My GF and I are currently staying in a Hotel in Chiang Mai.

When we first arrived in the afternoon the hotel room looked ok, so we took a walk into the city (about 3 hours). When we came back we found bugs all over the bed and some on our stuff (on the Internet we found out that they are bed bugs) there were also these black Marks on the mattress.

After like 30 min we called the Hotel staff and we got Another room for the Night. Now we are concerned if it’s possible that the Bugs could have crawled into our stuff and laid eggs.

We have separated everything and put it into sealed plastic bags. Also, we have no bite marks.

We don’t want to bring the bugs home from the hotel.

What should we do now? Thanks

Here are what netizens think:

• Heat will kill bugs. If you can warm your stuff and leave it there for a few hours it will kill anything. You might be able to do that by putting it into a black garbage bag and leaving it in the sun.

• I know bed bugs could be anywhere, but I’m just curious, which hotel? I’m staying in Chiang Mai soon.

• I would run your stuff through a dryer at a laundry mat in your home before you go home just as safety protection. Bed bugs are terrible and extremely hard to kill you don’t want to bring them home.

• It isn’t well known, but beg bugs are repelled by DEET found in mosquito sprays and lotions. Find the highest concentration of DEET you can, up to 50% and use as directed on the can/bottle. Big C, Tesco Lotus, etc carry the big brands like Off spray, but you can find lower concentrations at 7-11

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.

Hi all,

Firstly, I apologise if this is not the place to be posting this question.

So, I’ve been working at a mature start-up for about a year now. I joined as part of a growth cycle in which about 100 people were hired. My role is compensated well, mostly because I work in technology in a role with a lot of responsibility.

I asked when I joined if I could have shares and they said it was in the works and coming to everyone soon. I didn’t press too much as I was already receiving a big bump in salary.

Recently, all existing employees have been offered growth shares. The company has made a big deal about not wanting it to be about a % stake in the business or deciding based on salary. Which, if I’m being cynical, seems like it only stands to benefit them by making it harder to understand what you’re getting.

Does anyone have experience receiving growth shares? Typically, how many shares would you expect for a company at this stage? The only figure I’ve been told is based on the company’s previous funding round. They were valued at ~$30m. If the company sold for $1B (I repeat IF), I would be looking at a $90,000 return on the sold shares. Am I being unreasonable to think this isn’t actually a very meaningful stake given how few startups actually reach that size?

Purely on numbers, I’ve worked the offer to be ~3.5% of my salary as Growth shares, vested over a 5-year period. Equating to ~0.0008% stakeholder in the business.

Sorry for the ramble, Im planning to speak to them about it, but ideally I’d like a number in my head and some evidence of what other companies at this stage have offered in the past.

I rather get straight cash increments.

The ugly side of tutoring industry

Recently, there have been multiple posts about whether Teachers should quit their jobs to be a tutor, or even tutor should join the working industry.

These are my 2-cent thoughts:

While being a tutor gives a sense of satisfaction to be able help their students to improve and able to plan their own time, it is not as glamorous as one thought when it comes to remuneration.

Do not forget that, as a private tutor, they are considered self-employed and hence there are no CPF contribution from employer (which they lose that 17% perks).

In addition, they may lose out on other benefits such as medical, insurance, leaves, etc.

While some may argue that they can easily hit 5-6k a month, that is provided on many factors like the level of students they teach, the frequency of those higher paying students, etc.

However, when they reach the end of year period, typically around November and December, their income will come to a drastic dropped due to students going on Holidays, students dropping tuition as they do not need it anymore (eg. Graduating Cohort) and other reasons that I may have missed out.

Hence, I think one should look at Annual Remuneration rather than Monthly salary earned. Fresh grad typically can earn 3-4k/month, with performance bonus and AWS, which will give them a good amount of 40-60k per annum, as compared to a tutor, it will probably be around 40k per annum or less.

However, though I dont encourage being a full time tutor but I think it is still a decent part time career that one can take up as side income to supplement their main income.

You may call me materalistic but money still speaks volume, not passion.

Of course, if remuneration is not an important factor, then by all means, pursue the life of being a private tutor then.