hawker center politics.
Saturday, April 09, 2005
i've got this new job that i really like. my cousin bought over a drink stall in Ayer Rajer Hawker Center, West Coast. he needed help and i needed a job and everything else fell into place. i started my first day of work on thursday, and it has opened my eyes to so much....happenings in this Godforsaken world. on my first day on the job, there were already so many hawker center politics introduced to me that i went dizzy with shock. we were only allowed to serve to specific ten tables and if we ventured further from what we already own, other drink stalls can come and fight with us and complain us to the chairman. okay...i absorbed that rather quickly. and then before i knew it, there was shouting and fighting at about 10 in the morning. apparently the cleaner might have broken a plate or something, and the char kway teow cook was being scolded by the boss and the boss in turn shouted at the cleaner and there was like....almost some fight. whatever. so the day progressed and i learnt how to make sugar cane juice, talk in hokkien and to brush up my Godforsaken chinese. and then when the hour was approaching 2pm, this really fat ahbeng dude went stall to stall collecting 8 bucks. the first thing that hit me like a brick was that stalls were paying this char kway teow stall owners protection money because they looked so big sized and ahbengish...and the boss of that stall almost beat up a helpless cleaner. when i asked my cousin why they collected 8 bucks everyday, he told me that they were collecting "money for collecting plates". it didnt make head or tail sense to me but i had to go "orhhhhhhhhhh". i bet it was some kinda gang protection money and stuff. whatever. so on the second day of work, friday, yesterday, two indian stalls were quarrelling early in the morning about 9am. it just amazes me how the most boring places could hold some of the worlds greatest eye candy. but friday nothing much happened. as i was going home i met up with "Ah Gu", the cleaner who was almost plummeted by that fat fat. (i hope you're still following me in this little story of mine..) but he's the life of the whole hawker center. he's never serious and always never serious. he always fools around with everyone...and maybe thats the thing that gets him into trouble....(like me sometimes..ha). but we sat in the bus stop together and i talked to him in chinese while i desperately tried to pick out farmiliar hokkien words he was machine-gunning at me. today's work at the hawker center was busy busy with lots of drink orders and it was all good. and i met our next door stalls daughter and son. Cheryl and Andy. now they were a breath of fresh air. they constantly bombarded me with punches and slaps on my butt and blocking my path that it was sooo fun to toy around with them. and i'm serious about thte touching my butt part...Cheryl kept doing that. and just to dawn a revelation on you, Cheryl's 7 and Andy's 4. haha. so no hot butt touching action as you might want to think it would be. but it was good. i'm currently loving my job so much i wanna work there forever. the whole hawker center atmosphere is so fun and carefree....LAGI SHIOK! and this is a piece of trash from me that i've departed to you. Peace Out~
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Asher. 
HongFang. 
Yuling
Jowyne
Lydia
Ida
Serene.jpg)
Grace