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jwsg's review against another edition
4.0
Hard at Work is a collection of 60 interviews conducted by NUS students with people working in different kinds of jobs in Singapore. This was part of part of a class in the Dept of Southeast Asian Studies, where they explored how people in SEA generally and Singapore in particular were "experiencing processes of economic, social, cultural and political change that we often lump under the term 'development'".
The interviews are eye opening. As Teo You Yenn notes in the Foreword, "venture a few steps and face direct revelations about the nature of jobs that every city-dweller takes for granted - cleaner, bus captain, doctor, postal worker. Take a few more steps and be surprised - a teacher turns out to have an unexpected story; you encounter a pet crematorium worker, a monk, a bet collector, a law student with a part-time job his classmates cannot begin to imagine...Reading the stories, we see dreams - some broken, others being chased; we witness craft, expertise, and the corresponding beauty of people taking pride in their labour. Against the backdrop of relentless national discourses in Singapore that privilege straight and narrow pathways, we meet people who reject (or are rejected from) straight paths who turn out to be true path-seekers and pathfinders".
A privileged existence is like living in a bubble - you understand intellectually that some segments of society struggle, that the wage gap is significant. But you're removed from it, even if you're sympathetic or even committed to fighting for greater social justice. Reading the interview transcripts disturbs the comfort of the bubble, at least briefly; hearing what work entails for different people and the rewards for some of that work provokes an almost visceral response that statistics cannot. Take this snippet from Karang Guni Man:
"To sell the items, I have to first classify them. It is really troublesome. For example, there are 16 categories for plastic. Sixteen different types! All the items have to be completely dismantled into the smallest parts possible. Only when items have been classified would we find buyers for these things. Otherwise they will not buy from us."
We tend to speak about issues of race and religion with a certain degree of political correctness. But there are no such qualms on the part of the interviewees here. Like Flower Seller:
"If Singapore wasn't law-by-law ah...last time, when the Malays beat up Chinese people, it was because the government wasn't fair, do you understand? Last time, this was the territory of the Malays leh. When LKY took over, he changed things bit by bit, until we Chinese people had power, in the past it was the Malays who had the power leh. Now the government is very clever, in one block of flats ah, there are only two or three Malay people, two or three Indian people - the government doesn't give us a change to outnumber us. So the government control a lot eh. In the past don't have one. In our kampung, there were so many more Malays! If they said one, we couldn't say two! Now it's the other way around."
Or Student Care Teacher:
"Actually before working, when I first came to Singapore, I also heard that Malays are very lazy. The first few days I work in Singapore, my colleagues from China also told me the same thing...But yah, I also feel that the Chinese people here don't...actually like the Malays? Like Singapore Chinese, I feel got some tension between Malay and Chinese. Won't mix with each other."
Or Postal Worker:
"I find it unfair that these PR postman, mostly from Malaysia, when they start work here, they earn as much as I do! They will double the money when they bring back Malaysia, you know. They will profit. I took 35 years to get the amount I earn now while these PR when they just arrive they earn quite high already. But that is why you need certificate and paper qualifications now."
Or the Malay Investigation Officer who talks about the racial quota in her department because each time a minority officer is transferred out or resigns, another minority will be hired, and her irritation for being treated as the "token Malay" who is expected to answer all questions on Malay culture and Islam.
It's a worthwhile read from a policy perspective as well. Like the policy tensions it highlights e.g. the emphasis on craft, passion and mastery vs the productivity drive. In Restauranteur, the interviewee notes:
" If you look at Tharman's....industry route map for 2016, one of the things he wanted to implement was automation...F&B employs something like 13 percent of the labour pool but contributes like 4 percent of revenue. So Spring Singapore...and other programmes are supposed to help F&B consolidate and scale up by centralising food processing and production. For example, instead of five restaurants each making their own sauce, they want to have one central facility making sauce. But what do you get? You get lower cost but you get homogeneity. Compromising. Lower quality. But the market needs it, I suppose."
Like high level strategic goals vs ground implementation, when in Farmer, the interviewee snarkily notes:
"In landscarce Singapore, 1 square foot of land also must be productive...Three years ago, one lot had to produce 80 to 100kg. This year it has doubled. So I tell AVA, "Can, no problem, I pluck the veggie, the root, the soil, I weigh them together, there will be 200kg." They only want figures so I'll give them figures. I tell the other farmer to do the same. It is nonsense! Four years ago, 1 square foot of land has to produce 1kg, but now you want me to produce 2kg. Eh, the land is still the same, if I can plant 20 chye sim, it doesn't mean I can plant 30 the next year"
Or in Electronics Factory Worker, where the interviewee talks about having left school at Primary 6 and taking on a series of manufacturing jobs - making firecrackers, then garments, then electronics - slowly making her way to earn about $1000 a month. What does skills upgrading and moving up the jobs ladder look like in this context?
Or in Bus Driver where the interviewee explains his routine in detail and why it's a minor miracle why bus drivers don't have more accidents from fatigue and pressure to meet timing targets.
"Lived experience" seems to be the buzz phrase these days. These 60 accounts provide an illuminating glimpse into the lived experience of individuals that would be alien and unfamiliar to many of us, certainly me.
The interviews are eye opening. As Teo You Yenn notes in the Foreword, "venture a few steps and face direct revelations about the nature of jobs that every city-dweller takes for granted - cleaner, bus captain, doctor, postal worker. Take a few more steps and be surprised - a teacher turns out to have an unexpected story; you encounter a pet crematorium worker, a monk, a bet collector, a law student with a part-time job his classmates cannot begin to imagine...Reading the stories, we see dreams - some broken, others being chased; we witness craft, expertise, and the corresponding beauty of people taking pride in their labour. Against the backdrop of relentless national discourses in Singapore that privilege straight and narrow pathways, we meet people who reject (or are rejected from) straight paths who turn out to be true path-seekers and pathfinders".
A privileged existence is like living in a bubble - you understand intellectually that some segments of society struggle, that the wage gap is significant. But you're removed from it, even if you're sympathetic or even committed to fighting for greater social justice. Reading the interview transcripts disturbs the comfort of the bubble, at least briefly; hearing what work entails for different people and the rewards for some of that work provokes an almost visceral response that statistics cannot. Take this snippet from Karang Guni Man:
"To sell the items, I have to first classify them. It is really troublesome. For example, there are 16 categories for plastic. Sixteen different types! All the items have to be completely dismantled into the smallest parts possible. Only when items have been classified would we find buyers for these things. Otherwise they will not buy from us."
We tend to speak about issues of race and religion with a certain degree of political correctness. But there are no such qualms on the part of the interviewees here. Like Flower Seller:
"If Singapore wasn't law-by-law ah...last time, when the Malays beat up Chinese people, it was because the government wasn't fair, do you understand? Last time, this was the territory of the Malays leh. When LKY took over, he changed things bit by bit, until we Chinese people had power, in the past it was the Malays who had the power leh. Now the government is very clever, in one block of flats ah, there are only two or three Malay people, two or three Indian people - the government doesn't give us a change to outnumber us. So the government control a lot eh. In the past don't have one. In our kampung, there were so many more Malays! If they said one, we couldn't say two! Now it's the other way around."
Or Student Care Teacher:
"Actually before working, when I first came to Singapore, I also heard that Malays are very lazy. The first few days I work in Singapore, my colleagues from China also told me the same thing...But yah, I also feel that the Chinese people here don't...actually like the Malays? Like Singapore Chinese, I feel got some tension between Malay and Chinese. Won't mix with each other."
Or Postal Worker:
"I find it unfair that these PR postman, mostly from Malaysia, when they start work here, they earn as much as I do! They will double the money when they bring back Malaysia, you know. They will profit. I took 35 years to get the amount I earn now while these PR when they just arrive they earn quite high already. But that is why you need certificate and paper qualifications now."
Or the Malay Investigation Officer who talks about the racial quota in her department because each time a minority officer is transferred out or resigns, another minority will be hired, and her irritation for being treated as the "token Malay" who is expected to answer all questions on Malay culture and Islam.
It's a worthwhile read from a policy perspective as well. Like the policy tensions it highlights e.g. the emphasis on craft, passion and mastery vs the productivity drive. In Restauranteur, the interviewee notes:
" If you look at Tharman's....industry route map for 2016, one of the things he wanted to implement was automation...F&B employs something like 13 percent of the labour pool but contributes like 4 percent of revenue. So Spring Singapore...and other programmes are supposed to help F&B consolidate and scale up by centralising food processing and production. For example, instead of five restaurants each making their own sauce, they want to have one central facility making sauce. But what do you get? You get lower cost but you get homogeneity. Compromising. Lower quality. But the market needs it, I suppose."
Like high level strategic goals vs ground implementation, when in Farmer, the interviewee snarkily notes:
"In landscarce Singapore, 1 square foot of land also must be productive...Three years ago, one lot had to produce 80 to 100kg. This year it has doubled. So I tell AVA, "Can, no problem, I pluck the veggie, the root, the soil, I weigh them together, there will be 200kg." They only want figures so I'll give them figures. I tell the other farmer to do the same. It is nonsense! Four years ago, 1 square foot of land has to produce 1kg, but now you want me to produce 2kg. Eh, the land is still the same, if I can plant 20 chye sim, it doesn't mean I can plant 30 the next year"
Or in Electronics Factory Worker, where the interviewee talks about having left school at Primary 6 and taking on a series of manufacturing jobs - making firecrackers, then garments, then electronics - slowly making her way to earn about $1000 a month. What does skills upgrading and moving up the jobs ladder look like in this context?
Or in Bus Driver where the interviewee explains his routine in detail and why it's a minor miracle why bus drivers don't have more accidents from fatigue and pressure to meet timing targets.
"Lived experience" seems to be the buzz phrase these days. These 60 accounts provide an illuminating glimpse into the lived experience of individuals that would be alien and unfamiliar to many of us, certainly me.
kaggyzet's review against another edition
5.0
Wow, I think this is one of my favorites, it kinda feels like Our Grandfather Story in a book format.
The topic of this book is on jobs, yet most of the interviewees went on to share about their private lives. For example, many talked about how they came to live like this, or who influenced them to get this job, or how the job has impacted them. I guess the conversations flowed this way probably due to the interview questions that were asked. This reminded me that our jobs are never totally separate from our identities and our personal lives. Our lives very much shape how we approach our jobs, and our jobs shape how we experience and make of our lives.
I really like how candid the interviews are, and I love that the interviewers kept the Singlish / broken English or translated them into a similar format. Some of what the interviewees said made me laugh out loud - these are the everyday things that rarely (if not never) make it’s way to mainstream media; they would’ve been cut away because of their “unimportance”. For example, I found it endearing and hilarious when one foreign worker shared that he had a hard time understanding what his colleagues said until he got them to write it down. How he conveyed this to the interviewer contributed to much of my amusement. (As I write this, I realise it’s super difficult to explain, so read the book).
I think this book also showed me how diverse the Singapore population is, and made me realise how much of my social circle consists of the same kind of people. I mean I’ve realised this all my life. But reading the book makes me feel like I’m listening to someone share intimate details about their lives, as though they are talking directly to me, yet the fact is that in real life it’s really rare to be close to ppl different from you, and this makes me a bit sad. For all I know, my neighbors right next door could be living super different lives from the life that I know and am familiar with, but yeah, I don’t know, I guess it did make me reflect on myself a bit.
Last but not least, I find that the book features many older interviewees. Reading their stories makes me feel that there is a generation gap… The older generation seems to care more of whether they can bring food to the table, and whether they can remain relevant in society and continue playing a role in their communities. This is evident in how many of them continue to take up jobs (even low-paying ones) in retirement to pass time or make extra cash. Whereas people my age (or at least, those in my own social circle) seemed more concerned with chasing wealth and status and retiring early to enjoy life. So this is definitely food for thought for me!
The topic of this book is on jobs, yet most of the interviewees went on to share about their private lives. For example, many talked about how they came to live like this, or who influenced them to get this job, or how the job has impacted them. I guess the conversations flowed this way probably due to the interview questions that were asked. This reminded me that our jobs are never totally separate from our identities and our personal lives. Our lives very much shape how we approach our jobs, and our jobs shape how we experience and make of our lives.
I really like how candid the interviews are, and I love that the interviewers kept the Singlish / broken English or translated them into a similar format. Some of what the interviewees said made me laugh out loud - these are the everyday things that rarely (if not never) make it’s way to mainstream media; they would’ve been cut away because of their “unimportance”. For example, I found it endearing and hilarious when one foreign worker shared that he had a hard time understanding what his colleagues said until he got them to write it down. How he conveyed this to the interviewer contributed to much of my amusement. (As I write this, I realise it’s super difficult to explain, so read the book).
I think this book also showed me how diverse the Singapore population is, and made me realise how much of my social circle consists of the same kind of people. I mean I’ve realised this all my life. But reading the book makes me feel like I’m listening to someone share intimate details about their lives, as though they are talking directly to me, yet the fact is that in real life it’s really rare to be close to ppl different from you, and this makes me a bit sad. For all I know, my neighbors right next door could be living super different lives from the life that I know and am familiar with, but yeah, I don’t know, I guess it did make me reflect on myself a bit.
Last but not least, I find that the book features many older interviewees. Reading their stories makes me feel that there is a generation gap… The older generation seems to care more of whether they can bring food to the table, and whether they can remain relevant in society and continue playing a role in their communities. This is evident in how many of them continue to take up jobs (even low-paying ones) in retirement to pass time or make extra cash. Whereas people my age (or at least, those in my own social circle) seemed more concerned with chasing wealth and status and retiring early to enjoy life. So this is definitely food for thought for me!
dustyduck's review against another edition
4.0
Hard at Work (ed. Gerald Sasges) is a sincere, in-depth collection of the many lives within Singapore. The premise is simple – across 13 themed sections (‘Drinking’, ‘Caring’, ‘Protecting’) we are brought deep into the experiences of various jobs. The sheer volume of these voices add up to nothing less than an empathetic collage of what it means to work in Singapore. Some individuals work unusual jobs – I certainly have never needed to use a pet crematorium – while others are everyday sights, like postal workers, teachers, or cleaners. Others are given an unusual significance in Singapore, in the case of farming. In these stories tissue sellers or nurses no longer maintain a mythic quality, bursting free from being some rhetorical, political trope and given full colour even if their subjects are largely anonymous, bookended by the gorgeous photography of Ng Shi Wen.
The book is an easy read, and through it a few strands resurface throughout the 60 interviews. Work is hard and gruelling for some, rewarding for others. All seek dignity and self-respect within their jobs. There is an ethos of responsibility, but this is no glamourous one; far too often there is a resignation amidst varied aspirations and dreams. What Sasges sees as a ‘fierce independence’ belies the frustrating, yet slippery structures of self-help and extractive value that thrust people into these positions. Various injustices are alluded to, and even amongst the conscious editorial decision to translate most into Singapore, there is a sense that jobs remain differentiated.
The foreword from Teo You Yenn sets the tone fantastically, reminding us of the value of ethnography (one of the many overlooked, unfairly-diminished approaches we might take to understand our world). In 2020 the phrase “lived experiences” has been trotted out almost to the point of being trite, but this book never loses the specificity of space and place here. Amidst the careful listening of each interviewer the minutae of labour – its anxieties, its sensibilities, the little experiences and interactions accumulating over time, come together brilliantly. Like other works of oral testimony I admire – Svetlana Alexievich’s histories of the Soviet Union come to mind – there is a conscientious editorial hand that transforms interview into monologue. They speak for themselves.
Hard at Work is thus an affirmation of these workers and their lives, but striking a balance between honest self-representation and achieving some – here I am presuming – socially transformative outcome is tricky. It does not take Marxian sympathy to suspect that working conditions, institutions, and laws might be atomizing workers, naturalising unfair arrangements, and yes, perpetuating a gross inequality. Nonetheless I’m incredibly hopeful that the book’s very existence marks a shift towards the greater involvement of (undergraduate) students in more humanistic, community-centric research and thought. The well-received (at least amongst the #bookstagramsg community) Eating Chili Crab in the Anthropocene (Ethos, 2020) is another testament to this. What futures lie ahead for work? Already this has been rewritten by the pandemic – but it is better futures that we must imagine.
The book is an easy read, and through it a few strands resurface throughout the 60 interviews. Work is hard and gruelling for some, rewarding for others. All seek dignity and self-respect within their jobs. There is an ethos of responsibility, but this is no glamourous one; far too often there is a resignation amidst varied aspirations and dreams. What Sasges sees as a ‘fierce independence’ belies the frustrating, yet slippery structures of self-help and extractive value that thrust people into these positions. Various injustices are alluded to, and even amongst the conscious editorial decision to translate most into Singapore, there is a sense that jobs remain differentiated.
The foreword from Teo You Yenn sets the tone fantastically, reminding us of the value of ethnography (one of the many overlooked, unfairly-diminished approaches we might take to understand our world). In 2020 the phrase “lived experiences” has been trotted out almost to the point of being trite, but this book never loses the specificity of space and place here. Amidst the careful listening of each interviewer the minutae of labour – its anxieties, its sensibilities, the little experiences and interactions accumulating over time, come together brilliantly. Like other works of oral testimony I admire – Svetlana Alexievich’s histories of the Soviet Union come to mind – there is a conscientious editorial hand that transforms interview into monologue. They speak for themselves.
Hard at Work is thus an affirmation of these workers and their lives, but striking a balance between honest self-representation and achieving some – here I am presuming – socially transformative outcome is tricky. It does not take Marxian sympathy to suspect that working conditions, institutions, and laws might be atomizing workers, naturalising unfair arrangements, and yes, perpetuating a gross inequality. Nonetheless I’m incredibly hopeful that the book’s very existence marks a shift towards the greater involvement of (undergraduate) students in more humanistic, community-centric research and thought. The well-received (at least amongst the #bookstagramsg community) Eating Chili Crab in the Anthropocene (Ethos, 2020) is another testament to this. What futures lie ahead for work? Already this has been rewritten by the pandemic – but it is better futures that we must imagine.
cookiewins1's review against another edition
4.0
What an insightful book on the different lives people lead in Singapore. This book consists of interviews of people of various background and jobs. It allows me to better understand their perspective and struggles. One thing for sure, no one job is forever smooth sailing with the absence of hard work.
loves's review
3.0
If I were to rate this book in what it is- a collection of essays/mini memoirs about their life and job, this book would be a five star rate. However, I feel that this book had much more potential in analysing the working landscape in Singapore for a more nuanced and interesting read. Like with some books, I feel that this book would be better if it was split into as a mini column in a local newspaper under an interview section. Nonetheless, I did enjoy the extremely diverse and unique voices of this book and the jobs that this book portrayed.
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