Double the income for security guard, a ‘McRefugee’

SINGAPORE — Mr Raymond Tan sleeps at the 24-hour outlets of fast-food chain McDonald’s, joining the people dubbed “McRefugees” or “McSleepers” who seek shelter at these places for the night.

But Mr Tan, who is in his early 50s, is not jobless. He earns S$1,000 a month as a security guard.

He also collects S$1,000 monthly from the tenant in his two-room rental flat.

Mr Tan told TODAY that he does not mind the “dirty looks” and “finger-pointing” from members of the public when he is sleeping over at McDonald’s. He just wants to support his wife and daughter, who live in the Philippines.

Findings released this month from a survey done by volunteer group SW101 and volunteer welfare organisation Montfort Care showed that among 180 people found sleeping on the streets on one night, almost two-thirds of those interviewed had a job, and more than a quarter had a flat to their name. One in four are married.

While it may appear that their basic material needs are being met, they face invisible “hardship” when it comes to their family or social lives, and health.

When Mr Tan spoke to TODAY, it was his first night out from hospital. He was admitted for a day due to hypertension, when his mouth started bleeding without reason.

His hospital bill came to S$6,000, an amount he paid through his Medisave savings account under the Government’s Central Provident Fund. He added that his latest blood pressure reading was in the “dangerously high range” of 215/150 mmHg.

Mr Tan’s five siblings know of his arrangements to sleep on the streets. He is the second youngest among them.

Still awake close to midnight, Mr Tan blended in with the crowd at McDonald’s in Raffles City like a late-night diner, except he was not eating or drinking. He was listening to music as he fiddled with his iPhone.

Keeping a neat appearance with his hair combed back, his “companions” are his possessions. There is a grocery bag holding the day’s Chinese and English newspapers, a large backpack, and his water bottle.

His nightly routine after work involves washing up “at his office” in the Kallang area before roaming the streets till he heads to a selected McDonald’s outlet for bedtime.

Before he was a security guard, Mr Tan worked as a production operator, data entry personnel and a deliveryman.

In the 1980s, when he was still in school, he worked at McDonald’s.

Finding it ironic that he now spends every night at the fast-food restaurant, he lamented: “Singapore is a ‘suffocating’ country. We can die, but we cannot be sick.”

ALSO PART OF OUR SPOTLIGHT ON HOMELESSNESS:

- Chin Chin Eating House  dishwasher Pang Jee Tang who sleeps between two flower pots every night

-  Odd-job worker Chua Teo Aik who has not taken a proper bath since June