Looks like older people are creating their own jobs...
.. by the time the government gets around to creating enough jobs
for them, a good number of them might have "passed on" ...
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MONSOON DRAIN 'HAIR SALON'
Want a cheap cut?
By Mindy Tan
November 21, 2007
BANGLADESHI construction worker Mashud paid $4 yesterday for a
haircut and shave.
The China-born barber goes to the Boon Lay canal on some evenings
and weekends to offer cheap haircuts to foreign workers like
Mahmud. Picture: JONATHAN CHOO, SHIN MIN DAILY NEWS
The makeshift barber he goes to offered an idyllic view under a big
tree, by a canal along Boon Lay Way.
'Not very cheap,' said Mashud, 26, who earns $18 a day.
After all, haircuts in his hometown, Dhaka, costs only $1.
At 6pm, his barber, a Chinese retiree in his 60s, appeared from a
block of flats and started walking down a footpath along the
canal.
Slung over his shoulder was an old barber's chair. In his hand was
a small toolbox.
As he walked, he waved at a few foreign workers, asking them to
gather. Only Mashud followed. The others just stared.
Mashud said: 'It's my first haircut in Singapore. I've been here
only 20 days.'
He was given a broken mirror to hold.
After he gestured to the barber how he preferred his hair to be
cut, the barber produced a shaver from his box and started to work
on his head, leaving clumps of hair on the grass.
'I will clear the hair afterwards,' said the barber, who refused to
give his name.
But he revealed this much: He was from China, and had migrated to
Singapore with his son and family a few months ago.
And yes, he was formerly a barber.
He said he was bored, and had decided on his impromptu business a
few weeks ago after noticing foreign workers cutting each other's
hair at the canal.
So he goes there in the evenings, or during the weekends - whenever
he feels up to it.
The stretch is about 3km from foreign worker dormitories at Soon
Lee Road, and is a place where the workers frequently go to
relax.
The New Paper observed the barber for about 90 minutes yesterday.
In that time, he had three customers - all Bangladeshi
workers.
'A few others also provide this service on the opposite bank. I am
not the only one in this business,' he said in Mandarin.
He kicked up a fuss when his pictures were taken, saying he did not
welcome them.
'I am a Singapore PR, why are you taking my pictures?' he
asked.
Aram, a 23-year-old Bangladesh construction worker, said a canteen
near his dormitory provides haircuts for $5.
While this canal barber is cheaper, the drawback is he cannot
understand English, according to Aram.
'It's difficult to describe exactly how I want my hair to be
cut.'
So he bargained with the barber and paid only $2.
Mashud, who realised later that he had paid double the amount,
simply shrugged.
'I am new to this country,' he said.
