How to brighten a non-teaching staff's day
Feb 13, 2020
By Julian Lo
Ms Hong Shi Hua, a cleaner who takes care of Block 52 in Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP), said in mandarin, "I feel glad they are polite when students greet me."
Mr You Xing An, a security guard who is stationed at and around Block 53, said, "I am very happy when students can talk to me. We [security guards and cleaners] love talking to you. I hope to transfer some experience from my side to you all."
Second from the left: Mr You Xing An, at CAC's Care For Workers 2019. Photo by Jeslyn Koh
Penhouse's two interviews with Ms Hong and Mr You shows that the non-teaching staff appreciate students taking the time and small effort to acknowledge and greet them. So, how do we appreciate non-teaching staff?
Step 1: Understand that the aunties and uncles are more than happy to talk to students.
Step 2: Spare a moment to stop and greet them.
This is the advice given to Penhouse when talking to the security guards and cleaners.
While the security guards and cleaners, known colloquially as "auntie" and "uncle" around schools normally converse with each other in their native languages, most of them understand "Hello" and "Good morning".
Mr Hong Shi Hua, a security guard who is stationed at Block 53 and the pedestrian crossing outside Block 1, said in mandarin, "I am very happy because the students who greet me are being polite. I hope that students greet us staff more often."
Top left: Mr You Xing An at CAC's Care For Workers 2019. Photo by Jeslyn Koh
Amos Ho, a 19-year-old student at Temasek Polytechnic said, "I always greet them, though not all the time verbally. I always give them a wave and a smile."
Hanif Bin Jaffar, an 18-year-old student at a private O-Levels preparation school said, "I greet them to be courteous. As I believe in doing this they would feel very respected and not ignored."
Bryon Kaan, a 19-year-old student at Singapore Polytechnic said, "I greet them occasionally. I wouldn’t go out of my way to find them and greet them but if I do see them along the way I would."
When Penhouse told Amos that the aunties and uncles appreciate the greetings, he said "I'm glad they feel happy when I say hello. It's always my intention to spread a joyous mood."
Similarly, Hanif said "My reaction to this is that I feel very heartwarming as my greeting meant something to them."
Bryon also reacted with "It’s nice to hear that they are happy being greeted. This makes me want to greet them more often."
Current Affairs Club (CAC), a special interest club in NP, hosts an annual lunch called Care for Workers. Care For Workers is meant for students and the school to show their appreciation for the non-teaching staff.
Mr Matthew also said, "For me, the best part of the event though is the human-to-human interactions. So often in our busy lives, even around campus, it is easy to walk past others without saying hello or without thanking them. This event brings everyone together to chat and get to know each other better. But there is much more to be done. What is the next event or initiative on campus?"
Winnie Chia, a Landscape Design & Horticulture Year Two student who was part of CAC's executive committee, said, "They look forward to the luncheon every year and are always excited to receive the goodie bags. The aunties and uncles I have personally spoken to are always cheerful and willing to tell me about what they do on campus for us."
All interviews were done between February 6, 2020 to February 15, 2020.
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