A grandma, who had been working as a drink stall seller in a school for many years, was made to shut down her shop, causing many students to be unhappy.
According to Must Share News, Singaporean Pearl Chang, shared on Facebook that her grand-aunt had been working in the Singapore Chinese Girls’ School canteen since the 1950s. This means she has been there for more than 60 years!
Pearl said that her grand-aunt would wake up really early in the morning and travel to school to sell drinks to the students, teachers and visitors there. Even when there was an event, she would be there.
Source: MustShareNews
In June 2019, the school approached her and asked if she wanted to continue working there or not, but they had a few conditions she had to follow.
If she chose to stay, she would only be allowed to sell plain luke-warm water and not cold water because “the management said so”.
Additionally, she would no longer have her own stall as she had to share it with another vendor. The other option was to shut down her stall completely.
Pearl’s grand-aunt then started suffering from insomnia after the school approached her with those conditions.
Source: MustShareNews
Pearl then shared that her grand-aunt loved the students that bought drinks from her stall. She would never change the prices throughout the 60 plus years of working there even though the cost had risen as she loved being surrounded by the students.
“I remember from time to time she would be extremely happy like when students give her cards and ex-students come back to visit her. All these small gestures, she loves it even though she doesn’t say it much,” Chang said.
In November 2019, Chang’s grand-aunt officially shut down her shop.
Not long after, the school replaced Pearl’s grand-aunt with a vending machine that sold cold beverages, which upset many of the students in the school.
Source: MustShareNews
So, on 21st January, they started an online petition called, “Get our drinks stall back”, which has since closed but has over 200 supporters.
The student who started the petition pointed out that irony of how the school started selling drinks from vending machines despite wanting to reduce sugary drinks.
“Our school’s alumni is also concerned about the sudden dismissal of the drink store. Even though we understand that the government wants to promote healthy living however they should have asked for our opinions and consent before taking matters into their own hands.”
Let’s hope Pearl’s grand-aunt gets her job back. I’m sure it would make her very happy.
Also read: This 81yo Grandpa Used to be a CEO But is Now Happier Working as a Sales Assistant
