“Pls lah he deserves better than this” — Sympathy for man in back of truck

Singapore — The photo of a man asleep in the back of a truck has been circulating online, drawing sympathy for the daily struggle of blue-collar workers.

The Facebook group All Singapore Stuff on Thursday (Sept 10) shared a photo sent in by someone online. It showed a man with a face mask asleep in the back of what looked like a truck belonging to a renovation contractor or a karung guni (rag and bone) man. The individual was surrounded by sacks, wires and what appeared to be discarded equipment. The photo had the caption: “Pls  lah he deserves better than this. How is this safe?”

The Circuit Breaker to prevent the spread of Covid-19 has led to a new-found appreciation for those working in the essential services, with many recognizing that they keep things running for the benefit of everyone.

Although some people saw nothing to be concerned about in the photo, with a few even leaving rather insensitive comments, others flocked to the comments section of the post to express their gratitude to and show empathy with these workers.

“He must be exhausted. I’m in the renovation industry, demolition and disposal team like this man in the picture. (It’s) all about hard labour. It’s extremely tiring,” said one. Another called for better treatment to be given to foreign workers, saying: “FWs — we need to treat them better.”

“For this type of blue-collar FT, I support … they built our Singapore nice (and) clean. Respect them,” wrote another.

There were, however, also those who discouraged taking such photos and sharing them online. /TISG