Took the bus recently!

[azul123]

I sent my car for servicing recently and tried taking a bus from Ubi to Geylang market... read the bus guide at the bus stop and wasn't completely sure of the direction...

Bus came.. asked driver Geylang market? he nodded his head. I took it to mean yes. It went the other way, approached the driver and asked him again is this bus going to Geylang market? only then I realised he is Chinaman.

Got down and took cab to Geylang market, my wife and I laughed about the incident... Wah is it that bad that we cannot get locals to drive the bus that we need to import from OS? :sweat:

../azul123

 

[Benji77]

Locals have the stigmata that a 'Bus Driver' means low pay, menial job with long hours. Partly true I say. They are now called 'Bus Captains' after an efford to raise their quality and job description.

The low pay is a stumbling block, especially if you intend to start/maintain a family.
But a Chinese National would find the pay good, and the job easy compared to their jobs back home.

Look at our streets. Count the amount of foreigners you see...Restaurants, trains, shops...we are awash with working foreigners. Soon, the Singaporean will become a minority if we dont start screwing around more

 

[azul123]

Luckily the taxi I took was driven by a local... imagine if the taxi I took is also a FT and asked me if can speak in Mandarin? dunno English. I'd be a foreigner in my own country.

../azul123

 

[Benji77]

Luckily the taxi I took was driven by a local... imagine if the taxi I took is also a FT and asked me if can speak in Mandarin? dunno English. I'd be a foreigner in my own country.

../azul123

Hahaha!
Then we can ask Singapore Tourism Board to allow us to claim GST Refunds liao when we buy cameras

 

[garagez]

Hahaha!
Then we can ask Singapore Tourism Board to allow us to claim GST Refunds liao when we buy cameras

Ben, we should

cheers

 

[papajanggo33]

Bus came.. asked driver Geylang market? he nodded his head. I took it to mean yes.
../azul123

:bsmilie::bsmilie::bsmilie:

a good thing u mention MARKET despite the miscommunication. otherwise, FTs would only be thinking of one place when we mention Geylang. what next? cabby 'FT' drivers too?:sweat:

sometimes, i was thinking,how would i fare if I were to take the bus since i've been riding/driving for the last 9 years? lost? most probably, since I can't communicate in mandarin. a bit of hokkien can la. then what do u want me to do? show hand sign to such drivers? :sweatsm:

i can't help but laugh all myself thinking of the jokes years ago during NS if you were to tell SBS ah chek (driver) thru hand gestures that the bus is "full", "please go in further", or "cannot go in some more"i'm sure some of us understand what i'm talking about.

cheers
papajanggo33

 

[Kit]

The problem does not lie with the FT but the transport company which should have provided them with better training to handle passengers before putting them on the road.

 

[cks2k2]

The uni has a chartered bus for us foreign students, and one day we had a new bus driver. From his looks and mannerisms he was obviously from mainland China, so my China housemate struck up a conversation with him. Turns out he had just arrived a few weeks ago and can hardly read/speak English. :sweat: But he told us he was a bus driver back in China and has memorized the route. Good thing we didn't get lost, and got home faster than usual. :bsmilie:

It used to be a lot of drivers were from Malaysia (met one who has been driving for 20+ years), but most of them are now earning big bucks in the Middle East (pre-crisis).

 

[aryanto]

The problem does not lie with the FT but the transport company which should have provided them with better training to handle passengers before putting them on the road.

Yes this one I agree. I hope the rule govt set for english language skill are not only for restaurant waiters but also to bus captains.

 

[BBTM]

The fare goes up, the service goes down.

Every now and then, I experience bus driver speeding n jamming brake like they driving a sport car. If can, switch to train else pray hard for your life. :sweat:

 

[night86mare]

The problem does not lie with the FT but the transport company which should have provided them with better training to handle passengers before putting them on the road.

hear hear...

 

[Taurean]

The problem does not lie with the FT but the transport company which should have provided them with better training to handle passengers before putting them on the road.

I agree with this.

I felt that those organisations employing FT should put more effort to give them more training and making sure they are up to the job before deploying them to the front line to serve customers. Had my fair share of fustrations of not being able to communicate effectively with the FT service / sales staffs. :sweatsm:

 

[mohgui]

Look at our streets. Count the amount of foreigners you see...Restaurants, trains, shops...we are awash with working foreigners. Soon, the Singaporean will become a minority if we dont start screwing around more

it is because the locals are bloody choosy when it comes to jobs. they think highly of themselves and jobs in the construction, transportation, F&B, etc... are not suitable for them.

that's why, hiring companies have to look elsewhere.

 

[night86mare]

Soon, the Singaporean will become a minority if we dont start screwing around more

in the end still become minority

screw around enough, get aids.. tada!

 

[kkvolution]

The problem does not lie with the FT but the transport company which should have provided them with better training to handle passengers before putting them on the road.

:thumbsup:

 

[tokrot]

Luckily the taxi I took was driven by a local... imagine if the taxi I took is also a FT and asked me if can speak in Mandarin? dunno English. I'd be a foreigner in my own country.

../azul123

Only Singaporeans are allowed to drive a taxis in SG. I guess it's part of tourism act? :dunno:

 

[tokrot]

it is because the locals are bloody choosy when it comes to jobs. they think highly of themselves and jobs in the construction, transportation, F&B, etc... are not suitable for them.

that's why, hiring companies have to look elsewhere.

That's not entirely true. You see our government has encouraged us to work beyond the retirement age. Now even a janitor job is taken by a foreigner and some more is 30 yrs plus old. 10 yrs ago, when i was in China, I was surprised to see the janitors there were very young like 20 to 30 yrs old plus. I asked my friend why PRC is not hiring age ppl for this kinda job. The reply came was young ppl need to work and the age ones will retire happily.

*Sigh, our country huge influx of FT policy is definitely not helping the countrymen but the economy. I can feel stiff competition even at my work place..

 

[Benji77]

I guess it works both ways. The growth of Singapore requires the (heavy/dirty) work to be done to even grow. If Singaporeans are not willing to do them, we would then have to source externally.

For example, would we want to work as a janitor for S$1000/month?

How to buy lenses? ;p:bigeyes::bigeyes:

 

[ggodetucsamoht]

my family is running a private bus service company too. we are hiring PRC "FT" into our business too......why? simply because it is not really big issue with pay matters. but dont you know that to keep a local driver and local driver always very demanding. some time they refuse to drive when they are on off working hours and company need to handle some urgent chartering order. and little little thing like tired or even giving excuses of weekends rest at home all sort of nonsense. and local drivers tends to be the older uncles and they tends to have odd hobbies like gambling, flirting with PRC woman and always trying to borrow money from my dad....what the hell, they think the company is their finacial supporter. It is the way local driver attitude that made my dad go into PRC workers. so in such a case my dad hire ard 6 people and trying to tell his local drivers if you dont wish to drive, never mind i can still hire more PRC people....

i am not with my dad business but i do see a local driver giving all the excuses say he dont want to drive and would want to go home and rest and still got the cheeks of telling the boss to replace him.......damn.

 

[aryanto]

I also hear from my friend who is a manager in fast food chain about attitude of sg part time worker. Dont want to work at night. Dont want to work weekends. Frequently skip work and give headache to manager to find and arrange replacement.
The problem in singapore is that it is a small country surrounded by larger countries with large populations of cheaper labour, and it has advanced much faster than its surrounding neighbors, thus expectation of its citizen towards work and pay is vastly different from the reality of company's competitiveness.