Cleaner resting...do not disturb

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Cleaner resting...do not disturb

Linette Heng
The New Paper
Saturday, Oct 19, 2013



After a 14-hour day at work, including overtime, he finally got to leave his "office" at 11pm.

Mr Sahil Syed needed to catch up on sleep because he had to be at work again at 9am.

He's no investment banker making millions. He's a cleaner hoping to save on a bus ride home to Choa Chu Kang.

When The New Paper met him at 2am on Oct 10, he was trying to rest at a 24- hour foodcourt on Brash Basah Road.

Mr Sahil wasn't the only cleaner seeking refuge on park benches and foodcourts.

There were at least a dozen sleeping people spread out around Bras Basah, City Hall and Bugis.

The New Paper reader Gary Ee, 41, had spotted elderly cleaners like Mr Sahil resting in town around midnight.

When he spoke to them, they told him they would rather spend the night sleeping on hard benches and foodcourts than take the bus home.

"I spotted them many times when I cycle at night. They sleep outside and they always have a plastic bag next to them," he said.

Mr Sahil, for example, keeps Chinatown Point clean by day.

If he clocks overtime, the journey home to his four-room flat is just too long, said the 53-year-old.

It would be past midnight by the time he gets home.

For the past three months, he has been staying out at least three times a week when he has to work overtime.

When he is finished, he would catch the last bus from Chinatown to the food court at Bugis.

In the morning, he takes the first bus from Bugis back to Chinatown to work at about 6.30am.

But it is not just for convenience.

If he travels from Choa Chu Kang to Chinatown Point and back, it will cost him $3 a day.

In comparison, a bus ride from the city to Chinatown costs less than a dollar.

He has been a cleaner for over a year, with a take home pay of about $1,400.

With overtime, he takes home about $1,900.

Mr Sahil, who lives with his mother and sister, prefers the foodcourt because the air-conditioning is turned off at night.

There is a 24-hour fast-food restaurant nearby, but he said it was too cold.

And outdoors is not an option.

"It might rain and there's morning dew," he said.

But even in the foodcourt, he doesn't really sleep. "I think it's not nice to sleep here," he said, shaking his head.

"I don't understand how some people can just sleep here," he added looking at the other people also sleeping in the foodcourt.

He recognised some of them as cleaners, but not with his company. He declined to identify who he works for.

So why not ask his cleaning company for a transport allowance?

"If we ask for transport allowance, they will ask us to find another job," he said.

OUTDOOR SLEEPERS

Across the road at a park near the Singapore Management University, a Malaysian couple were resting on a bench at 3am.

They said they live in Johor Baru and go back only over the weekend.

Here, they work as cleaners five days a week and when they work overtime, they sleep in the park.

"It's expensive to take the bus home to JB. It's more expensive to rent in a place here," said the 46-year-old woman who wanted to be known only as Madam Saroda.

A round-trip bus ride costs about $10, she said.

She earns about $1,000 a month with overtime. In Malaysian ringgit, that's about RM$2,500. The mother of three said that she needs the money to support her family back home.

They showed off a bag of clothes they have with them. For warmth, Madam Saroda wrapped a scarf tightly around herself.

At least eight people were spotted at the dimly-lit park, with four of them sprawled across benches at a square, in close proximity to one another.

A 62-year-old man, who wanted to be known only as Johnny, was annoyed at The New Paper's presence.

"What if my relatives, my cousins saw me in the newspapers like this," the cleaner asked. He said he lives in Geylang and works in town.

Like the others, he said he has no choice but to rest there because he ended work at 11pm and had to report to work at 7am the next day.

"Who wants to sleep here? There are mosquitoes. What if I get dengue?" he said, zipping up his windbreaker.

And there are other issues.

"I have heard of people who cut pockets and steal things," said Johnny.

"I don't bring much with me, no tooth brush or shaver. Cannot carry too many things in my bag," he said, pointing to a small sling bag which also doubles as a pillow.

Then he turned away to get some sleep. He had to be at work in four hours.


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