The Times They Are a-Changing' - Bob Dylan

It all started with the Amy Cheong saga and a FaceBook status update I made.

  

Shane Gill: Ok. Enough. Amy Cheong has paid for her sins. She lost her job. Enough. Everyone complains about foreigners but this shows we can hardly tolerate our own Singaporeans. She said what she said. She lost her job. Enough. She's still one of our own.

Within the hour, I received a private message in my inbox. Name's have been changed for privacy reasons of course. 

Perhaps enough Shane of 'everyone complains about foreigners'. In my country I would be considered a racist and a bigot if I went on the way you do. This foreigner felt very unwelcome here when she read your comments in the last months she lived in Singapore. I've gone home now, where I try to remember to be respectful to those who have changed areas if the city by migrating from Asia. in Singapore I gave my skills and love to thousands of kids and the local economy got all of my earnings returned to it. Do you really want a works in which no one is free to live beyond their countryside boarders? Your country and mine would never have developed as they have were that the case. And where would our ancestors have been if they had been surrounded by your attitude towards foreigners?

I like when people respond with differing views. We really need more of it. Too many people just refuse to speak, frightened perhaps,  when their opinion differs. And that's sad. Here's my response.

big·ot
[big-uht]
noun
a person who is utterly intolerant of any differing creed, belief, or opinion.

rac·ist
[rey-sist]
noun
1.
a person who believes in racism, the doctrine that a certain human race is superior to any or all others.




Hi Linda

Racist. Bigot. Extremely strong words. Perhaps you misunderstood, perhaps you skipped over a few details. Never have I criticized the people who have come to my country seeking better a future. They are entitled to it. If I felt I could better provide for my family in a foreign land, I too would go. It only makes sense.

You have taken my criticism of my government’s policies as criticism of the individual. I have an issue with the rate at which my government has opened the floodgates on immigration. The infrastructure of Singapore is under such severe strain that the Prime Minister himself has acknowledged the fact that the immigration policy needs to be looked at.

As you have so wisely observed in your country, I too am grateful for all the people from other countries that have made Singapore what it is today. The flats built, the roads paved, the grass cut. I see these things. They do not fall beyond my field of vision. I understand. But my people are suffering. Wages are being depressed to the point of poverty. Many foreigners are hired do the job at a fraction of the cost of a Singaporean. Our old cannot retire. They clean fast food outlets and it breaks my heart, Linda. The falling birthrate has the government pointing squarely at the people when they fail to see the people are struggling to feed themselves, let alone start a family.

I have never called for the picture you painted. Where people live and work only where they come from. I just ask for some semblance of sanity at which our gates are open. I understand where progress has brought this country but I do not think it is ok to sacrifice the people for the sake of progress.

Racist. Bigot. Linda my dad owns a shop in Race Course Road. I have sat by the road side and eaten meals with foreign workers from India and Bangladesh. I have been the best man at a Muslim wedding. My best friend is gay and from the Philippines. I have gone into mosques, churches, temples, and have actually knelt and prayed in them. Before I was a teacher I spent six years serving our military and reached the rank of Sergeant First Class. With people of all races and creeds. I have cried and bled with these people. And they with me. I have a tattoo in my flesh that states that everyone is the same.

I read your message just before I stared teaching five classes. And I must say those words hit me rather hard. If you were ever offended by my updates on FaceBook, and if you ever felt unwelcome in this country, I am truly sorry. That was never what I meant to do. I hope you’re happy where you are right now. And I hope you have the life you’ve always wanted. I will never stop fighting for the rights of my people.


Much love (and I mean it)
Shane Gill

 

Know Your Rights - The Clash.

Service. The word instantly bring about pictures of smiling faces, laughing voices and an all around good feeling. Right? WRONG! A few things have happened to me in the last few days which I need to tell you about for the sake of your own safety. Lest you expect better from these places and get your heart broken.

Lets start with the little confectionary/bread shoppe at Yishun MRT. It was called something else before and I cannot remember what. But now, it has undergone renovation and is called...... You ready?....... "Thousand Taste." On the scale of dumb names. This ranks pretty high. So I go into "Thousand Taste" expecting the bread experience of my life. I bought my favourite, the vintage tuna bun. I placed two on my tray, looked at them lovingly and went over to the counter for payment. I pay $3 and step outside. As soon as I'm out, I take a bite. A rather large bite. TUNA BUN MY FUCKING BALLS! The bun was the size of my hand. The amount of tuna in it, was the size of a bottle cap. Yes yes, I am exaggerating a little but trust me. There was so little tuna in there I was left feeling like a fool. And I do not like feeling like a fool. Look, I know some of you are gonna say, "The fuck did you expect for $1.50?" I expected a lot more thats what. If you need to charge me $2, or even $2.50 to make a better damn bun, do it! But don't make your customers feel like you just cheated them. I'm never going there again. The feeling of being made a fool of is not a nice one.

Next up on this service agenda. This restaurant called Shiu Yakiniku. Ok what happened here was someone bought a Groupon voucher and had a really bad experience at the restaurant, and put it on Stomp. Now things on stomp are really one-sided and you will never know the full story. Here's the link for the complaint.


http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/stomp/sgseen/got_service_or_not/906460/we_dine_at_restaurant_with_groupon_voucher_but_get_treated.html

Like I said, we really can't judge this one as one can say anything on Stomp and get away with it. Just the nature of the platform. But what we CAN judge is the response the restaurant gave. Also through Stomp. Here's the link for the response.

http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/stomp/sgseen/got_service_or_not/909724/patrons_who_dined_using_groupon_voucher_werent_treated_like_dirt.html

You know when you write a response letter to a complaint, you would think the most important thing was placating the disgruntled customer and also preserving the sullied name of your establishment. Not here. Whoever wrote this letter went into battle to refute each point the customer brought up. Shields out, swords drawn. This is the way you write a response to a complaint? It achieved nothing. It made every one who read it feel that the restaurant had no class. No class. Multiple commenters on Stomp said they would never step into this restaurant. Was that the aim of your letter? To push your name further into the mud? Where's the service?

Lastly, on this rather long post which is not a waste of time because YOU need to know about these places. I was sick on sunday night. Which was the eve of Chinese New Year. I went to the clinic in Sembawang MRT. Guess what. Consultation charge alone WITHOUT medicine. $80. WHAT THE BLOODY FUCK??!! How can they do this? Are they living in their own little make believe society? How can a DOCTOR do that? People are sick. Everywhere else is closed. So what if you're the only one open? Is that how a doctor thinks? That fucking heartbreaking man. So no, I didn't see the doctor. And I was sick until Wednesday. And I had to miss a day of work. One of the lines in the classic Hippocratic Oath states that, "I will keep them from harm and injustice." I don't think that fee was justice.

So there it is.

1. Put tuna in tuna buns.

2. Respond to complaints with heart. Not your sword. Which in this case was blunt as fuck.

3. In certain professions, when you make it all about money, you look like a very bad person.