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everyone are tired including me
read this from fb joe tan
The F&B and the Hospitality Industry are Tired.
Last year when the circuit breaker struck back in Apr 20, the F&B and Hospitality industry collectively held their breaths.
Two and a half months of closure, but the government stepped forward with some rent reliefs (up to 3 months full rental) and wage support (75% with JSS).
Because it was the first time everyone had to experience it, we bit the bullet and rode through the storm.
At the turn of 2021, we started to see some silver lining, 8 pax dine in options opened. Until in late Apr 21, when the Delta variant descended upon our shores, and just like deja Vu, we went on yet another new coined phase, The Heighten Alert. No dining in, only takeaway. Same same, but different.
Because this was not circuit breaker, the subsidies also drastically dropped to half a month rent subsidies for private tenant, and 50% wages rebate from JSS.
Life is tough, but we try yet again, to ride through the storm. Then when we start to see a small light at the end of the tunnel again, Singaporean males decided to let others use their microphones to sing in discreet rooms, which brings us back to where we are today.
Phase I don't know what, with reviewed Heighten Alert on I don't know what modified guidelines. In short, from 19 July to 8 Aug , 2 pax dining in, anything more than that is a ten step process to verify them on their Vaccination journey, which they will probably leave before you complete the check.
But why do I say the F&B and Hospitality Industries are tired? Allow me to share with you my hard truths once again. This is not a political post, so please do not sensationalise it as one.
1) What is the Government's Priority?
Since Covid invaded our shores back in early 2020, the plan was to tackle it and create a zero case outcome for Singapore. However, when the Delta variant wrecked havoc on us, our Prime Minister and the government decided to adjust our course to instead acknowledge that the Covid Virus is here to stay, and that we must tackle it like an endemic. With that, the approach was to achieve high vaccination rate to counter balance the infection. The philosophy is pretty simple, if the vaccine can reduce fatality amongst Singaporeans, then we will be able to live with it in the longer run like how we treat the common cold. But this clarity has slowly lost its weight with the reduction of 5 to 2 pax dining in announcement yesterday. KTV or not, the spread of the virus can happen anywhere, be it in concerts, clubs when it opens next time or even at gyms. If we already declare Covid as a virus to be tackled as an endemic, why are we still moving in and out on the stance to call in restrictions on such reactive means? This only shows that we are not ready in the first place to treat Covid as an endemic, and brings me to the next point.
2) Does the F&B and Hospitality Industry Even Matter to Singapore?
On a more basic needs level, F&B industry plays a big part in feeding our people, the hospitality industry acts as a means to deliver such service to our people. But yet with each change in policy to tackle the evolving Covid situation, the industry bleeds, and bleeds heavily. First, switching from 2 to 5 to 8 to 5 to 2 again in the span of a year, to the layman are just numbers (maybe 4D or TOTO numbers too). But to the industry, it's loss revenue, stress in trying to balance their books and also challenge in keeping their staff paid. As much as our government focuses on the big ticket items such as manufacturing, finance and IT to keep our GDP high, the F&B and Hospitality industry cannot be seen as a by the way or the sorry-you-have-to-suck-it-up victim. We feed Singaporeans, we give Singaporeans sanity with service and also a good time in their leisure and post work rest. The industry is bigger than that, yet we cannot protect ourselves unless the government starts to realize that we need strong leadership now to make a call, either we truly live with it as an endemic or just shut the whole country down, reset and remove those unwanted noises that could jeopardize the road to recovery, once and for all. This is not a game of tango, you dont take one step forward and three steps back later and thereafter declare it as progress.
3) Don't Act Blur on the Obvious.
I think even my dog who walks past a KTV joint knows that they are operating illegally as a KTV joint in this period. So I'm not sure why we act as if this is like a novelty now that the virus has gone out of hand. Maybe it's because we need to continue to provide lust releasing avenues to ensure mental wellness of our males. But fact of the matter is, as Singaporeans ourselves, we know how unhygienic such spaces are. You shut down family KTVs to prevent people from singing in groups and sharing mics and close clubs to prevent people from intermingling and drinking from the same glass. Yet you allow KTV girls to sing songs into multiple people's mics, share drinks with not only one room but multiple others, and then come back to kiss everyone on their lips too. On so many common sense level, it just doesn't feel right. But yet when it boils down to why it happened. Well, it kinda all started when we allowed temporary F&B licenses to be issued to such venues isn't it? We, opened the can of worms ourselves. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that every one of these spaces are bad, I'm just saying that if we want to give, then we must police it closely. Why? Because Singaporean males' moment of lust has once again caused 13,000 Singapore F&B establishments into another downward spiral, and the 180,000 employees that it employ into uncertainty. So how now brown cow? Should our government start allowing free porn access? Or should we continue to let the singers sing?
Endemic or Pandemic, the current covid regulations have gotten harder and harder to comprehend.
Is it because we are getting confused over how we wish to manage Covid? Or is it time for us to review who is the next best player to come in to transit covid into an endemic outcome?
We have to decide, and decide fast,
Before the whole F&B and Hospitality sector falls apart.
The F&B and Hospitality Industry are tired.
Singaporeans are tired.
I'm tired.