In these times of hardships, one company is surreptitiously spreading some kindness and generosity in the community to fellow Singaporeans. On Monday (1 June), Facebook user Caleb Low shared the story of how an employee of Sheng Siong Supermarket tried to quietly slip S$200 into the money collection box at his wife’s grandmother’s wake.
Mr Low described how he had overheard some cousins recounting the incident during the wake while he was helping out at the reception table.
Apparently, a cousin who was on duty at the collection box saw a man attending the wake and attempted to quietly slip S$200 into the box. Puzzled, she stopped him to ask who he was, pointing out that the box was for guest and relatives.
The man then replied that he was an employee at Sheng Siong. He said, “Actually, I’m working at Sheng Siong. And our management told us to walk around the estate and look out for wakes during this Circuit Breaker period. And we would give a small financial contribution. That’s why I’m here.”
Amused, the cousin asked the employee to sign the financial accounts booklet for record keeping.
As Mr Low described it, “He took a pen, paused for a while…then wrote under the Name Column…’Sheng Siong Supermarket’.”
At the end of his post, Mr Low thanked Sheng Siong for the “very compassionate gesture”. He also noted that this was not a public relations stunt by the supermarket as he had tried to tag them in his Facebook put but it untagged itself immediately.
This isn’t the first time Sheng Siong supermarket has made the news with its generosity. In late April this year, the supermarket operator announced that it would be giving all employees – except directors – an additional month of salary for their hard work throughout the period of increased demand in the first quarter due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This came as the company reported a net profit of S$29 million in Q1 of 2020, which is a 49.9 percent increase from last year’s figures. The company reported that this was due to a combination of revenue jump, better gross margin, higher other income, and a less-than-proportional increase in operating expenses compared to the rise in revenue.
Netizens share similar encounters they’ve had with Sheng Siong
Mr Low’s post garnered more than four thousand reactions and has been shared over four thousand times, with over 200 comments. Many netizens offered their condolences to Mr Low for his loss.
There were also many who praised Sheng Siong for its kindness and being a “people-centric” organisation.
Many netizens also shared that Sheng Siong has been surreptitiously contributing to wakes for years. Silah Ali shared that the supermarket delivered drinks to an ex-colleague’s mom’s wake about 10 years ago.
A couple of netizens also praised the CEO of Sheng Siong supermarket for being a kind and humble man not just during the circuit breaker period.
Alson P Moo shared a story of the CEO rolling up his sleeves to help an employee carry bags of rice up some stairs as the lift was not operational.
Scarlett Chong shared a story of how Sheng Siong CEO candidly shared that he would take on a digital transformation at his own pace as the responsibility to customers was of utmost importance to him and he wanted to ensure that he could oversee the quality of service being provided.
Ms Chong wrote that she respects his leadership and the fact that he “puts money where his heart is”.
