Played out by an irresponsible employer - Part 3 (final part)

The next day, I called the manager again and he agreed to meet me at China Square. He was late for almost an hour. When he finally arrived, he said he will arrange the documents but I need to pay him SGD500. I was furious... and refuse to do so! Imagine! They promised to do this for me and if I had not checked, I might have become an illegal over-stayer! I might even go to jail for this... and yet he as the cheek to ask me for more money. Well, even if I wanted to pay, I don't have the money! Interestingly, when I was there, another more elderly lady of about 45 and a pretty younger lady of about 25 also came to meet him.

When I finally gave up and left, the elderly lady told me I was very lucky. She told me her sad story. She had worked for 3 months without pay. The younger lady, whom I later found out was a singer from China performing at Hot Pot City was not paid for six months! Only then did I realized indeed, how lucky I was. Both these ladies had to leave the country within seven days and they were almost sure they will not have the time or money to pursue this irresponsible employer! I know what they will do... they will just delay payment until time runs out and the two ladies have to leave. I thank God... that I was only owed one day in salary, although I had lost about SGD1,000 in coming over.

I wonder if the Singapore government knows of such errant employers, preying on the weakness of migrant workers who came here to earn an honest living? Here is a picture of me finally leaving Singapore again (circled in red), SGD1,000 poorer but counting my lucky stars all the same! I could not help wondering what happened to the 2 poor ladies!

Played out by an irresponsible employer - Part 1

Just before my first contract ended when I was working at Chai Chee Technopark, my boss told me that I had 7 days after my contract ended to leave Singapore. I was desperately trying to extend my contract but unfortunately, the government had raised the quota requirement for foreign workers and my boss did not have the numbers required to keep me.

You may be asking, why me and not someone else? Well, it just happened that I was the first contract to run out after the implementation of the new quota requirements (this was in May 2010). I used this seven days to search for jobs. I bought the papers everyday, and I went for 2 to 3 interviews a day. It was really, really tough trying to see so many potential employers in the few days that I had, especially when you do not have much money left and still have to take public transport here and there. Finally after all the hard work, I had two potential employers who said they will contact me. I told them that I had to leave the next day and that once I was back in China, I will send them my contact details.

When I was back in China, the company, SKYE IMPERIAL HOT POT CITY at China Square called me and said they need me. Am I mean to name them? Well, I waited till they are closed before putting up their name.Anyway, we agreed on terms and they asked me to book a flight down as soon as possible. I immediately had to borrow another RMB5,000 and with another about RMB4,000 which I had, I bought a ticket and made my way to Singapore...(to be cont'd!)