He decided that some income was better than no income. So, he finally took up a job as a bus driver, earning an income of $1,200 per month (early 2000). It was tough work. He had to wake up at 3 am in the morning to get to work, where he then drove a bus for 9 to 10 hours each day. It took quite awhile for him to get used to it. Eventually he did. The pay sucked.
But that was then. Today, he said that the pay has improved dramatically, especially in recent years. Now he earns well over $3,600 a month after deducting CPF. That kind of explains the increasing cost of operations for public transportation companies.
He has a few daughters who are still at school going age. So long as he has good CPF savings, he felt he could afford to use his CPF to pay for his daughters education. So having a job that also contributed to his CPF was important for him. He was very appreciative of the safety net that CPF has provided him.
Seems like a tremendously hardworking gentleman. Somebody who embodies the spirit of earning his keeps, living within his means, responsibly bringing up and supporting his family, and an emphasis on providing for his children's education.
I like him. A nice conversation to start the morning. Great to have made his acquaintance.
11 comments:
Lizardo,
Sometimes we meet the most interesting people if we just stop and listen to their stories ;)
A most interesting encounter. Just like a previous case with a taxi driver.
Lamenting one's own so called ill-fated life is disastrous.
Letting failure overtaking then not just one suffers but others will get dragged into it as well.
Hardly anyone is born useless so it is better to fight on and facing whatever issues bravely.
Hi Lizardo,
Great sharing :)
It's great to hear pple who don't take no for an answer, and still find his own way out in spite of his circumstances. These are all lessons we can all take away from.
The future of transportation is driverless.
If this future happens within the current generation, then it might be difficult for countries to adjust and cater for the jobless to have an easy avenue of quickly finding a job that does not require additional training (or much additional training).
Now there is always the relatively easy fallback for countries to provide driver jobs via taxi and other transport services. Next time will be different when driverless taxis and buses come about (already happened for MRT drivers for the new lines - no jobs there).
Jimmy L,
You're welcome.
Money Honey,
Resilience is necessary. Glad he moved forward.
la papillion,
Indeed, life lessons to takeaway.
Anonymous,
Agree that autonomous vehicle will be a disruptive change. It's still 3-10 years away from reality though.
Not going to be consequential to bus drivers in a big way since they can't even find enough people today and have to hire substantive foreigners.
There will be greater demands for technicians to maintain all these equipment.
I don't think it's going to be significantly consequential. Hopefully, the pay in the service industry will improve and provide the counter-balance. As it is, they can't even hire enough people. But in part, that's because their pay sucks for now.
Thank you for your article.
Yatirim,
Thanks for your comment.
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