My supervisor says I have to answer my phone to come into work on my days off. (We aren’t on call)

my boss is trying to force us to work 12 hour shifts and even longer if no one’s there to relieve us from our post and sent out an email saying we need to answer our phones even on our days off so we can be called in (we do not get on call pay)

Context: So my supervisor sent this email out to the team today after yesterday(I’d imagine) no one responded to his phone calls to get the shift covered.

Yesterday was my last day off for the week and after working 48 hours this week I really like to use my days off to unwind and catch up for the week as my shifts start at 7am until 3pm leading me to go to sleep at 9am so I can be functional in the morning.

So yesterday my supervisor calls me at 9am like 4 times as well as receiving multiple texts for me to come in from 11-4pm.

I had just stayed up til 3 am the day prior because you know…it’s my day off and I never get to stay up as a result.

I tell him I’m just waking up and I have commitments (doing laundry so I have clean clothes for work, getting groceries so I have food to eat when I work etc) so I tell him I can’t without giving up most of my day.

Later that same day he messages me again to ask if I can come in from 7pm-11pm in which I decline again because it’d mean even if I went to bed as soon as I got off, id have less than 6 hours of sleep for my next shift, including time to try and make breakfast.

Am I in the wrong for declining coming into work on my days off? I come in when I can but sometimes I just need time to myself to recover from my long hours.

I’ve never called in myself but find myself being the one that’s expected to pick up the slack when everyone else calls in.

An elderly 65-year-old cyclist died after being hit by a Go Ahead Singapore bus in the morning of 10 April along Pasir Ris.

He was rendered unconscious during the accident and was subsequently conveyed to Changi General Hospital, where he later succumbed to his injuries and died.

Shin Min Daily News reported that the fatal accident took place near the Pasir Ris Bus Interchange, and the deceased was on his bicycle crossing the road when the bus collided into him.

According to The Straits Times, the Singapore Police Force was alerted to the accident that happened at the junction of Pasir Ris Drive 3 and Pasir Ris Centra on 10 April at about 7.20 am in the morning.

The cyclist, who worked as a cleaner, was conveyed to the hospital but later died from his injuries, and the 45-year-old bus driver is currently assisting the police with their investigations.

The deceased’s wife told SMDN that her husband would cycle to work daily, and when the accident took place, she woke her son up and they rushed down to look for him.

They then found out that her husband had been conveyed to Changi General Hospital and they rushed down, but he was already unconscious and the medical staff told them to prepare for the worst.

Later that afternoon, he passed away and was pronounced dead.

The wife told SMDN that her husband, who held a primary school level education, had worked different jobs to support their son’s education, including selling otah at a coffeeshop and working in construction.

He was also well liked and had many friends, who offered their condolences.

A spokesperson for Go Ahead Singapore told ST that they have reached out to the deceased’s family to provide support, and that their top priority is the family’s needs.

Go Ahead Singapore said that they are “deeply saddened that this incident took place and continue to fully cooperate with all relevant authorities in their investigations.”

A female motorcyclist was killed in an accident on the night of 11 April at the Tuas Second Link.

She had fallen into a coma after the accident while waiting at the scene to be conveyed to the hospital, with the accident allegedly involving several motorists.

A motorcycle towing firm, Sin Mah Bike Towing, posted about the incident o Facebook on Tuesday (11 April) appealing for dashcam footage of the accident.

They said in their facebook post that the fatal accident took place on that day along the Tuas Second Link that killed the female motorcyclist.

The accident had purportedly taken place at about 9.28 pm.

The deceased’s brother in law, Mr Sooriya Narayana Moorthy Rao, said that the accident had taken place from between 8.40 pm to 9.30 pm.

He said that his sister in law had been hit after a vehicle, likely to be a either a car or a van, had switched lanes from the third lane to the second lane without signalling, resulting in the collision.

After that, another motorcycle then came from behind and ran over the victim’s body.

The family is appealing for dashcam footage or any witnesses of the accident to come forward.

Recent spate of accidents along Tuas 2nd Link

Another motorcyclist was previously killed in a freak accident along the Tuas Second Link on 5 April after running over a piece of metal on the road and losing control of the bike, before crashing.

The motorcycle was a Johor registered bike, and that accident reportedly took place on Wednesday at about 10.15 pm.

A netizen posted about the accident on the Malaysia-Singapore Border Crossers(MSBC) 马新过境者 Facebook group, showing the victim’s body on the road with a lot of blood, as hordes of motorists surrounded the immediate area.

The body was later covered by what appeared to be a blanket with bloodstains on it.

A motorcycle towing company, Sin Mah Bike Towing, posted about the accident on Facebook with photos and information about the accident, as they tried to reach out to the family of the rider.

Witnesses of the accident had said that the rider had apparently ridden his motorcycle over a piece of metal on the road and lost control of his bike, before crashing and ultimately taking the motorcyclist’s life.

It is unclear how the piece of metal had ended up on the road, but some netizens had speculated that perhaps it had fallen off a lorry or a container truck.

In a subsequent update, Sin Mah Bike Towing said that they managed to locate and reach out to the motorcyclist’s family.

Facebook user Kris Tan, shared a post about the dissatisfactory haircut that he received from a hair salon in Lavender, Kin Cuts, that left him with what he described as a “pineapple head”.

In his Facebook post which has since been deleted and reshared by other netizens, he was complaining about the haircut he received on 9 April and urged others not to patronise them.

He said that the hairstylist allegedly didn’t understand English and gave him the wrong haircut, shaving too much when he told her to only trim a bit, “now I look like a pineapple head.”

He summed up his post and said the haircut was “not quality” and that it set him back by $13.

Salon responds

The owner of the hair salon, Mr Sim, spoke to Mothership and refuted the man’s claims that their hairstyles cannot communicate or understand English, saying that a miscommunication had arisen from how the man had given instructions to the hairstylist.

Sim said that based on the timing of the Facebook post, he could ascertain and identify who the customer was because of his staff’s experience earlier that day with a customer who wasn’t happy with his haircut.

He said that to reduce the miscommunication between hairstylists and customers, they have a picture book of hairstyles for the customers to choose from.

However, Sim said that the customer had simply shown the hairstylist a message on his phone that said “trim but not too short,” and the misunderstanding then occurred.

He added that when the haircut was done, the man wanted it to be shorted and used his hands to gesture to the shaver, indicating that he wanted to shave his hair shorter, which might have resulted in the hairstylist misunderstanding how short the man really wanted his hair to be.

Sim then offered to reach out to the customer to redo his hair to his satisfaction.

He also highlighted the difference between the cheaper haircuts offered by quick-cut salons and hairstyling services, saying that his shop has another salon side that provides haircuts from $28 to $40 which take a longer time to cut but the customer gets to have the “perfect” haircut.

Their quick-cut salons, which are priced at $13, are for customers who know what they want, and also for them to save money and time.

A Singapore-registered oil tanker was hijacked by “unidentified persons” off Ivory Coast, with one Singaporean crew member reportedly being on board the captured vessel.

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) said in a press release that they are currently monitoring the situation.

The MPA said in a statement released earlier today (12 April) that a Singapore-registered oil tanker, SUCCESS 9, was boarded by “unidentified persons” about 300 nautical miles (or about 555.6km) off Ivory Coast in West Africa.

The hijackers boarded the oil tanker on 10 April at about 10 pm, with about 20 crew members of various nationalities on board at the time, including one Singaporean.

The Maritime Executive described the incident as the work of pirates, and they cited a piracy attack security incident report by Praesidium International, which found that the tanker had slowed down and was likely to have been drifting at the time when the pirates hijacked the ship.

The ship then subsequently lost its automatic identification system (AIS), which is a tracking system on ships, at the same time of the hijacking.

The pirates had likely hijacked the vessel in order to steal oil.

The MPA said that they received a report about the hijacking incident and are working with the owner of the ship and the Monrovia Regional Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre, as well as the Information Fusion Centre at the Changi Command and Control Centre to monitor the situation.

They will also provide the necessary assistance required to the hijacked vessel.

MPA’s statement

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) received a report that a Singapore-registered oil tanker, SUCCESS 9, was boarded by unidentified persons at about 300 nautical miles off the Abidjan Coast, Cote d’lvoire on 10 April 2023 at about 10 pm (Singapore time). There are 20 crew of various nationalities onboard the vessel, of which one of them is a Singapore citizen.

MPA is working closely with the ship owner, Monrovia Regional Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre and the Information Fusion Centre at the Changi Command and Control Centre to monitor the situation and render the necessary assistance.

Image source: Unsplash (header image used for illustration purposes only)