Technician who quits job to become Grab rider to escape stress chastised for poor career decision

 

JOB stress is everywhere. Regardless of the job or industry, you are expected to toil for your living, often unreasonably so.

That seems to be the point being made in a post on X that resonated with many Malaysians regarding the topic of work pressure.

In the post that has generated 261.4K views at time of writing, one self-proclaimed man-on-the-street Malaysian recounted a brief encounter with a Grab rider while sipping his morning cuppa.

Striking up a conversation, Abu Osman Moccona (@osman_EX%Hitam) found out that the young delivery rider had just quit his job as a technician at an electronics factory.

Reason? A toxic work environment that led to work stress. This was when the poster advised the 24-year-old to seek out alternative work other than that of an e-hailing rider.

“Having to deal with all sorts of unpleasant characters who will back stab, badmouth and betray you is an occupational hazard regardless of industry,” surmised the poster.

Many commenters were keen to share their views with a few reckoning that this particular individual was being a tad over-sensitive – a trait synonymous with today’s millennials and Gen Z.

Life is tough and when the going gets tough, the tough get going. That was the pertinent point made by several commenters.

The long-term prospects for e-hail riders were limited, counselled a few other concerned commenters.

In other occupations such as kitchen helpers, there are opportunities to be promoted to cooks or chefs after a few years slaving in a hot kitchen. But with e-hailing riders, that’s precisely where that person will stay as there are virtually no avenues for career advancement.

Another made the pertinent point that circumstances can change very quickly in the gig industry that can suddenly lead to unemployment.

It was advised that full-time e-hailing delivery rider option be reserved for those who have no better employment opportunities. Others should only look to it as part-time work to supplement their income.

It was also surmised that supply-and-demand would determine the wages for these e-hail riders. An oversupply situation arises when too many turn to it for full-time work.

Some lay the blame at the door of the younger generation who seemed to be fixated playing video games on their phones till 1am and beyond, thus making a 7am work shift unfeasible for many young employees.

Bachelors were targeted as being a primary source of these overly-sensitive snowflakes, scoffed one commenter.

They will drop this entitled attitude when there are extra mouths to feed. Another further pinpointed the men as being the main culprits, claiming women soldier on no matter how tough the work environment as they know ultimately, they have to fend for themselves.

There were a few who did defend the new generation of workers who will quit at the slightest hint of nonsense at work. One member of the labour force believed that mental health was more important than slaving away for a pay cheque in a toxic working environment.

This is because a toxic work environment strips people of their dignity, argued one observer who obviously empathised with the ex-technician in the post. He asked how would one like it if one were shouted at daily for all and sundry to hear.

Toxic work cultures peopled by forked-tongue back-stabbers are, unfortunately, par for the course. It is something that almost everyone has to deal with on some level or another.

Until the utopia of work-life balance is realised, the reality is that everyone who needs to earn a living will have to suck it up and be a slave to the grind.

The alternative is to starve or be stuck in dead-end jobs such as e-hailing riders. – Focus Malaysia