’ve been afraid of not being liked by others when I need to get out of a potentially unsafe situation, my instinct is politeness.

An employer shared how his employee left without serving their notice and the unhappiness started when his other employees were unhappy about the food the FT is eating because they found the food to be smelly.

Among the things that the staff brought to their small open office were things like fish and some fermented food.

The boss offered the foreign employees free lunch but they took offence and accused the bsos of being racist against their cultural dishes, before quitting without notice.

Here is the story:

I have an employee who brings in strong-smelling foods into our small open office. Things like fish and some fermented food which is then microwaved.

Other employees have to open their windows and I’ve received complaints from people who enter our area. I’ve asked them to not bring these foods and was told they were cultural dishes and I was being racist.

I did not know what to do I didn’t mind cause half the time I’m not in the office but my other local employees are making noise about it.

I tried to be nice and offered the foreign employees free local lunch so the office will smell nicer but instead of being thankful to me, they quit without serving notice.

I gave them a job, buy them lunch and they quit. Good luck in finding another job without leaving Singapore.

After quitting for several days, they told me to not cancel their permit but they left their job without serving notice. I told them what they did was extremely irresponsible, and they offered to come back and serve their notice until I can find a replacement. 

But no way I’m going to do that, I’m going to cancel all their work pass immediately.

The term pay peanuts get monkeys are real indeed.