“Once you’re old, people don’t want you to work,” said 72-year-old Teo Ah Bee when talking about his transition from a job in as laborer to now running a Min Jiang kueh stall.
In a video by Mothership.sg for their Smol Features series, the elderly Singaporean recounted that his past job was physically intensive.
“I’m a good worker. Right? [Because] I’m hardworking, not afraid of anything, and willing to take on any tasks,” said Mr Teo.
“Lifting heavy things…anything, I do. Even doing things like lifting and moving very heavy tyres up onto platforms.”
Despite that, Mr Teo was eventually let go because he was illiterate, just as the company started delivering work safety briefings in writing instead of verbally.
Mr Teo recounted: “They used to explain work safety to us back then. Then one day they no longer explained it and instead passed us a book to read.”
“I’m illiterate. How am I supposed to understand?”
When his supervisor told him that he didn’t need to work there anymore, Mr Teo questioned how he was supposed to put food on the table, citing the challenge of not getting an education when he was younger.
However, the 72-year-old decided to take a leap of faith in his golden years by starting a Min Jiang kueh business last year, swapping out his apron as a cleaner in a hawker centre for a stall instead.
“I had been working here as a cleaner clearing table for over a year,” Mr Teo recalled.
“After working for a while, it’s as if the heavens destined for me to start a business here.”
Mr Teo said he had to pawn a piece of jewellery to raise capital for the hawker stall located in Buangkok Cress, describing his Min Jiang-making as his “last sword” to draw out in his old age.
The cheerful septuagenarian also stressed that he doesn’t find it difficult to run his business now, leaning on the Chinese zodiac belief that those born in the year of the Ox typically work touch jobs.
“No such thing as things being too difficult or things that I don’t want to do, no,” he said.
Mr Teo added: “Once you’re old, people don’t want you to work. So my dream is to once again sell Min Jiang Kueh and let my customers taste the traditional flavours. “
Mr Teo noted that he doesn’t markup his prices as there’s “no need” to sell things expensively given that he’s “old already”.
“I’ll continue selling for a few more years for people to eat it and perhaps in future they will remember me,” said the elderly Singaporean.
Mr Teo’s stall, Kueh Pulau Pinang, is located at Buangkok Cres, Blk 982, Level 2.
