By the way, I’m a lady in her late 30s and married. I’m a marketer and a copywriter.

Context: Left my very toxic job in Feb and haven’t been able to secure another employment since I left.

I have been diligently applying for jobs since and have gone for some interviews to no avail. Have been applying not just for the usual ones (marketing, writing) jobs that I have experience in but to short-term ones too. Even went to #SGUnited jobs to take a look but there’s honestly nothing I can apply for.

To date, still nothing. Not even a part-time position.

So begs my question. Are there even truly companies still hiring during these times?

I’m almost at the brink of desperation, as much as I try to keep up with a positive appearance. I still have some savings to lean on but I can’t keep doing that in the long term.

Any advice or leads will be awesome. Thank you in advance!

Here are what netizens think:

• Why not join the bus companies as a Bus Captain? I have a friend used to work in tour agency but then lost his job in Feb when China tourists are banned and the agency went bottom up. He joined one of the companies and is about to graduate from training course aldy.
• I’ve too just lost my job, just managed to find one last Friday morning with a 22% wage increment and was supposed to head down to sign the contract today but everything was put on hold afterwards.
• I believe that every adversity presents opportunities in other areas. I would suggest looking at companies that are in e-commerce, logistics (delivery companies), groceries/supermarkets, online streaming companies etc. Maybe online translation services too as I heard my friend dabble in for EN to Chinese translation.
• Just last month till just last week , we were still hiring IT programmer. 4 openings no applicants at all. It’s a local listed company(retail, real estate) with our own building so not some sme.

I have been working with a company for five years. I am very grateful for my job and the opportunities it has given me.

Recently, I have been experiencing major burnout and am on the verge of quitting and getting another job.

Our management is not the best, we’ve had to get at least 4 new store managers in the time I have been there, there’s a lot of favouritism and people getting involved with each other but that’s beside the point.

Anyways, I am a cashier, I started out as a cashier, then got promoted to money services/customer service within the first year of my being there. I was involved with their pickup when it was there, and I learned the layaway layout when it was available.

At one point in the 5 years, I applied for a management position for the front end and I didn’t get it but I learned a lot since then.

I have covered lunches and full shifts for our managers before. It bothers me, considering that I am not “trained to be a manager” and I am not getting a manager’s paycheck. When I do cover it’s for emergencies, like “no coverage.” and I usually don’t mind because I know how to handle situations well, I know procedures, I know policies, the cashiers respect me and I overall feel comfortable taking on the leadership role.

On the day (today) I am calling in there is no front-end manager scheduled (it was probably the day assigned to the one on vacation.) I work 3 pm-12am, there is another cashier who sometimes helps out who can help me from 11am-8pm.

I literally had to find out myself that no one was scheduled that day. And when I confronted one of my managers about it, asking who was going to cover, they said “oh didn’t they tell you, they were gonna tell you to do it”

They were just going to dump that information the day of, and they expected me to be okay with covering.

I am not okay with it because I feel I deserve to be asked ahead of time and feel like I have the choice to say yes or no. In this situation, they are just assuming that I will be okay with covering. There are more responsibilities with being a manager than being a cashier, and I am not even getting paid more for it. (Money isn’t the issue, because I have covered it before when they have asked.)

It was just really upsetting that they expect me to just be okay with them taking advantage of me, and whenever I need help or favour they won’t help me back. They take advantage of the fact that I know what to do and the procedures and everything.

And I know for a fact that there isn’t any other cashier that day (today) that will be able to cover, except for that cashier who is there for 11-8 but I know she won’t stay till 12.

Actually I feel very lost in my life. It seems like I’m getting better and improving as a person over time.

But I feel that I have no direction in life. I also don’t know how to describe this and I also have no one to share with about this. My mom will also not understand this since I have a job already and I am independent enough to support myself.

Yet I feel so empty once in a while. I feel so lost and I don’t know if I’m heading in the right direction. My only guideline is that as long as I am not harming any being, I can be a happy person. However, recently, I just cannot stop feeling lost.

I know it will be my fault if I cannot recognize that I have something to feel happy about. I feel that I have too much emotions inside me and I don’t have tools to manage them well. I don’t know why I am just so sensitive to negative emotions and stress. I also don’t able to withstand the stress from work well. My colleague actually encouraged me and told me I’m doing my work well, just that I don’t know how to handle the stress. I actually feel very upset with myself.

For the same job, why other people can adapt so well, but I always have issues with my stress management. Everyone is also very tired from work and also get complaint from parents. I’m not the only one facing it, why is my mind so weak and I don’t have emotional strength to go against it?

I actually feel very lonely. I feel very tired from my work. When I’m with my friends, I feel happy to meet them, but I feel very scared that I have nothing to return back to them.

I wish I can do something good to the beings around me. But I feel that I have nothing good to return to the world, except donating blood.

Other people don’t seem like having problems of dealing with emotions. But I have a lot of emotions inside, and I feel very sensitive to my own and other people’s emotion. It makes me become so quiet when I’m with other people. I think I can work for this job for so long is because it is mostly about interacting with children. I actually feel very uncomfortable with some adults, and I wonder if I’m thinking too much. I have a tendency to keep interpreting their facial expression and body language, this makes me feel very drained.

I feel very tired. I feel that I’m being over sensitive and really think too much with other people’s words. This makes life difficult for me.

And, I hope I can have some joy and peace inside me. Otherwise, I really have nothing to share with my closed one. I don’t know why I just can’t handling my emotion well. It is just one emotion that makes me suffer. I just need to observe and wait for it to leave me.

I really don’t intend to cause any harm for myself. I want to refrain from harming and do as many good things as possible. But my emotion is causing me painful experience. I have very bad anxiety problem when I’m working. This anxiety issue actually results in a lot of negative self talk, things like I’m lousy and ugly, my boss wants to fire me etc. Rationally, I know this is very unhealthy and my negative self talks are all illusion (it doesn’t reflect the reality, I hope).

I feel very anxious. When I’m anxious, I do a lot of running and recently my knees are feeling very painful. I wonder if I should just stop. Either I will exercise very intensely or I will write all my feelings down somewhere else and hope it will disappear once I finish writing it. I really hope I can refrain from harming any being, including myself. Sometimes I get so anxious with my work, I cannot sleep at night and it affects my work on the next day. I could have done it better. This kind of thing keeps appearing in my head. My yoga teacher kept saying that my neck and shoulder are very tight and I need to learn how to relax myself during meditation.

I’m just cannot stop thinking about work before sleeping. I’m very tired and my head is very uncomfortable. I wonder if other people feel that it’s very annoying to be with me. I’m just a normal person who can’t handle stress well and have a lot of complaints with life. I also don’t dare to say it out to other people since I don’t want to be a burden. I can only secretly say it out here online. I hope to bring some joy and peace to the people and animals around me. However, I feel so helpless sometimes, I feel very upset with myself. I feel very tired.

I wonder why I worked so hard in the past. Yet I cannot make myself feel more relax and in peace.

Partner is angry bc of my night owl schedule/wants me to move out.

I’ve been with my man for 6 years. We’ve had ups and downs, but it’s the most loving partnership I’ve ever had.

I started a job in hospitality recently that requires me to work late (until about 1 am), and then I’m usually so wired after work that I need a little time to decompress. I’ve also befriended some amazing lady coworkers that I love to chat and laugh with until the early morning hours at one of their apartments. I don’t drink, so we literally just eat ice cream and look at stupid TikToks.

My boyfriend is very upset about my new hours and claims he can’t sleep when I’m out super late, even though when I come home he’s snoring peacefully. I feel like he’s just trying to control me, and I don’t like it. He feels like I’m disrespecting him because he can’t get good sleep while I’m out.

To be clear, I only stay out like this once every 2 weeks. This is an occasional situation. After coming home early this morning, he told me he wants me to move out. “This schedule isn’t working for me.”

He doesn’t even seem to want to talk about it. I am baffled, annoyed , and frankly angry because I feel like it’s just another tactic to control me. It seems ridiculous. He can’t afford our apartment without me, but he wants to make all the rules.

Can someone please help me understand where he’s coming from so I can try to approach him with compassion and conciliation? I’m too angry to see the bigger picture here.

A man shared a story online sharing his recent trip to a supposedly Thai Disco/pub but end up all Singapore girls.

The man stated that the Singapore girls working there gave him all sorts of ridiculous reasons for wanting to work as a hostess.

Here is the story:

When the pandemic hit us, many industries were affected. One of them is nightlife.

Previously, In Thai Discos there are always a lot of siam bu there working and entertaining locals to drink or play the dice and some even have the hopes of finding a husband in Singapore. Likewise, the local customers are also hopeful of finding a girlfriend.

So I went to this supposed Thai Disco joint but when I step in, Inside all the girls working are Singaporean. I don’t know if I too long never step out of the house to drink or if this is the new “Thai Disco”.

Back in the early 90s, there were still Singapore or Malaysian girls working in Joo Chiat as hostesses but it soon died down.

Looks like they are back again. So one of these very young-looking girls joined us for a drink and I asked why is she working there.

This is the reason she gave me

“I like to drink and working here is the highest income I can find”

I did not make any comments and drank regularly. Again another girl came along so I asked the same question again.

She answered:

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“I cannot study and work here to earn more”

Another one:

“I single mother needs extra cash”

I suddenly got a flashback to my younger days, Then I started thinking why now so many girls work in this kind of place.

The manager of the place told me that now it is almost impossible to bring in girls from Thailand as it is getting “harder” to do so. Whatever it means.

He also said that now this era of young people is different from our times, they prefer easy money.

I(28F) am single, don’t have kids and live alone. I also do not work OT or do anything beyond my work.

First, let me explain what my work is like: so we are an internal auditing company. I work in the logistics auditing division. What that means is that when a company hires us (mostly to see how good their policies are), we shadow their workers, to see where efficiency can be increased.

Sometimes that means working night shift, delivery, warehouse, manufacturing…etc.

We are very lucky that we have an awesome manager and team leader. Once we divide the tasks, you can do them whenever as long as your report is handed in when it should be. Work from home, from the office, at 3 am, less than 40hrs… It doesn’t matter.

For the 6 years, I have been on this team, another female colleague (30s) has been doing her absolute best to work the least amount possible. First, she is either always pregnant and not “able” to shadow anyone but the office workers, she is on maternity leave (4 months), on her yearly vacation (a month), or conveniently sick when it is time for some heavy-duty work (she sends in MC like it’s free, well it is as the company covers medical).

When she is in the office, she is dumping her work on the others. She uses her kids as an excuse all the time.

Well usually the other team members pick up her slack, but I refuse to do so.

This time we are auditing a larger company, so all hands on deck. And for the first time ever she is neither pregnant nor on maternity leave, and she just got back from her yearly leave.

The company we are auditing is overseas, so the members who will have to go will be staying there for 3 weeks. This time it is my turn to stay in the office (well my home TBH) and do the data organisation/analysis.

She asked me to switch with her, apparently, she can’t leave her 5 kids alone with her husband. I said no. She tried to guilt trip me by saying that what she would have to pay for child care is more than what she would get paid for the whole month and that I don’t have any responsibilities like her. I told her “well they are not my kids, so I don’t see how that is my problem”

Now she is pouting like a kid, and some colleagues are saying that I don’t know how hard-working moms have it, that I should be more compassionate.

Not sure if this is the right place, so please feel free to redirect me if I’m in the wrong place.

After a month of colds, sinus infections and we get didn’t spend much time alone together. It’s two days before I ovulate and my boyfriend and I did it without ‘rubber’.

I insist that he should wear one but he somehow convinced me to not wear it and said that he will not finish inside. He said that many couples try for years without success and we will definitely be not so suay.

It was just one time and I felt that it will never happen to me but my nightmares came through.

My period stopped coming and I was stressed and finally had the courage to buy a test kit.

We bought two just in case, So the first one came out positive and so did the second one. We are really lost and have no idea what to do.

Ever since it happened, my bf has been distanced almost as if he wants to run away without wanting to be responsible.

While we aren’t actively trying nor are we financially capable to get married and unable to afford an HDB.

I’m more curious if anyone did get pregnant from that one time in two weeks because I don’t really understand how it can happen just one time. I know of some couples who try for months without success.

We revealed it to our parents and after a big hoo-hah we are going for regular checkups at the hospital. Guess what?

ITS A TWIN. I knew that there were twins in my boyfriends family and now we are twice as stress as we calculated and barely able to feed one child. How are we going to feed two.

I know a lot of people will be blaming me for allowing it to happen. Are there any financial aids out there that might be able to help us?

I have seen many people always say that they want to work in a big company after their university graduation, but they don’t know the bitterness of working in a big company.

Everyone in the big company has always been intrigued and often tells right from wrong.

Only the treacherous and cunning talents can survive in the big company safely. Going down, honest people will soon be eliminated by big companies because those old drivers will try their best to harm newcomers.

For example, put sleeping pills in your water bottle to make you feel uncomfortable after eating and you can’t go to work on time in the next day. Thus,you will be fired by the boss. The famous saying of big companies: If you are strong, I will use any means to drive you away. If you are weak, I will look down on you and I will also drive you away!

I have only worked in a large company for two years and I don’t want to work it anymore.

Therefore, I suggest that you go to small and medium-sized companies to hone after graduation. Please don’t go directly to large companies. You are still very tender, so let yourself understand what I told you that the ugly side of society wonders so you can decide whether you want to work in a large company or not.

I’m back to work in my old bean company.

Currently, I am the general manager of my father’s company. My father tells their employees whoever dares to harm me, my father will expel that person directly or they will be sent to court if the case is serious.

I feel very happy and comfortable because I can go back to my old bean company to help my father work instead of going to a big company to see those scumbags.”

Do you consider not giving an allowance to parents as unfilial?

I just wanted to ask for some opinions after an encounter with some friends.

I’m 32F, married with 1 kid (3yo). I recently met up with some friends (we used to be very close in uni). However, due to conflicting schedules, covid, etc, we haven’t met for almost 6 yrs.

Suddenly the topic of how much of our income we give to our parents as “allowance” came up, and when I said I don’t give them any, my friends got all shocked and gave me the judging look.

We discussed this when we first started out our careers and not again until now. Back then, I was only earning 3k/mth, so finances were tight and my parents specifically said they didn’t want anything, so my friends kinda understood that.

Fast forward now, my monthly is about 11k, and I can more than provide for my parents. However, they still refuse to accept any money I give and threaten to throw back any money I give. The only thing they ask for is that I pay it forward to my kid the next time, as they did to me.

At their age (my dad is 75 and mum 70), both are still working and are very frugal. I visit them almost every week to eat and let them play with my kid.

So when I told this to my friends (I’m kinda open about finances), they got all shocked and said I should be more filial and find ways to pass allowance to my parents. They claimed that even though they earn just about half of my salary or slightly more, they still have to pass 10% as allowance cause of filial piety and I should minimally do that so because I’m earning significantly more than them.

Honestly, for so long, I know my parents and its an open and shut case. But since my filial piety is now in question, I’m posting here for some thoughts and opinions.

Husband acts like he prefers my daughter over me

I got married & gave birth when i was 18.

The marriage eventually ended & i remarried, bringing my daughter along when she was a teenager.

Now my daughter has grown up and married. However, my husband’s behaviour seems weird recently.

He will want to include my daughter in every outing or meal. I can’t go “paktor” with him anymore without him asking me to call my daughter to come along.

Once during dinner with friends, he chose to sit beside her instead of me, taking up the seat meant for her husband. When i asked him to move over & sit with me, he just said he prefers to sit there with his girlfriend.

I trust my daughter not to have anything of that kind with my husband, but i don’t trust my husband anymore. He would rather go to her for opinions and help everytime when he has a wife just beside him. I tried to talk to him about it but he always changes the subject.

Do i have the right to suspect him?

Here are what netizens think:

• Don’t call your daughter out la. Just say she wants to spent time with HER HUSBAND

• Yes..your suspicion is valid..he is up to no good..speak with your daughter so you can have a sense of her take on this..hopefully she is not already into a forbidden messed up rs with him.

• You siao ah, daughter mah. U old hag.