THE PRAWN BLOG

MY TWO CENTS ON WORKING FOR PEDRO

I worked for Pedro while waiting for school to start. Having prior experience in retail, I assumed I’d have a pretty good idea of what the job would entail. Boy, was I wrong. From dealing with displaced anger towards management and unreasonable customers, to gaining insights into the lives of workers striving for better opportunities in a foreign land, this job turned out to be so much more than just shoes (and kids walking past the store chanting the Space Raccoon song).

The pay was $11.50 per hour on weekdays, $12.50 per hour on weekends, and an extra $2.00 per hour on public holidays. It was a definite step up from my previous job, so I eagerly attended the interview and signed the contract. Little did I know that this higher pay would come with its own set of challenges.

Company policy required every aspect of the attire to be black. Best would be if it is from Pedro. Even my mask had to be black, a mistake I made during my first day on the job. I had to specially buy a new pair of all black trainers just for the job too.

The number of breaks you’re entitled to increases with the number of hours worked, but the increments aren’t exactly linear. Here’s how it breaks down:

- 10 working hours: 2 hours of breaks + 8 payable hours

- 9 working hours: 1 hour break + 8 payable hours

- 8 working hours: 1 hour break + 7 payable hours

- 7 working hours: 1 hour break + 6 payable hours

- 6 working hours: 1 hour break + 5 payable hours

- 5 working hours: No breaks + 5 payable hours

Obviously, the smart choice was to work for 6 hours with a 1 hour break or to finish after 5 hours without a break. I alternated between these two options during my time there. However, there were multiple occasions when the store manager, often politely, requested that I extend my hours. Most of the time, I declined。 I still haven’t mastered the art of rejection. Confrontational situations, especially right before clocking out, always leave me feeling uneasy. It’s not that I don’t sympathize with the challenges of a manpower shortage; I understand the pressure managers face. But there’s a reason I joined as a part-timer: to have control over my working hours. Being pressured into staying longer feels unethical to me. I also didn’t share my views with my co-workers, many of whom were on contracts and had their schedules dictated by the store manager. Their circumstances were different from mine, and I respected that.

Although I was officially stationed at one store, my availability allowed other store managers to request my deployment. Over time, I worked at five different stores. HR had informed me about this arrangement during onboarding, assuring me that I would only be deployed to stores near my address. However, one day I was shocked to find myself sent to a store on the far east side of the island. With no leverage to protest, I had no choice but to comply.

Despite the inconvenience, these deployments taught me a lot about the company. Pedro is a sister company of Charles & Keith, both proudly founded in Singapore. What surprised me was the workforce composition. While upper management was predominantly Singaporean, most store staff were Malaysians holding blue work permits.

Through conversations with my co-workers, I learned about their journeys. Many had secured their positions through agents who handled their work permits and visas. They came to Singapore for better pay - some said it was up to three times more than they could earn back home. The favorable exchange rate also made remittances worthwhile, and some even dreamed of gaining PR status to secure a better quality of life in the future. One co-worker shared that in Malaysia, there are only four main ways to achieve above-average income:

1. Engage in illegal trade (money lending, drugs, trafficking)

2. Start a business (property and insurance are especially lucrative)

3. Inherit or join a family business (nepotism)

4. Work abroad in another city (Singapore being a top choice)

Hearing their stories gave me a new perspective on the sacrifices they made and the challenges they faced. Most of my co-workers had grueling routines. They would wake up at odd hours to commute to the checkpoint and then take the first bus or train to their stores. For those with evening shifts, the struggle didn’t end there - after the store closed at 10 PM, they had to rush to catch the last bus at the checkpoint. Others managed to rent apartments with co-workers in out-of-town neighborhoods to ease the commute.

As for the job itself, I came to appreciate the thought behind store layouts and product placement. With fewer than 100 items on display at any given time, it was less overwhelming than my previous retail job. However, this simplicity came with a catch: the onus was on the store staff to know the products well enough to sell them effectively. Since persuading customers isn’t my strong suit, my primary task was fetching the correct product and size from the storeroom. These storerooms were uniformly organized by product IDs, making it easier to adapt when deployed to a new store. That said, the storerooms were often narrow and cramped, forcing us to climb shelves to retrieve items from the topmost boxes.

Interacting with customers was another learning curve. Here are some patterns I noticed:

- Indian tourists often visit and are among the biggest spenders, buying items for themselves or their extended families.

- Customers shopping for occasions, like weddings or festive celebrations, are more likely to buy extra items to hit a discount threshold or to complement their initial purchase.

- Many Singaporeans don’t realize that Pedro is considered a luxury brand and frequently ask about discounts that don't exist.

- Families with mothers leading the shopping are more likely to make a purchase after a meaningful conversation about the product.

- Senior citizens may not spend much, but they are often the nicest customers, engaging in friendly small talk.

Despite the commission-based system, I found my co-workers to be surprisingly cooperative. The culture was more about helping each other meet targets rather than competing. Store managers prioritized hitting overall sales targets and fostering teamwork, even encouraging the practice of splitting sales during payments to ensure everyone’s records looked good. Area managers, who were once store managers, often seemed out of touch with the day-to-day challenges of each store. While some co-workers curry favor with them, others outright detested their presence. Most of my co-workers were friendly and great at small talk, which helped pass the time during slow periods. However, I did notice some vaping in storerooms. They seemed unfazed when I walked in, so I left them to it.

One weekend, I was working in a town store with an intern and the store manager. The manager took a break, leaving the intern and me to manage the store. The intern, a final-year polytechnic student, shared that he had chosen Pedro for his internship to explore his interest in retail and customer relations. Phones weren’t strictly prohibited, so we used them discreetly to pass time. However, we were caught off guard when Keith Wong walked in unannounced. His first words to me were "Where is your manager". Initially I mistaken him for a disgruntled customer, so I tried to stall. The intern, who was aware that Keith does these visits on weekend as he lives nearby Wong, watched on as the situation unfolded. Eventually Keith just barged into the storeroom himself to find the manager. While I escaped without repercussions, I never saw the intern again as I wasn’t deployed to that store afterward. This incident remains a story I’ll reminisce for years to come.

Would I recommend this job? If what I’ve described resonates with you and you’re eager to explore, I see no reason why you wouldn’t thrive as a store staff member for Pedro. It was certainly an experience for me, and I am grateful for my co-workers who helped me with the job along the way.