S’pore Student Heartbroken After Seeing Dad Get Looked Down On Because Of His Job

Earlier this week we saw an unfilial daughter abandoning her mother.

Tears might have been shed for the poor mother.

Expect more tears to come rolling down your cheeks as you read this article.

Nope, it’s not about another unfilial offspring, but the realisation an NUS student had after seeing his cleaner dad being mistreated.

Posted On NUSWhispers

I honestly LIVE for the confessions and posts on NUSWhispers. And I’m not even a student at NUS.

One cannot deny that the page is full of juicy drama and rants from people from all walks of life.

Whenever I receive a notification on NUSWhispers Telegram channel, I would usually expect to read about someone’s heartbreak. After all, those confessions are the most common.

I read the first line of the post.

“Today, I felt my heart properly break for the first time.”

Me: Ahh, here we go again with the breakup stories. 

Me by the end of the post:

I can’t help but think about how we only see what our parents put in front of us. We don’t really hear about what goes on behind the scene.

Here’s a breakdown of what happened.

NUS Student’s Father Had A Half-Day Off 

The poster hasn’t been home for the past three weeks due to heavy workload.

The student’s father is close to 70 but is still not retired. He juggles two jobs as a cleaner at a country club and a community centre. He would work at the country club in the day and the community centre at night.

With both their busy schedules, I assume that the father and the student have not seen each other for weeks.

So, when the father had a half-day off, he told the student that he wanted a hall tour.

Went To Grab Lunch At Kopitiam After 

The filial child offered to pay for the father’s meal but the man still ordered the cheapest thing he could find on the menu.

Fishball noodles.

There was a well-dressed lady that stood in front of them in the queue and she had left her chilli on the counter and had already walked away.

The poster’s father did not see this and thought that that was just an extra so he just took it and put it on their tray.

Lady Makes Big Fuss Over Chilli Sauce  

Note that the poor father had just taken a chilli sauce which he thought was his. He did not take anything more than that. 

Yet, this lady took so much offence in that small mistake and just had to comment sarcastically and announce to everyone that someone took her chilli sauce.

She did that while glancing up and down at the father.

It was clear that she was trying to shame him.

The father politely apologised to the lady and explained that the duo was not aware that they had taken someone else’s chilli sauce.

He offered to give the chilli back to the lady.

What came next would have made anyone’s blood boil. 

Anyone except the father.

Lady Calls Him Dirty  

Instead of politely rejecting the chilli sauce, she flew into a rage and said “I don’t want what you’ve touched. You’re dirty to death.”

So rude. However, the father kept his cool and held back the student.

Cleaner’s Uniform Makes Father Invisible 

And then the student realised that…their father was still in his cleaner’s uniform.

In all the years that the father had provided, the filial child had always known that their father was always at the mercy of others. Getting walked over and stomped over by people was his norm. He is invisible to society.

However, seeing it happen in real life was hard.

Lied About Tearing Up 

Heartbroken by how the father has to swallow his pride all the time, the child was overwhelmed with emotions and started tearing uncontrollably while they were eating.

However, the poster covered up by telling their father that “I got chilli in my eye”.

Post Ended With A Question 

All the father ever did was give his love and affections. He did not get the treatment that he deserves from others.

Instead of smiles of gratitude, he gets stares of disgust from people.

Towards the end of the post, the NUS student says “I can’t wait for the day when I can tell him to stop working and stop apologising for everything.”

The post ended with a heartbreaking question from the poster.

“Dear rich people, what did we ever do wrong to you?” 🙁

Perhaps this incident would fuel the student’s determination to work even harder to give their father a life that he deserves.