I worked as maintenance in a chain hotel.

There was one room at the end of the hall where things would happen while you were working on it, and the same two things every time: sometimes the faucet would start running. Not full blast or anything, but turned on enough to be running steadily.

A half turn of the knob I’d say. I’d be in the other room and suddenly hear water gurgling down the drain. Sometimes I’d be working on the tub and hear it on behind me. Whoever/whatever would also turn on the tv.

I’ll never forget being warned on my first day at this hotel that things would happen in the room, and then while making a bed and rustling the sheets noisily–suddenly aware I was hearing muffled voices and saw the tv was on.

We have numerous hotel guest that complained about this room and said that “something not working” but I always come by and there was nothing wrong.

I’m getting chills thinking back on those moments. Whatever part of the room your back was to, it felt like someone was there. I got the feeling they didn’t want to be in the way, but they wanted to be there with you.

The housekeeping staff would always go in pairs for this particular hotel room.

One thing we all felt throughout the staff: none of us felt threatened….none of us felt like it was a bad person or someone who was trying to frighten us. We all felt overwhelmed like it was someone trying to reach out. And had limited ways. And was lonely. Sometimes I’d say hello, sometimes I’d say sorry because I felt like if they were frustrated trying to tell me something, I’d want them to know I felt for them.

I realize I sound crazy but it happened super regularly and was witnessed by a lot of people.

I thought about whoever it could be, a lot. I hope having people staying in the room more steadily will be a good thing for whoever that spirit was. Maybe they felt less lonely with more hotel guests actually living there.

I was earning around 60k to 70k per annum for 10 years before quitting to be a SAHM.

My husband earns more than I. My husband and I paid half each during the initial payment for the house with a remaining loan of 200k. We have separate and joint accounts.

He has taken over paying for almost all the expenses for both of us. Including giving me an allowance which I was able to save from it too. We are thrifty, we don’t own a car.

During the course of our marriage, he had asked me twice if we can repay some of the home loans, using both our savings. I obliged as I wanted to ease his burden. I’ve not needed to spend from my own pocket as he’s given me a supplementary card for all expenses and he also Paylah whenever I pay for things.

From kid to house stuff and even my own personal shopping, insurance and other smaller bills he would paylah me sometimes and will do it when I ask too. Basically, he’s paying for almost everything and I’m grateful for that. I’m also a simple person.

From buying luxury items to spending less than $500 a month

I used to buy Chanels’ and Pradas but have since adjusted my spending habits since becoming a mom. I can live on 500 or less a month if I want to. I don’t scrimp when it comes to food. I can buy things on sale but I also won’t deprive my child of a new book or toy on birthdays or Xmas when my child asks for it.

We won a decent amount not long ago and we used that to fully repay our condo. We are debt free since. We didn’t tell anyone about it.

Recently his family member asked if we can invest an amount in their business. Promising huge returns. All along I’m not on good terms with them and I don’t trust them either.

They have been changing what they do all along. My husband would like us to contribute to show support. He says I got the spare cash, why not? I have a strong feeling their business will fail again and we won’t get back a single cent. My relatives said me and my husband are the only ones staying in a condominium, we should give others a chance to upgrade from HDBs. I think it’s rubbish talk.

I don’t want my husband to help them either. I have plans to work when my child gets older but whatever I have now, it’s my own savings. I feel very annoyed his relatives act like I ought to help them. I’m not a big investor so I prefer to keep most of my money in banks. I do share and invest in the same stocks as my husband so even though my husband doesn’t really know the exact amount that I have, he has a rough idea that I have more than 100k. I know it’s not a lot. But since I’m not working right now, it’s my lifeline.

Am I a bad person for refusing to give his relatives a single cent and also stopping my husband from helping them?

I am interning at a certain popular e-commerce company. I will be here until the end of the year, and it is quite dreadful every day.

It is not that my superiors are nasty. They are friendly and teach me stuff.

However because most of the employees are not Singaporean, the work culture is quite different, even the way they treat Singaporeans is also different. They only care about their fellow countrymen, so if the team consists of people from different backgrounds, the team will not be bonded. It is quite obvious that they are only friendly with each other for work relations.

Recently a new full-timer joined my team. He is also from that country. As such, he is treated extremely well. He was given a tour around the office and they even treated him to lunch. Back when I joined, there was no such treatment lol. But I guess it is because I am a temporary staff there is no need to treat me that well. I am fine with that.

However, my supervisor has been assigning him work that was meant for me.

Hence ever since he joined my workload has become significantly less and I don’t learn as much anymore. I am also kept out of the loop for projects that I used to be part of, and he has replaced me. My supervisor even asked me to give him my script which I spent 1 entire month working on so that he can take over my duties.

Now I dread going to work because I want to be busy and learn things but now I cannot because everything has been passed to this new guy. Maybe my supervisor finds it easier to communicate with someone of a similar background as her, so she stopped giving me important tasks and instead gave them to him.

It has come to the point where every day I have to ask for work because I have nothing to do. But the work assigned to me is extremely mundane. I miss the days before this new full-timer joined. I really don’t know how I am going to handle the next few months on this team.