Why this 85-year-old waiter does not want to retire

SINGAPORE – Three times a week at 9am, Foo Sek Chuan steps out of his Queenstown flat and boards a bus to Orchard Road. He alights, walks the short distance to Far East Shopping Centre and takes the lift to the sixth floor, where Shashlik Restaurant awaits. 

Inside, he puts on his red vested uniform and begins his rounds. If he has any remaining time before the doors open, he retreats to a corner and relaxes with a microdrama. When the first customers start trickling in, he waits by the cashier for his cue to approach. 

His job is to deliver the menus and bread. And when someone orders a Russian or Irish coffee, he wheels out a massive wooden trolley and prepares the drink tableside with practised finesse, having had four decades to perfect his technique. 

For some customers, part of the draw of dining here is watching Foo at work. The 85-year-old has become something of a relic, the subject of media features and promotional tie-ups with organisations like the National Heritage Board. 

Better known as Uncle Foo by colleagues and regulars, he is Shashlik’s longest-serving member of staff, having worked here full time for over 40 years. Previously, he was a part-time waiter at Troika White Bear, the restaurant’s predecessor. 

At this age, most of his peers have long since retired. Yet, Foo shows no signs of slowing down. Six days a week, he goes through the motions, content to linger in an industry infamous for its physical demands.

A rarity though he might be, he is not the only octogenarian in this line of work. The Straits Times speaks to some of Singapore’s oldest hospitality workers to find out why they choose to work well past retirement age. 

The joys of the mundane

The only person unimpressed by Foo’s longevity is Foo himself. To him, being able to do what he does at his age is unremarkable. What is the secret to his mobility? Nothing. Is it challenging being on his feet all day? Not really. Does he like what he does? Mostly.

But just because work is routine does not mean it is boring. In any case, it certainly beats the alternative: sitting at home or playing mahjong all day with his sisters. 

“My daughter says I should rest, but I don’t want to,” the widower tells ST in Mandarin. “I don’t know when I’ll retire. I’d like to work for as long as possible.” 

The fear of boredom also keeps seniors like Tan Buck Ngoh, a housekeeping supervisor at Amara Singapore, anchored in their jobs. 

“This job has been good to me,” says the 76-year-old, who joined the hotel as its 36th employee in 1985. “There’s a lot of meaning in it. You come to know how the hotel is run and meet all sorts of customers. It keeps my mind alive.” 

It also helps that she lives five minutes away – her flat is across the road from the Tanjong Pagar hotel. “It’s so convenient. I don’t want to wake up early and I don’t have to worry about going home late,” she says with a laugh. Her shift starts at 3pm and ends at 11pm, which means she gets to sleep in every day. 

Her colleague, Abdul Rahman Pungut, 74, never imagined he would spend 40 years working at the same hotel either. The chef de partie specialises in Singaporean classics like laksa, curry chicken and nasi goreng, and over the years has cooked for the likes of former president Halimah Yacob – who is reportedly fond of Amara Singapore’s laksa – and the Malaysian national football team. 

The latter opportunity is one of the highlights of his long career. He was deployed to Amara Bangkok in 2015 to oversee the preparation of halal meals for the squad, in town to play against Thailand.

With so much experience under his belt, chef Rahman was unfazed by the task. “Last time, there wasn’t that much halal food in Bangkok, but I told them: ‘Don’t worry, what do you want? I’ll take care of you.’” 

He knows of many former chefs who have hung up their aprons and stepped into a security guard’s uniform, in favour of a slower life. Some have tried to get him to follow suit, but he is reluctant to let go of his accrued expertise. “I’ve cooked for so long because I enjoy it. I know exactly which ingredients to use for each dish.” 

So he will continue cooking for as long as he can: “I see how some old people get worse once they stop working. They just sleep every day.” 

Begin again and again

It is one thing to persist in a familiar line of work, but what of those who embark on a new job in the twilight of life? 

In 2025, at the age of 78, Thomson Teo, who until that point had not touched a burger, started work at fast-food restaurant Chick-fil-A in Bugis+. Here, he is part of the front-of-house team, greeting guests and cleaning tables. 

It is his second stint in F&B and second time working with his son-in-law Chyn Koh, 50, the owner-operator of the American brand’s first Singapore outlet. Previously, Teo sold cookies and assembled sandwiches at Temasek Polytechnic’s Subway joint, which Koh ran.

Adjusting to life at Chick-fil-A was fairly easy for Teo, who spent the bulk of his career working in SingPost as an operations manager. He took the Workforce Skills Qualifications Food Safety Course in preparation for this role, but other than that, there was not much he needed to learn, he says.

Most of his job involves talking to customers, which he is happy to do, despite his introverted nature. “It isn’t tiring at all,” he says of work, which starts at 10am every day and ends by 2.30pm. “And it helps me burn 16,000 steps a day.”

He has no qualms being bossed around by his son-in-law, either. “He doesn’t bother me and I don’t bother him. He’s not the kind of person who shouts at people,” says Teo. 

And besides, they both know where the boundaries are. “In this room, he’s the boss. But outside of work, I’m the boss.” 

Wong Yeow Ngan, 81, has also adapted to an evolving portfolio in old age. The former hair stylist and homemaker joined food services and facilities management company Sodexo as a kitchen assistant in 2015 and is now working as a staff lounge assistant (catering) in KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital.

Her daily responsibilities include serving meals, arranging and replenishing food, manning the cash register and clearing tables. While learning the ropes was fairly easy, it did take her a bit of time to adapt to the digital upgrades at work – most notably when cash transactions were replaced by a cashless, digital system. 

“I would not say it was challenging, but I was a slower learner compared with the younger generation, who tend to pick things up more quickly. It took me a little longer to learn the new systems, but once I understand something, I am confident and comfortable using it,” says the mother of three, who returned to work after her children had grown up.

Open communication also helps to smooth out any physical difficulties she encounters at work. “We usually discuss any concerns during our daily briefings, and if there is anything urgent, I will inform my manager immediately. For heavier items or dishes, my teammates are always willing to help if I am unable to carry these.” 

Mutually beneficial arrangement

Across the board, Singaporeans are working later into life. In July, the Government raised the retirement and re-employment ages by one year to 64 and 69 respectively. By 2030, those limits will be upped to 65 and 70. 

Meanwhile, companies can tap schemes like the Senior Employment Credit, which provides wage offsets and helps them manage the cost of hiring older workers. 

Associate Professor Helen Ko, who instructs the master’s and doctorate programmes in gerontology at the Singapore University of Social Sciences, calls these attempts to expand the local workforce an “economic imperative”. 

“As we know, the total fertility rate is at an all-time low, and the reality is we don’t have enough manpower. So from a policymaker’s point of view, raising the retirement age is a necessity,” she says. 

Far from locking businesses into longer contracts with employees “past their prime”, she adds that retaining a senior workforce could prove mutually beneficial to both workers and companies. 

“There is no consistent evidence that indicates older workers are less productive than younger workers,” she says, pointing out that seniors tend to have better emotional control as well as stronger crisis management and problem-solving capacities, as studies have found.

For instance, a 2013 survey of 103 respondents by the then Tripartite Alliance for Fair Employment Practices and the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development found that the main advantages of hiring workers aged 50 and above include greater experience, higher loyalty and a stronger work ethic. 

For one, Koh describes his father-in-law as a “steady pair of hands” who helps to instil a sense of discipline and consistency in his younger colleagues. 

Likewise, Shashlik co-owner Alan Tan, 55, likens Foo to a father figure: “His presence gives the other staff assurance. He’s very confident, very chill. He’s seen it all before.” 

“Functional age is much more important than chronological age,” Ko adds, warning against lumping all older workers together and assuming that they cannot perform certain tasks. 

“As people age, they actually get more and more heterogenous. Two 60-year-olds could have vastly different abilities. And increasingly, with automation and various technological aids, many older workers are able to continue working well into their 70s and 80s.” 

Moreover, though older workers are sometimes typecast as less nimble and unwilling to learn, she argues that neuroplasticity does not decline as drastically with age as is sometimes assumed. 

After all, there is a reason why these seniors interviewed are blase about the challenges that come with working at their age. Like in Wong’s case, it may take them a bit longer to pick up certain skills, but they eventually get there.

Finding the best fit

In Ko’s view, certain jobs may suit mature workers better. Customer-facing roles, for instance, require a certain level of patience that their younger counterparts might not always possess. 

To better tap their years of experience and afford them a sense of dignity, older workers could also take on the role of mentor. “It goes both ways,” says Gordon Aeria, general manager of Amara Singapore. These elderly employees motivate younger colleagues, which in turn boosts their self-esteem. “They feel a sense of purpose, a sense of recognition.” 

He stresses that older staff do not enjoy preferential treatment, though the management team does pay attention to their needs. “Yes, we do take care of them and give them appropriate breaks to rest, but ultimately, they do the same job as everyone else.” 

The company is also prepared to reassign them to a different role – perhaps something desk-bound if they become less mobile – should the need arise. 

Tan has adjusted Foo’s job scope slightly over the years. The veteran waiter no longer prepares desserts or works behind the bar. He also enjoys more flexible hours these days, clocking a full day’s shift on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, and resting on Mondays and alternate Sundays. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, you will find him at work in the afternoons, joking with newer colleagues and stealing glances at older ones – tinted photos of former staff, now dead or retired, line the walls of Shashlik.

“It’s just me left,” he says, standing before an old group photo. “This is how I’ll pass the rest of my days.”