00:00:03
Speaker 1: Wake up.
00:00:05
Speaker 1: Good next.
00:00:07
Speaker 1: Kicking off your day in the best way. It's Sonia and Joakim on the shock circuit. Well, here we go. We're in the middle of the week right now. Hope it's going well for you. Oh, wow, it's your PSL listening comprehension exam, I wonder. When we come back, I want to give you something to look forward to in cinema starting next Thursday. Next Thursday here in Singapore. What other foreign language films or dialect films are we dropping in cinema? Not exactly foreign language, but this one is a beloved.
00:00:33
Speaker 1: OK, and maybe you can do it after PSLE for you. OK, well, you know, um, I have to admit it's been a while since I stepped into a cinema to watch a movie. You will never, you will not believe what was the last movie I watched. You were there. Yeah, you were there. The movie was the last time I had the time to sit down in the cinema to watch a film. You've not seen Odyssey or Spider-Man. Don't come at me about it. I'm trying to, I'm trying to find time.
00:00:59
Speaker 1: Unfortunately, um, over the past 10 minutes, Joakim has decided to head on home. He came into the studio, not feeling so great this morning, saying that the haze might have affected his like nose and
00:01:10
Speaker 1: And stuff and he was coughing a lot, so he decided to head back first and I told him, you know what, it's all good. Uh, go take a rest, go see a doctor or something. I mean, I don't know what the direct correlation is with the haze and catching, you know, a bad flu. I think if you're very sensitive, uh, honestly, my nose has been just absolutely going crazy.
00:01:31
Speaker 1: You, you might get some like sinus infections and things like that, but yeah, please consult your doctor if you are easily affected by haze and the particles in the air. If you have a, you know, sort of a purifier at home or something, that could be the best time to be using it. Anyway, no worries. The show continues. Coming up in just a little bit, there's been so much that happened overnight, I don't even know where to begin.
00:01:56
Speaker 1: Um, I guess I'll start with a bit of a weird and odd crime related news here in Singapore. Um, unfortunately, this piece of news, I don't know whether to categorize it as border crime or not, no, because I, I feel this is, this is a very unique case. In fact, it is the first time in Singapore, anyone has been jailed for such an offense. Um, to me, I think it's categorized as border crime because I can't believe this woman decided this was a good idea.
00:02:26
Speaker 1: Uh, but you decide, OK, you decide. So, this lady's only 28 years old, by the way, she's, you know, got a whole life and future ahead of her. She decided to keep smuggled puppies at home and then sell them online.
00:02:41
Speaker 1: And not just that, it makes me very angry because the pets were smuggled and kept in very unsafe and unsanitary conditions and you know me, I'm, I'm a dog lover. I'm an animal lover in general, and I, I just, it breaks my heart when I see things like that. Um, well, she wasn't alone though, she didn't act alone. She's got a husband that's older.
00:03:01
Speaker 1: Um, but clearly maturity doesn't come with age sometimes, but they've been sentenced to jail for illegally importing these puppies from Malaysia, then keeping them at home to be sold on Instagram. How crazy is that? I mean, who thought it was a good idea, right? Um, they're amongst the first ever in Singapore history to be jailed for keeping animals in captivity, then selling them.
00:03:23
Speaker 1: Um, so the, the problem is, it sounds like they've been doing this for a while. Um, they were arrested in December 2023 for their involvement in illegal import of puppies, and then they were discovered, um by ICA officers, actually, you know, when they inspect the vehicles and things like that. So I, I don't know how long their entire business went on for, but they profited around $21,000 through selling over 20 puppies on Instagram. So,
00:03:53
Speaker 1: Well, yes, well, we put a lot of the blame on them, but on us as consumers as well. Oh man, I mean, I don't wanna
00:04:00
Speaker 1: I don't want to sound too preachy or naggy about this, but if you can adopt, please just adopt. There are so many great organizations out there for you to adopt, and I know that the, the perception is always, oh, but I want the cute puppies or I want the cute dogs. Um, let me tell you this, not, it is not all the time that these cute puppies are easy to handle as well, you know, because you have to have a lot of patience and
00:04:24
Speaker 1: Bring them up from a baby, from the baby version, from the puppy version, right? And it comes with a different set of challenges. So, you need to be really ready for the, the kind of responsibility. It's like taking care of a baby, honestly, right? And there are some benefits with adopting a slightly more senior dog. Um, my own dog that was adopted.
00:04:46
Speaker 1: I want to say, has it already been like 3 or 4 years now? I think 3 years, perhaps slightly longer. Um, she's already 8 years old. So when we adopted her, she's like a full, full adult, right? And some may consider her to be a little bit on the older side already.
00:05:02
Speaker 1: So, sometimes we as humans and as future pet owners selfishly think like, oh, we want the dog to last for as long as we can, you know, for a lifetime. But there are so many cases of people just giving up their pets after a while because they just decided they can't handle it, right? So, adopt, there's so many dogs that need a home right now. If you can, of course, if you have the, the headspace and you have the ability to take on that kind of responsibility.
00:05:29
Speaker 1: Oh, talking about this makes me want to give my dog a hug. I. She's so cute. I love her so much. Anyway, coming up in just a bit, about 10 minutes or so, we'd love to open up phone lines to let you dedicate songs during this PSLE season. I know it's not easy, so, um, truly hope that you're hanging in there.
00:05:48
Speaker 1: Yesterday when I went on 987's TikTok Live, quite a few of you actually left comments telling me how your listening compre went on. If you want to tell me what your topic was about, how it went on, and how you felt you did, please let me know as well.
00:06:01
Speaker 2: Good morning. This
00:06:01
Speaker 2: is Ashley.
00:06:02
Speaker 1: Hello, Ashley, which school are you from?
00:06:05
Speaker 2: I'm from Paya Lebar Methodist Girls.
00:06:08
Speaker 1: Alright, nice. We love your school. Uh, what level are you in this year, by the way, and are you taking any exams?
00:06:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm.
00:06:17
Speaker 1: How's it been going? What was the, what was the paper about yesterday? The listening compri? Um
00:06:21
Speaker 2: the
00:06:21
Speaker 2: listening compri is like multiple topics because there's multiple passages. I feel like the recording was very bad because the pronunciation of the words also.
00:06:34
Speaker 1: Oh, like not so clear, is it? Yeah. Oh no, OK, well, you did the best you could and that's not on you. I think you, you sound like you're well prepared. Yeah. Fantastic.
00:06:43
Speaker 1: OK, what song can I get you today to perk you up? Um,
00:06:46
Speaker 2: could you play any song by Cortis, please?
00:06:50
Speaker 1: Alright, sure, we love Cortis here. Are you gonna catch Cortis in Singapore when they come here for F1? Yeah, right. Nice one. Alright, we hope to see you at the live show and you have a great day, OK? OK. All the best for the rest of your PSLE. Thank you. Bye-bye. Bye. Over 70,000 Singapore dollars has been lost to job scams associated.
00:07:11
Speaker 1: With this particular collectible. I'm talking about Pokemon and other types of trading cards, and this amount of money lost to job scams related to these trading cards only happened since 25th of August of 2026, you know. So, can you imagine in less than a month, victims actually lost 710 altogether. Um, they were instructed to complete certain tasks like opening digital trading card packs or selecting.
00:07:39
Speaker 1: Um, trading cards in exchange for commission. So, people fell for it. I think they probably thought it was a good deal or something. Um, and in this particular scam variant, they will contact the victims through unsolicited messages or calls, and they'll be like, hey, you know, I got this job, or, um, I have this task that you, you should do, and then they get directed to fraudulent websites, and that's it, you know, their details are taken and all that.
00:08:05
Speaker 1: Um, but our friends over at Singapore Police Force were quite swift about it. Uh, they did come out and say immediately, please be careful. Use the ScamShield app as well to block your scam calls, filter suspicious messages, especially SMSs, even though it's, it's been a while since I even replied any SMSs or even said the word SM.
00:08:25
Speaker 1: SMS, but you got to be careful because I think there are a bunch of people who, you know, when they get so caught up in their passion or their interest that nothing else matters, you know, it, it just becomes a blur and you may not be so alert. So, ScamShield app, please get your family to, to, to get it done.
00:08:45
Speaker 1: Um, if you're curious, please log on to their website, scamshield.gov.sg. I am not paid to say this on air. I genuinely believe that you need to look after yourself. Protect yourself, protect your finances at all costs, um, make sure that you don't, you know, spend all this hard earned money or let this hard-earned money go to waste. I, I cannot imagine the pain. I mean, even though this 700 has been, it's, it's across a bunch of victims, but can you imagine there have been cases where people lose like
00:09:15
Speaker 1: Hundreds of thousands on, on their own account, right? That's just scary. And I saw this piece of news that really just got me thinking, whether or not we would be happier doing this particular profit sharing, uh, pay every single month, OK? So I'm taking you to Spring Leaf Prata right now. Very famous, as you know, they're very well known for their authentic prata and they also put some interesting innovative things on prata.
00:09:42
Speaker 1: But their boss has decided, you know what, they're giving long-term staff a cut of each shop's profits. So he runs a profit sharing scheme where staff of at least 5 years or more can take up to 30% of a new shop's profits. I'm very sure this is like
00:10:01
Speaker 1: Performance-based as well. Um, and, you know, it's you got to hustle and you got to show some results for that particular shop. But I thought that was a really cool. I mean, that is a way to motivate your staff, right? And if you, if you already know anything about their prata shop, every batch of dough is actually made by someone with autism. And I just think that is something to applaud him for. It's just incredible because he hires in such a unique way.
00:10:30
Speaker 1: And I, I just want to give him a shout out on air. It's just incredible what this boss is doing, you know, so.
00:10:37
Speaker 1: So, like I said earlier, um, this particular boss has made all of us, I think, sometimes envy some of his employees. I was talking about Spring Leaf Prata Place boss. Um, he runs a profit sharing scheme where staff of about 5 years at least or more take up to 30% of a new shop's profits, and I think this has gone across social media. People are like praising it.
00:11:01
Speaker 1: Some are saying, wow, I wish he was my boss, you know, things like that. And we, we all know that Springleaf Prata is very loved, right, here in Singapore, especially. So, I wanted to open up the phone lines, 669-11987. Of course, I know that with every sort of scheme or, or, you know, um, job, there's going to be its pros and cons, and they're gonna be different types of conditions as well, and responsibilities that come with it.
00:11:28
Speaker 1: So, I'm gonna ask you this question here. If you were given a chance to earn every month, and you earn via a profit sharing scheme via your job, would you take it? But the catch is that you may have to hustle harder.
00:11:44
Speaker 1: And you probably may have to work weekends. Let's just say, OK? Maybe, maybe, maybe. Like the harder you hustle, the more money you earn. For those people who are in sales, if you're tuning in now, I'm sure you understand how that feels. But I think for the vast majority of, of people, you know, we, we come to work, we come to the office, you get paid monthly, right? And a lot of my friends, actually most of my friends don't have access to like commission-based jobs. They just earn what they earn in a, in a single month.
00:12:12
Speaker 1: So, what's your opinion? Do you feel like if you were switched to a profit sharing scheme, would you be more motivated at work? Would you rather do that via commission? And of course, you know, sometimes we get messages coming through from people who, who do work in commission-based jobs and who
00:12:27
Speaker 1: Maybe work in sales. I do get messages from them sometimes as well, but inspired by what our, our big boss at Spring Leaf Prata Place has been doing, giving longtime staff a cut of each shop's profits, I think it's inspired me to ask this question here today. And I'm gonna hit to messages first to see what's up over there, OK?
00:12:47
Speaker 1: So, uh, first message to here is saying hi to H. You said, good morning, Sonia. Yes, for me, it's OK. Now, I work 7 days myself as an assistant chef. Sometimes public holidays, I also need to work as a chef. It's been 3 months since I've been doing this. I actually decided to leave my job as a grabfood writer, but it's worth it. OK, OK, that's an interesting POV over there. We've got an anonymous message coming through here.
00:13:15
Speaker 1: Hey, good morning, Sonia. Please do not say my name.
00:13:19
Speaker 1: Currently, I'm just like your friends like you mentioned earlier, slogging every month, taking back the same amount of pay.
00:13:26
Speaker 1: And a lot of times I'm working late into the night, overtime, even when I'm not in the office, I'm at home working. Do I get any extra pay for this? No, I don't. We don't get paid overtime in these settings because we're replying emails or often working on things in our own personal time at home. I only have like maybe an hour or two to myself late at night and even so, I'm planning for my wedding right now.
00:13:50
Speaker 1: In 2027 and it's proving to be very, very stressful. So I don't really know what to do at this point with my job. If they could come up with more of a commission-based thing or be paid more for my time, I'll definitely be more motivated, especially since I've got a honeymoon to plan for as well. Well, firstly, anonymous, congratulations on your wedding in 2027. Truly is wedding season, right? Um, I feel you. I, I see some of my friends really struggling with that as well, you know, taking work home and everything, so,
00:14:20
Speaker 1: I, I hope that, you know, eventually, maybe you will find another job that you deserve. You know, you, you sound like a hard worker and you're putting so much time and effort into it. So I, I really appreciate that. OK, more of your messages coming through actually, quite a number of you sharing very lengthy stories. I will read and get to them in just a little while. In the meantime,
00:14:39
Speaker 1: There's time for you to get your stories and opinions in. You can call me 669-11987. The question is, if you were given a chance to switch to a commission-based job or maybe the current job that you are in right now, they decide, hey, you know what? I'm gonna give you a cut of our profits. I'm gonna give you commission and uh pay you per hour over time perhaps if you are staying back very late in the office. Would you opt for that?
00:15:04
Speaker 1: But of course, there's always going to be a give and take, right, in such situations, but theoretically, would you prefer a commission-based job? Lots of great conversations going off, off-air, on off-air right now.
00:15:17
Speaker 1: Can't English at this point. And um I want to read out a few more messages before we move on. You heard from Joanna earlier on air. The question is, if you were given the chance to earn like a commission-based income every month, would you make the switch, considering and, and provided that you're not already in a commission-based um industry and
00:15:37
Speaker 1: On, we also heard from someone who used to work in a commission-based industry and decided it wasn't for her. Yeah. So there's always two sides, right? And I'm going to messages first. I, I'm not sure whether you want me to say your name on air, but I'm just going to say hi to S. You said, hey, Sonia, so, I'm a videographer right now, a full-time one.
00:15:56
Speaker 1: And I'm so jealous of people who earn based on commission, because in the creative industry, when you work full-time, there is an income ceiling and it's super difficult to earn more than a certain benchmark as compared to people working in, let's say sales, insurance, or property. I really wish the income for creatives.
00:16:15
Speaker 1: would be higher for the amount of hours and ideas that we put into our work. If you're passionate about your job, you don't feel like you're actually working. I feel like it only applies in the very beginning or the first few years afterwards. If not, that passion might just die and it's just that income is not enough and you have to do more. I don't want to do so much freelance because there's no CPF and no stability as well. So honestly, I'm really not sure.
00:16:41
Speaker 1: As you know what, I feel you. I've got a lot of friends who work in production and you know, I myself, my folks and my, my family, we came from like a production company background, right? And it's tough, it's tough. It's also tough because a lot of the companies here in Singapore, like production companies, uh, we're not.
00:16:59
Speaker 1: They're not big enough to be paying you the kind of money that I think you deserve or that you expect, right? And like you rightfully said, passion has taken you through these few years, but now probably you've got bills to pay, you got plans to make in your adult life that, you know, now you're starting to consider, is this good enough or is this enough for me?
00:17:20
Speaker 1: So I hear you and I feel you and I completely agree that certain areas in the creative industry and even other industries could see some improvement in income as well. So, fingers crossed, I hope, you know, more conversations about this will happen and the powers that be will change it up. And in the meantime, all the best to you. Now, we're getting a mixed bag of reactions because I've got, on one hand,
00:17:44
Speaker 1: People who are saying yes, they would love to switch to commission-based, but they still want to stay in their job because they like their job. On the flip side, I've got people telling me that they've had experience with commission-based jobs and they didn't want to go back there. So, there's many ways of seeing it. And uh first of all, I want to say hi to Shan who said, morning. My company gives commission to us as a team. All of us have individual KPIs and only if all of our KPIs are hit, the team will receive the commission.
00:18:13
Speaker 1: I like it this way because it helps us work together to help one another. That's really cute, Shenny, uh, Shenny, sorry, I got your name wrong earlier. Um, more of your messages coming through right now. This is quite a lengthy one. You didn't leave a name, um, but, uh, oh, Dennis. Yes. Hi, Dennis. You said, hi, Sonia. I would like to take the commission-based option, but only if there's still some form of basic salary beneath it.
00:18:37
Speaker 1: Because when my company tells me work harder, sell more, and you earn more, I'm actually quite motivated. At least my income has a ceiling that I can control. If I'm pulling in extra hours, bringing in more business and making more profit for the company, I want to see some of that come back to me. But I wouldn't want my entire salary to be based on commission. Singapore is already expensive enough. I don't want my mortgage, bills, and even Taipeng to depend on whether this month's customers are in a good mood.
00:19:05
Speaker 1: And if the overtime part matters, the overtime part matters as well. If I'm staying back till like 10:00 p.m. I'd rather be paid for those extra hours than hear, hey guys, we're all one big family here. Hey man, family doesn't pay my electricity bill. So yes, give me my commission and pay me fairly for overtime. I'll take the risk, but the company has to take some responsibility as well. If you want me to think like an owner and help you make money, then let me earn like one. Wow, Dennis, you took the effort to type this out.
00:19:35
Speaker 1: I appreciate that. Um, great views here and I, I can only hope that eventually, everything that you've been texting me about and you've been talking to me about, you get to manifest it and it comes, comes true for you as well, OK? You deserve the money for the time that you're putting in. So all the best. A very unique piece of food news here today that I say kudos to this Heartland Shop bakery.
00:20:01
Speaker 1: Um, it's called JNC Bakery, where they decided to do something quite unconventional, I would say. Um, you know, usually when you say eat pizzas or cakes or, you know, um,
00:20:13
Speaker 1: Any sort of baked goods, you might sort of trim off the edge, right? OK. Especially for pizza crusts, sometimes I see people tossing it aside or maybe even for those cakes, like you trim off the edges. Um, here we go with bags of cake scraps that have started to sell and become a hit at JNC Bakery.
00:20:33
Speaker 1: Um, she's charging $4 for a bag of cake scraps. I mean, it doesn't, it's not as nasty as it sounds. It's actually really nice because frankly speaking, I love the edges of the cake. They're, they're a little bit toastier, um, and the flavor is, you know, definitely punchier compared to the center of the cake, which is, you know, nice and moist, but of course, I would ideally like the entire cake.
00:20:58
Speaker 1: However, that being said, um, most bakers will probably consider those brown edges trimmed off, um, scraps that you just toss aside or you might nibble on. But funny enough, the owner of JNC Bakery got this inspiration because back then when she was working at a previous place, I think customers were wondering, oh, what happens to, you know, these cake scraps, right, the edges, and customers are actually willing to pay for them.
00:21:23
Speaker 1: Um, this is actually a bakery that has outlets in Woodlands and East Village, and they pack the brown trimmings from its old school butter, banana, chocolate, and other types of cakes into bags that are priced at $4 and people are going crazy for it. The video has gone viral on TikTok and
00:21:42
Speaker 1: I think they're often sold out by noon. What a way to save and and reduce wastage, you know, I really have to applaud them for it and because of the viral TikTok video as well, it just sells out even faster now.
00:21:54
Speaker 1: So, I got to give a big round of applause and kudos to the owners of JNC. They're located at 15 Woodlands Loop and another one at 430 Upper Changi Road, if either one is convenient for you to check out. Now, this, I really hope it doesn't happen to anyone if you're making a move right now and, you know, with a big move comes a lot of anxiety and stress already, right?
00:22:15
Speaker 1: I know this because one of my close friends, in fact, two of my close friends are moving right now, and one of them actually is doing it solo. She's moving by herself, so I offered my help to, you know, move some of her personal stuff like drive it over and things like that, but the rest, obviously, they'll have to pay a moving company to do so, right?
00:22:34
Speaker 1: So this lady who was making a move from Serangoon to Coven, she got a, she got an invoice and she got a quote to pay the moving company about $228. That was the moving fee. OK. So that was, I'm assuming what was agreed upon according to the story. However, she received a message from them.
00:22:55
Speaker 1: And their message said, hey, take note that the lorry can only be parked outside the condo. So there's going to be additional charges for the long pushing distance. My supervisor will assess the distance, but please acknowledge this message, to which you would think to yourself, OK, I mean,
00:23:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, la, I don't mind paying you a little bit extra if there's some inconvenience, right? But she ended up with a bill of $1,796. Wait, what? I mean, that's a little crazy. That's a little crazy. But on the flip side,
00:23:31
Speaker 1: The moving company had their side of the story too. They said that the woman had more than 5 times the amount of items declared, including several large pieces of furniture, and they explained that such fees apply because lorries can only be parked outside the apartment as a result. You know, these workers will have to push, manually push it in. So now I'm just like, OK, like there are two sides of the story now.
00:23:55
Speaker 1: This lady also, I mean, I hope that she was, she fully declared the stuff, but from the, from the sound of it, from the moving company, she didn't quite declare. So let's just see how this goes. I mean, it's more of a he said she said situation right now. I'm not sure if anyone has to come in and intervene or, or mediate this situation, but if you are ever going to move anytime soon,
00:24:17
Speaker 1: Just get everything in order in black and white. No point hiding anything because you don't want any, you know, random last-minute charges to come about. That would be a nightmare. Um, hopefully, Joe will be back with us tomorrow and we also just want to give you all the love. You must have completed your English Listening Comprehension paper held earlier today already if you're a PSLE student. So hopefully that went well for you. And I think um for those of you who are not sitting for any examinations,
00:24:44
Speaker 1: You know, just show support to your siblings or your friends or if you know someone who is going through that, it must be very stressful because then the actual papers will begin, I believe, 24th of September onwards. All the best. We are sending you love and energy every single day here on the shock circuit, so we'll catch you tomorrow again at 6:00 a.m.
Speaker 1: Wake up.
00:00:05
Speaker 1: Good next.
00:00:07
Speaker 1: Kicking off your day in the best way. It's Sonia and Joakim on the shock circuit. Well, here we go. We're in the middle of the week right now. Hope it's going well for you. Oh, wow, it's your PSL listening comprehension exam, I wonder. When we come back, I want to give you something to look forward to in cinema starting next Thursday. Next Thursday here in Singapore. What other foreign language films or dialect films are we dropping in cinema? Not exactly foreign language, but this one is a beloved.
00:00:33
Speaker 1: OK, and maybe you can do it after PSLE for you. OK, well, you know, um, I have to admit it's been a while since I stepped into a cinema to watch a movie. You will never, you will not believe what was the last movie I watched. You were there. Yeah, you were there. The movie was the last time I had the time to sit down in the cinema to watch a film. You've not seen Odyssey or Spider-Man. Don't come at me about it. I'm trying to, I'm trying to find time.
00:00:59
Speaker 1: Unfortunately, um, over the past 10 minutes, Joakim has decided to head on home. He came into the studio, not feeling so great this morning, saying that the haze might have affected his like nose and
00:01:10
Speaker 1: And stuff and he was coughing a lot, so he decided to head back first and I told him, you know what, it's all good. Uh, go take a rest, go see a doctor or something. I mean, I don't know what the direct correlation is with the haze and catching, you know, a bad flu. I think if you're very sensitive, uh, honestly, my nose has been just absolutely going crazy.
00:01:31
Speaker 1: You, you might get some like sinus infections and things like that, but yeah, please consult your doctor if you are easily affected by haze and the particles in the air. If you have a, you know, sort of a purifier at home or something, that could be the best time to be using it. Anyway, no worries. The show continues. Coming up in just a little bit, there's been so much that happened overnight, I don't even know where to begin.
00:01:56
Speaker 1: Um, I guess I'll start with a bit of a weird and odd crime related news here in Singapore. Um, unfortunately, this piece of news, I don't know whether to categorize it as border crime or not, no, because I, I feel this is, this is a very unique case. In fact, it is the first time in Singapore, anyone has been jailed for such an offense. Um, to me, I think it's categorized as border crime because I can't believe this woman decided this was a good idea.
00:02:26
Speaker 1: Uh, but you decide, OK, you decide. So, this lady's only 28 years old, by the way, she's, you know, got a whole life and future ahead of her. She decided to keep smuggled puppies at home and then sell them online.
00:02:41
Speaker 1: And not just that, it makes me very angry because the pets were smuggled and kept in very unsafe and unsanitary conditions and you know me, I'm, I'm a dog lover. I'm an animal lover in general, and I, I just, it breaks my heart when I see things like that. Um, well, she wasn't alone though, she didn't act alone. She's got a husband that's older.
00:03:01
Speaker 1: Um, but clearly maturity doesn't come with age sometimes, but they've been sentenced to jail for illegally importing these puppies from Malaysia, then keeping them at home to be sold on Instagram. How crazy is that? I mean, who thought it was a good idea, right? Um, they're amongst the first ever in Singapore history to be jailed for keeping animals in captivity, then selling them.
00:03:23
Speaker 1: Um, so the, the problem is, it sounds like they've been doing this for a while. Um, they were arrested in December 2023 for their involvement in illegal import of puppies, and then they were discovered, um by ICA officers, actually, you know, when they inspect the vehicles and things like that. So I, I don't know how long their entire business went on for, but they profited around $21,000 through selling over 20 puppies on Instagram. So,
00:03:53
Speaker 1: Well, yes, well, we put a lot of the blame on them, but on us as consumers as well. Oh man, I mean, I don't wanna
00:04:00
Speaker 1: I don't want to sound too preachy or naggy about this, but if you can adopt, please just adopt. There are so many great organizations out there for you to adopt, and I know that the, the perception is always, oh, but I want the cute puppies or I want the cute dogs. Um, let me tell you this, not, it is not all the time that these cute puppies are easy to handle as well, you know, because you have to have a lot of patience and
00:04:24
Speaker 1: Bring them up from a baby, from the baby version, from the puppy version, right? And it comes with a different set of challenges. So, you need to be really ready for the, the kind of responsibility. It's like taking care of a baby, honestly, right? And there are some benefits with adopting a slightly more senior dog. Um, my own dog that was adopted.
00:04:46
Speaker 1: I want to say, has it already been like 3 or 4 years now? I think 3 years, perhaps slightly longer. Um, she's already 8 years old. So when we adopted her, she's like a full, full adult, right? And some may consider her to be a little bit on the older side already.
00:05:02
Speaker 1: So, sometimes we as humans and as future pet owners selfishly think like, oh, we want the dog to last for as long as we can, you know, for a lifetime. But there are so many cases of people just giving up their pets after a while because they just decided they can't handle it, right? So, adopt, there's so many dogs that need a home right now. If you can, of course, if you have the, the headspace and you have the ability to take on that kind of responsibility.
00:05:29
Speaker 1: Oh, talking about this makes me want to give my dog a hug. I. She's so cute. I love her so much. Anyway, coming up in just a bit, about 10 minutes or so, we'd love to open up phone lines to let you dedicate songs during this PSLE season. I know it's not easy, so, um, truly hope that you're hanging in there.
00:05:48
Speaker 1: Yesterday when I went on 987's TikTok Live, quite a few of you actually left comments telling me how your listening compre went on. If you want to tell me what your topic was about, how it went on, and how you felt you did, please let me know as well.
00:06:01
Speaker 2: Good morning. This
00:06:01
Speaker 2: is Ashley.
00:06:02
Speaker 1: Hello, Ashley, which school are you from?
00:06:05
Speaker 2: I'm from Paya Lebar Methodist Girls.
00:06:08
Speaker 1: Alright, nice. We love your school. Uh, what level are you in this year, by the way, and are you taking any exams?
00:06:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm.
00:06:17
Speaker 1: How's it been going? What was the, what was the paper about yesterday? The listening compri? Um
00:06:21
Speaker 2: the
00:06:21
Speaker 2: listening compri is like multiple topics because there's multiple passages. I feel like the recording was very bad because the pronunciation of the words also.
00:06:34
Speaker 1: Oh, like not so clear, is it? Yeah. Oh no, OK, well, you did the best you could and that's not on you. I think you, you sound like you're well prepared. Yeah. Fantastic.
00:06:43
Speaker 1: OK, what song can I get you today to perk you up? Um,
00:06:46
Speaker 2: could you play any song by Cortis, please?
00:06:50
Speaker 1: Alright, sure, we love Cortis here. Are you gonna catch Cortis in Singapore when they come here for F1? Yeah, right. Nice one. Alright, we hope to see you at the live show and you have a great day, OK? OK. All the best for the rest of your PSLE. Thank you. Bye-bye. Bye. Over 70,000 Singapore dollars has been lost to job scams associated.
00:07:11
Speaker 1: With this particular collectible. I'm talking about Pokemon and other types of trading cards, and this amount of money lost to job scams related to these trading cards only happened since 25th of August of 2026, you know. So, can you imagine in less than a month, victims actually lost 710 altogether. Um, they were instructed to complete certain tasks like opening digital trading card packs or selecting.
00:07:39
Speaker 1: Um, trading cards in exchange for commission. So, people fell for it. I think they probably thought it was a good deal or something. Um, and in this particular scam variant, they will contact the victims through unsolicited messages or calls, and they'll be like, hey, you know, I got this job, or, um, I have this task that you, you should do, and then they get directed to fraudulent websites, and that's it, you know, their details are taken and all that.
00:08:05
Speaker 1: Um, but our friends over at Singapore Police Force were quite swift about it. Uh, they did come out and say immediately, please be careful. Use the ScamShield app as well to block your scam calls, filter suspicious messages, especially SMSs, even though it's, it's been a while since I even replied any SMSs or even said the word SM.
00:08:25
Speaker 1: SMS, but you got to be careful because I think there are a bunch of people who, you know, when they get so caught up in their passion or their interest that nothing else matters, you know, it, it just becomes a blur and you may not be so alert. So, ScamShield app, please get your family to, to, to get it done.
00:08:45
Speaker 1: Um, if you're curious, please log on to their website, scamshield.gov.sg. I am not paid to say this on air. I genuinely believe that you need to look after yourself. Protect yourself, protect your finances at all costs, um, make sure that you don't, you know, spend all this hard earned money or let this hard-earned money go to waste. I, I cannot imagine the pain. I mean, even though this 700 has been, it's, it's across a bunch of victims, but can you imagine there have been cases where people lose like
00:09:15
Speaker 1: Hundreds of thousands on, on their own account, right? That's just scary. And I saw this piece of news that really just got me thinking, whether or not we would be happier doing this particular profit sharing, uh, pay every single month, OK? So I'm taking you to Spring Leaf Prata right now. Very famous, as you know, they're very well known for their authentic prata and they also put some interesting innovative things on prata.
00:09:42
Speaker 1: But their boss has decided, you know what, they're giving long-term staff a cut of each shop's profits. So he runs a profit sharing scheme where staff of at least 5 years or more can take up to 30% of a new shop's profits. I'm very sure this is like
00:10:01
Speaker 1: Performance-based as well. Um, and, you know, it's you got to hustle and you got to show some results for that particular shop. But I thought that was a really cool. I mean, that is a way to motivate your staff, right? And if you, if you already know anything about their prata shop, every batch of dough is actually made by someone with autism. And I just think that is something to applaud him for. It's just incredible because he hires in such a unique way.
00:10:30
Speaker 1: And I, I just want to give him a shout out on air. It's just incredible what this boss is doing, you know, so.
00:10:37
Speaker 1: So, like I said earlier, um, this particular boss has made all of us, I think, sometimes envy some of his employees. I was talking about Spring Leaf Prata Place boss. Um, he runs a profit sharing scheme where staff of about 5 years at least or more take up to 30% of a new shop's profits, and I think this has gone across social media. People are like praising it.
00:11:01
Speaker 1: Some are saying, wow, I wish he was my boss, you know, things like that. And we, we all know that Springleaf Prata is very loved, right, here in Singapore, especially. So, I wanted to open up the phone lines, 669-11987. Of course, I know that with every sort of scheme or, or, you know, um, job, there's going to be its pros and cons, and they're gonna be different types of conditions as well, and responsibilities that come with it.
00:11:28
Speaker 1: So, I'm gonna ask you this question here. If you were given a chance to earn every month, and you earn via a profit sharing scheme via your job, would you take it? But the catch is that you may have to hustle harder.
00:11:44
Speaker 1: And you probably may have to work weekends. Let's just say, OK? Maybe, maybe, maybe. Like the harder you hustle, the more money you earn. For those people who are in sales, if you're tuning in now, I'm sure you understand how that feels. But I think for the vast majority of, of people, you know, we, we come to work, we come to the office, you get paid monthly, right? And a lot of my friends, actually most of my friends don't have access to like commission-based jobs. They just earn what they earn in a, in a single month.
00:12:12
Speaker 1: So, what's your opinion? Do you feel like if you were switched to a profit sharing scheme, would you be more motivated at work? Would you rather do that via commission? And of course, you know, sometimes we get messages coming through from people who, who do work in commission-based jobs and who
00:12:27
Speaker 1: Maybe work in sales. I do get messages from them sometimes as well, but inspired by what our, our big boss at Spring Leaf Prata Place has been doing, giving longtime staff a cut of each shop's profits, I think it's inspired me to ask this question here today. And I'm gonna hit to messages first to see what's up over there, OK?
00:12:47
Speaker 1: So, uh, first message to here is saying hi to H. You said, good morning, Sonia. Yes, for me, it's OK. Now, I work 7 days myself as an assistant chef. Sometimes public holidays, I also need to work as a chef. It's been 3 months since I've been doing this. I actually decided to leave my job as a grabfood writer, but it's worth it. OK, OK, that's an interesting POV over there. We've got an anonymous message coming through here.
00:13:15
Speaker 1: Hey, good morning, Sonia. Please do not say my name.
00:13:19
Speaker 1: Currently, I'm just like your friends like you mentioned earlier, slogging every month, taking back the same amount of pay.
00:13:26
Speaker 1: And a lot of times I'm working late into the night, overtime, even when I'm not in the office, I'm at home working. Do I get any extra pay for this? No, I don't. We don't get paid overtime in these settings because we're replying emails or often working on things in our own personal time at home. I only have like maybe an hour or two to myself late at night and even so, I'm planning for my wedding right now.
00:13:50
Speaker 1: In 2027 and it's proving to be very, very stressful. So I don't really know what to do at this point with my job. If they could come up with more of a commission-based thing or be paid more for my time, I'll definitely be more motivated, especially since I've got a honeymoon to plan for as well. Well, firstly, anonymous, congratulations on your wedding in 2027. Truly is wedding season, right? Um, I feel you. I, I see some of my friends really struggling with that as well, you know, taking work home and everything, so,
00:14:20
Speaker 1: I, I hope that, you know, eventually, maybe you will find another job that you deserve. You know, you, you sound like a hard worker and you're putting so much time and effort into it. So I, I really appreciate that. OK, more of your messages coming through actually, quite a number of you sharing very lengthy stories. I will read and get to them in just a little while. In the meantime,
00:14:39
Speaker 1: There's time for you to get your stories and opinions in. You can call me 669-11987. The question is, if you were given a chance to switch to a commission-based job or maybe the current job that you are in right now, they decide, hey, you know what? I'm gonna give you a cut of our profits. I'm gonna give you commission and uh pay you per hour over time perhaps if you are staying back very late in the office. Would you opt for that?
00:15:04
Speaker 1: But of course, there's always going to be a give and take, right, in such situations, but theoretically, would you prefer a commission-based job? Lots of great conversations going off, off-air, on off-air right now.
00:15:17
Speaker 1: Can't English at this point. And um I want to read out a few more messages before we move on. You heard from Joanna earlier on air. The question is, if you were given the chance to earn like a commission-based income every month, would you make the switch, considering and, and provided that you're not already in a commission-based um industry and
00:15:37
Speaker 1: On, we also heard from someone who used to work in a commission-based industry and decided it wasn't for her. Yeah. So there's always two sides, right? And I'm going to messages first. I, I'm not sure whether you want me to say your name on air, but I'm just going to say hi to S. You said, hey, Sonia, so, I'm a videographer right now, a full-time one.
00:15:56
Speaker 1: And I'm so jealous of people who earn based on commission, because in the creative industry, when you work full-time, there is an income ceiling and it's super difficult to earn more than a certain benchmark as compared to people working in, let's say sales, insurance, or property. I really wish the income for creatives.
00:16:15
Speaker 1: would be higher for the amount of hours and ideas that we put into our work. If you're passionate about your job, you don't feel like you're actually working. I feel like it only applies in the very beginning or the first few years afterwards. If not, that passion might just die and it's just that income is not enough and you have to do more. I don't want to do so much freelance because there's no CPF and no stability as well. So honestly, I'm really not sure.
00:16:41
Speaker 1: As you know what, I feel you. I've got a lot of friends who work in production and you know, I myself, my folks and my, my family, we came from like a production company background, right? And it's tough, it's tough. It's also tough because a lot of the companies here in Singapore, like production companies, uh, we're not.
00:16:59
Speaker 1: They're not big enough to be paying you the kind of money that I think you deserve or that you expect, right? And like you rightfully said, passion has taken you through these few years, but now probably you've got bills to pay, you got plans to make in your adult life that, you know, now you're starting to consider, is this good enough or is this enough for me?
00:17:20
Speaker 1: So I hear you and I feel you and I completely agree that certain areas in the creative industry and even other industries could see some improvement in income as well. So, fingers crossed, I hope, you know, more conversations about this will happen and the powers that be will change it up. And in the meantime, all the best to you. Now, we're getting a mixed bag of reactions because I've got, on one hand,
00:17:44
Speaker 1: People who are saying yes, they would love to switch to commission-based, but they still want to stay in their job because they like their job. On the flip side, I've got people telling me that they've had experience with commission-based jobs and they didn't want to go back there. So, there's many ways of seeing it. And uh first of all, I want to say hi to Shan who said, morning. My company gives commission to us as a team. All of us have individual KPIs and only if all of our KPIs are hit, the team will receive the commission.
00:18:13
Speaker 1: I like it this way because it helps us work together to help one another. That's really cute, Shenny, uh, Shenny, sorry, I got your name wrong earlier. Um, more of your messages coming through right now. This is quite a lengthy one. You didn't leave a name, um, but, uh, oh, Dennis. Yes. Hi, Dennis. You said, hi, Sonia. I would like to take the commission-based option, but only if there's still some form of basic salary beneath it.
00:18:37
Speaker 1: Because when my company tells me work harder, sell more, and you earn more, I'm actually quite motivated. At least my income has a ceiling that I can control. If I'm pulling in extra hours, bringing in more business and making more profit for the company, I want to see some of that come back to me. But I wouldn't want my entire salary to be based on commission. Singapore is already expensive enough. I don't want my mortgage, bills, and even Taipeng to depend on whether this month's customers are in a good mood.
00:19:05
Speaker 1: And if the overtime part matters, the overtime part matters as well. If I'm staying back till like 10:00 p.m. I'd rather be paid for those extra hours than hear, hey guys, we're all one big family here. Hey man, family doesn't pay my electricity bill. So yes, give me my commission and pay me fairly for overtime. I'll take the risk, but the company has to take some responsibility as well. If you want me to think like an owner and help you make money, then let me earn like one. Wow, Dennis, you took the effort to type this out.
00:19:35
Speaker 1: I appreciate that. Um, great views here and I, I can only hope that eventually, everything that you've been texting me about and you've been talking to me about, you get to manifest it and it comes, comes true for you as well, OK? You deserve the money for the time that you're putting in. So all the best. A very unique piece of food news here today that I say kudos to this Heartland Shop bakery.
00:20:01
Speaker 1: Um, it's called JNC Bakery, where they decided to do something quite unconventional, I would say. Um, you know, usually when you say eat pizzas or cakes or, you know, um,
00:20:13
Speaker 1: Any sort of baked goods, you might sort of trim off the edge, right? OK. Especially for pizza crusts, sometimes I see people tossing it aside or maybe even for those cakes, like you trim off the edges. Um, here we go with bags of cake scraps that have started to sell and become a hit at JNC Bakery.
00:20:33
Speaker 1: Um, she's charging $4 for a bag of cake scraps. I mean, it doesn't, it's not as nasty as it sounds. It's actually really nice because frankly speaking, I love the edges of the cake. They're, they're a little bit toastier, um, and the flavor is, you know, definitely punchier compared to the center of the cake, which is, you know, nice and moist, but of course, I would ideally like the entire cake.
00:20:58
Speaker 1: However, that being said, um, most bakers will probably consider those brown edges trimmed off, um, scraps that you just toss aside or you might nibble on. But funny enough, the owner of JNC Bakery got this inspiration because back then when she was working at a previous place, I think customers were wondering, oh, what happens to, you know, these cake scraps, right, the edges, and customers are actually willing to pay for them.
00:21:23
Speaker 1: Um, this is actually a bakery that has outlets in Woodlands and East Village, and they pack the brown trimmings from its old school butter, banana, chocolate, and other types of cakes into bags that are priced at $4 and people are going crazy for it. The video has gone viral on TikTok and
00:21:42
Speaker 1: I think they're often sold out by noon. What a way to save and and reduce wastage, you know, I really have to applaud them for it and because of the viral TikTok video as well, it just sells out even faster now.
00:21:54
Speaker 1: So, I got to give a big round of applause and kudos to the owners of JNC. They're located at 15 Woodlands Loop and another one at 430 Upper Changi Road, if either one is convenient for you to check out. Now, this, I really hope it doesn't happen to anyone if you're making a move right now and, you know, with a big move comes a lot of anxiety and stress already, right?
00:22:15
Speaker 1: I know this because one of my close friends, in fact, two of my close friends are moving right now, and one of them actually is doing it solo. She's moving by herself, so I offered my help to, you know, move some of her personal stuff like drive it over and things like that, but the rest, obviously, they'll have to pay a moving company to do so, right?
00:22:34
Speaker 1: So this lady who was making a move from Serangoon to Coven, she got a, she got an invoice and she got a quote to pay the moving company about $228. That was the moving fee. OK. So that was, I'm assuming what was agreed upon according to the story. However, she received a message from them.
00:22:55
Speaker 1: And their message said, hey, take note that the lorry can only be parked outside the condo. So there's going to be additional charges for the long pushing distance. My supervisor will assess the distance, but please acknowledge this message, to which you would think to yourself, OK, I mean,
00:23:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, la, I don't mind paying you a little bit extra if there's some inconvenience, right? But she ended up with a bill of $1,796. Wait, what? I mean, that's a little crazy. That's a little crazy. But on the flip side,
00:23:31
Speaker 1: The moving company had their side of the story too. They said that the woman had more than 5 times the amount of items declared, including several large pieces of furniture, and they explained that such fees apply because lorries can only be parked outside the apartment as a result. You know, these workers will have to push, manually push it in. So now I'm just like, OK, like there are two sides of the story now.
00:23:55
Speaker 1: This lady also, I mean, I hope that she was, she fully declared the stuff, but from the, from the sound of it, from the moving company, she didn't quite declare. So let's just see how this goes. I mean, it's more of a he said she said situation right now. I'm not sure if anyone has to come in and intervene or, or mediate this situation, but if you are ever going to move anytime soon,
00:24:17
Speaker 1: Just get everything in order in black and white. No point hiding anything because you don't want any, you know, random last-minute charges to come about. That would be a nightmare. Um, hopefully, Joe will be back with us tomorrow and we also just want to give you all the love. You must have completed your English Listening Comprehension paper held earlier today already if you're a PSLE student. So hopefully that went well for you. And I think um for those of you who are not sitting for any examinations,
00:24:44
Speaker 1: You know, just show support to your siblings or your friends or if you know someone who is going through that, it must be very stressful because then the actual papers will begin, I believe, 24th of September onwards. All the best. We are sending you love and energy every single day here on the shock circuit, so we'll catch you tomorrow again at 6:00 a.m.
