Ultimate Life Hack

Lunch: 12.40 SGD

I finally did something brave today! I’ve always had this irrational fear of ordering food in person, and honestly, I have no idea why… Probably because growing up, my parents always did it for us. We just told them what we wanted, and bam—food magically appeared. I think I can still handle ordering in my hometown, but when it comes to trying a new stall in Singapore, I need to gather some serious courage.

So, I’ve been ordering food from Si Chuan Chef on GrabFood for ages. But today, I finally ordered offline—like, in real life—at their stall in Boon Lay MRT. And guess what? The staff were super friendly and efficient! I got my usual combo for SGD 12.40, which includes dumplings and three other dishes. Now, here’s the shocking part: this exact same order costs SGD 17.40 on GrabFood. That’s a SGD 5 difference! Do you know what SGD 5 means? That’s two days' worth of meals at my company’s canteen! Suddenly, offline grocery shopping makes a lot more sense.

Anyway, I promised to share what my wonderful manager did on Monday, so here we go.

Every morning at work, I’m busy handling a bunch of issues for my department. But ever since last week, my manager sent an email that basically stole my mornings forever. The email introduced a daily 9:30–10:00 AM meeting about some company product, W, where all departments discuss issues related to it.

At first, the email was addressed to all managers. But, as usual, my manager hit reply and typed:

"Hi Carmen, pls join."

Bruh. Isn’t this supposed to be HIS job?! But fine. Since he asked, I couldn’t say no. So I started attending, but our department barely contributed anything to W. Eventually, the person in charge told me, “You don’t have to come every day.” Sweet, freedom!

Fast forward to Monday (yesterday). I was dealing with a vendor issue, so I skipped the meeting. Then, at 10:50 AM, my reliable manager WhatsApps me:

"Did you join the meeting for product W just now? They’re looking for you."

I told him no because of the vendor issue and asked if they still needed me there. His reply?

"Yes, they always need you."

Excuse me, WTF does that even mean?! But fine, I rushed to the meeting room. On the way, I passed by the company canteen, and guess who I saw chilling inside, enjoying his breakfast like a king?

Yep. My ‘responsible’ manager.

I reached the meeting room, and the person in charge looked surprised to see me. Then she hit me with:

"I asked your manager to come, but he sent you instead?"

Ah. At that moment, everything made sense. They weren’t looking for me. They were looking for HIM. And instead of attending, he straight-up lied so I could go in his place. AND the meeting wasn’t even about Product W—it was about Product O. So now, not only did I sit through an unnecessary meeting, but I also got assigned another follow-up task. For HIS job.

The most shocking part? I wasn’t even angry. I was just... speechless. This man has mastered the art of delegation to a level I will never comprehend. Truly, a unique talent I could never learn.

Someone once told me, “You need to protect yourself. It’s okay to be selfish as long as you’re not hurt.”

I guess I’ve just been too generous all along. Maybe it’s time I start protecting myself from this nonsense.

But since I’m resigning soon, I might as well go with the flow and adopt a solid “I don’t care” attitude until I’m outta here.