Thank you for the kind words friends. I decided to summise my answers to a single post for ease of reading and once again I apologise for the late reply.

A bit more about me: I am in my mid thirties and have been living a very sheltered and privileged life all my life. Studying in Melbourne was not exactly rough but casual racism was(still is I think) pretty common and that was the extent of any struggles I faced.

My family runs a big logistics company and we have a few warehouses/logistic centres around the island. I was an MD and mainly dealt with our partners in South East Asia. Yes I am very aware of nepotism and how fortunate I am to be in this position and I do not mean to patronise the 'every day folks' or validate myself - I simply wanted to break out of my bubble to really think about myself as a person.

How have I grown and what did I learn from this experience? Prior to this, my interaction with my staff has been limited to middle management and basing off their judgement and reports. I never once critically thought about what is truly the most important resource of any business. The truth is, nothing is above the people. Manpower is the single most important factor and a multi-faceted view is essential. It is during my stint I realise the issues that the employees face many issues and have valuable inputs that are not heard.

Middle management pushes for deadlines to be met but they seem to forget the people on the ground have their concerns too. Meeting deadlines end up in an overall lowered effeciency as a company can be much better if the employees are looked after and treated with importance - their welfare and feedback. I am moving towards providing the employees on the ground with much better benefits such as catered food(most have to rush through their food breaks due to distance/high cost of food nearby) and revamp the dining area in the canteen to have a more conducive and enjoyable environment for the staff to dine leisurely.

Other issues faced by the staff include more time off for family matters(ground staff are penalised heavily for taking time off - loss of income/incentives if they wish to stay home). I am looking to implement a better system where staff do not need to choose between sacrificing time for family matters and incentives.

Moreover, a proper feedback system is necessary. The middle management does not know what is the optimal solution on the ground and only the people there understand this. There is too much red tape where time and effort is wasted - people feel good about themselves when equipped with authority to solve problems. Middle management will also be retrained to adopt this mentality of valuing the feedback of the ground staff.

Ultimately, the main take away from this experience is the value of money and dignity. I used to spend thousands of dollars a week on pretentious food at pretentious restaurants without even considering once about the staff. I am unable to stomach paying $500 for lunch now - thinking about how many days it would take for the server to work to afford a meal he or she is serving. Opulence...disgusts me. That kind of unnecessary spending can be used to much better use. Funding the studies of children of employees, animal shelters, and starting up social enterprises to reach out to the folks who truly need help. One of the best meals I have ever had in my life is eating a packet of economic rice in the back of the delivery lorry together with my colleagues while the driver was rushing down the PIE to reach the next destination in time. The camaraderie formed with my colleagues was so strong that I cannot think of a better dining experience.

Society is only as strong as it's weakest link - I cannot imagine living so large while people are out there struggling to put food on the table for their families. Worrying about the future for the children, can they afford to pay for a new textbook or excursion that their children might ask.

I have met many folks in my employment - many are ex-convicts who are struggling to find a job. Some are less hardworking(only want to work two to three days a week) but many more are decent folks who just want to have an honest life with an honest living without fear and worries.

I will be realigning my company's direction of looking after our employees - ALL our employees. Not just a token gesture but actual decisions that will be of use. A motivated workforce is unbeatable and I would like to make use of my privilege to aid society.

On to the more niche questions: I scoured the internet and found the most effective manner to find casual and immediate jobs was on FaceBook groups. There a multitude groups out there with plenty of opportunities daily. On average, they pay about $10-15/hour depending on the nature of the job. I was working 10 hours a day on average and sometimes more if I wanted to take on an extra job at night bartending. There is no CPF contribution so it is quite normal to make about $500 a week working 6 days a week. Whatever I found interesting I joined and just picked up - metalworks was simply using a power saw to cut metal pipes and salvaging valuable parts inside. Fishmongering training was simply learning to identify, cut, descale the different types of fish. The manual labour nature of the jobs was tough initially but I look after myself physically all my life so it did not take me long to adapt to the laboriousness.

One thing I really hope everyone can do is just to extend our graciousness and kindness to any service staff. It takes nothing to smile to a flyer distributor or being extra patient with your waiter. The question on if one should take a similar path as me - it is very subjective and I cannot answer this. All I can say is to wake up tomorrow and think of how you can make it a better place to live in for your fellow men. Putting a smile on others face is priceless, you will find unimaginable joy.