So, I took some time off from my previous job because it was giving me a mental breakdown as well as a job fit. Most importantly, I didn’t feel that I got a good start, everything just felt off from the onset. The last three months have been exciting, scary, enriching, anxious and everything else mixed together.
For the best part of my work in the last five years, was the pure flexibility of it. I enjoy the work and I enjoy how flexible it is. Honestly, it feeds me and the family well too. Everything has to end eventually so the transition was not too great. As for me, I didn’t feel that worried but once I stopped receiving calls for interviews after three weeks, something didn’t quite click and I reached out to my contacts for help. Meanwhile, I also seek my own spiritual help.
I didn’t come from a privileged family but I always had an issue with applying for jobs. It doesn’t come that easy compared to many others that I have known. There’s always something available for others. Personally, social capital has always been a help to me. Perhaps my role is niche or my experience is different from others but it is always the “highly recommended” that gives me the first call for interview. Whatever happens next is up to the individual.
There was a bit of a hiccup during my onboarding process but eventually, with the grace of God, everything worked out.
The thing about this process of job hunting is that often it is nerve-racking. For some reason, it didn’t feel this way. It just felt that something will come back at the right JD, the right remuneration. Given the external factors, it does get a bit anxious when you keep hearing about the job cuts in several key industries that have boomed over the past few years.
I definitely feel those who are still hunting for a job, looking for their next work. I also feel for those who have been retrenched, who had to resign for whatever reason and who have no work for any reason. All these take a hit on their retirement planning, life plans, child and many more. I will pray for you and everything will be fine with God.
This is just a random thought that I would pen down. In five or ten years, I will probably come back and look at it and see what has changed. But for sure, many of you out there don’t despair and don’t lose hope. Because with time many of the answers will be revealed.
Fave has two sections of their business one is Fave Deals and one is Fave Pay. I presume many people of age would know what Fave deals does. It used to be a big deal with “Groupons”. It actually means Coupons bought in bulk and hence Group Buy and bring down the prices of certain services and products. These trends are now long gone and the current trend is known as e-wallets and online payments. This is where Fave Pay comes in.
Fave deals isn’t gone in entirety but it still involved buying deals from different categories with F&B deals coming at some thing like $30 worth of vouchers at $27 (Something like that which gives you a 5% or 10% discount)
There’s nothing much to talk about but generally signing up with the referral code gives you $1 discount by using my referral code FAVEPAUL62 or by clicking on this link here https://m.myfave.com/singapore/invite/FAVEPAUL62
Most people would have known that you can double stack your rewards by adding Grab Pay for your payment methods. However, since Grab Pay have nerfed all payment rewards, it’s better for you to add a credit card to double stack your payment rewards. DO check your MCC code for eligible rewards. It is getting tougher to double and triple stack rewards so to a certain extent, it isn’t quite worthwhile to use certain e-wallets.
Fave Pay also help in getting goodies from Google Pay and completing your Huat Pats.
I know this can be rather complicated. It took me a while to find out what is this Simply Go ezl concept. It has come to us that we can already use Mastercard and Visa card to tap in and use it for our public transport these days. Here, I think Ezlink is plugging a gap for those without credit cards. (Though I don’t quite see how that is possible to plug the gap when you also aim to use the credit card to top up the ezlink card.)
Nonetheless, with CNY round the corner. EZ Link launched their conversation from a normal EZ Link Card via their Station Machines also known as the Ticketing Machines. It takes about one minute to convert the ezlink card to a “Simply Go” one so that one can top up online instead of queuing up physically. With this upgrade, there is a free $2 added to the card and with ever transport use, you get a scratch card which gives you a cashback amount into your converted Simply Go EZ Link Card. Easy to understand now?
If you have some time to spend and use the public transport a little here and there then please do use my referral code “4005114” when you register for the game. Good Luck and thank you in advance.
So I tried it out and it came with two standard scratch cards which gave me a total of $0.44 cents instantly which isn’t too bad for doing nothing except for the initial conversion. It will take about a minute at the ticketing machine so beware for the crowd behind you.
Conclusion
If you like what I am sharing or if it resonates with you, do use my referral codes for other services at Referral and Recommendations
The pictures were taken off EZ Link website for reference.
This year, 2023, GPay has updated and made minor tweaks to their Huat Pals. Gone with BB Loh and Panda and incomes CNY goodies. I don’t know why but it intrigues me every year that I spend some time every year doing a little bit more research.
With the social aspect of CNY back after the Covid years previously, there are some additional items that give you more opportunities to get more goodies. That said, it also means you have to make more effort to get more.
Step number one: You need to set up and download Google Pay for a start.
You can sign up for a new account here: g.co/payinvite/t74cf8ffrom your mobile app or use this link here at Download Google Pay you’ll earn $3 when you opt-in to Google Pay offers and rewards and make your first payment (min. $10)! Download the app and use my referral code t74cf8f to get started.
Next Step number two: You will need to understand how the mechanics work.
Now, different things tick with different folks so do what comforts you. Do take this article with a pinch of salt and a guide. If $8- $88 is not worth your effort then do proceed to do what comforts you and gets you more for your time. It should not make you anxious and keep your mind calm.
In order to get a scratch card or an opportunity to win prizes:
Once you have collected all 5 goodies, you will win one of the following (It is random so please don’t over-react if you don’t get any):
Scratch card worth up to S$88.88; or
Pixel 7 Pro worth S$1,299; or
Pixel Buds Pro worth S$299
The rare item that I am putting my money on is the gold/ingot. Just saying since it has an auspicious gold shine to it and google being google is pretty local in Singapore.
Once again, this game aims to have as much activity as possible. It isn’t a game of fastest fingers first so you kind of need to strategize and spend money in general.
Step number 3: Available and activity required to get goodies (This year there are more options) but also slightly more difficult to get it.
These are the same as what is in your app in the same order so GPay has nicely done it in a way that you can work on the tasks as if it is a list of times to fulfil daily.
A. PAYNOW to merchants (You can do it 1 time daily)
You need to spend a minimum of $5 to make this eligible. Small tip, YouTrip DOES NOT work Now. I’m sure there are other apps that work as well. I will make it subtle and quiet on each option.
You can get $5 when you top up your YouTrip card. (25 Jan 2023 Update: YouTrip, Shoppee Pay and CPF QR code works. The reset timing is 10 am daily. Please note. Sorry for the mis-information)
B. Make a FavePay transaction (You can do it 1 time daily)
In all honesty, this is pretty tough and you need to spend a minimum of $5 as well. However, if you have a merchant that uses FavePay, then it kills two birds with one transaction. My bad. Fave Pay transactions through GPay is from a bank payment or from PayLah. You can’t kill two birds with one transaction.
C. Use your Fave Pay cashback in a transaction (You can do it 1 time daily)
Well, again it is probably to reward those who go out of the way. You need to have Fave Pay cashback equivalent partners and this would offset options A, B & C, killing three birds with one transaction (I will have to test this out first before I update my article) meanwhile, today (19 Jan 2023) is the first day of Huat Pals launch from Gpay so there will be some exploration steps I need to take.
My bad again. cashback earned from the Fave Pay App doesn’t appear on GPay. So it has to be a repeat transaction. Again, good to know but difficult to execute once more. Also GPay has this few seconds lag which kind of stresses me a little with the queue behind me.
D. Tap to Pay (You can do it 1 time daily)
Yup. As simple as it gets. Contactless payment with a minimum of $5 charged.
E. Buy movie tickets on Google Pay (You can do it 1 time daily)
This is pretty clear-cut to me but I’m not the kind who purchases a movie ticket at GV or Shaw these days. The comfort of home and the price of movie tickets deter me. But again, it may work for others.
F. Split an expense with two other friends (You can do it 1 time daily)
Anyone knows that in an essay, the number 2 should be spelt as Two? Anyways I sidetracked. Instead of one friend to split expenses, you need two others. That means you are splitting your bills three-way including yourself with the minimum charge of $3.
G. Gift a goody to your friend (You can do it 5 times daily)
Finally, the last daily activity is to give your extra goodies to another friend (Aka trade) Those who know where to trade will know. It takes a bit of effort but yeah just enjoy the process.
Step number 4: Additional quiz or mission-style requests
So random quizzes or daily requests such as taking photos of items will get you additional goodies and these come in random. These are known as Huat Scanner and Huat Quizzes. (It is a QR scanner and answering quizzes) My thoughts are similar to how google search functions. The more you engage in the activity, the more these requests will pop up. Though random, there is some AI to it (i.e. robots related) We will not know but like any other games you played before, the more active you are, the more likely you are going to level up and do better. Whether it gets difficult, I’m not sure but let’s just have fun.
Side note, thank you google for the media announcement but perhaps you can send it to me earlier than the next event because my day starts, I have a day job and creating all these takes time and effort. You are always welcome to reach out to me to have a chat via my email. I’m happy to explore. Cheers anyway for providing media items so that I do not have to source for those on my own.
Conclusion
I can’t tell anyone this is worth your time to do all these because we have different values in terms of time and what it gives back to you. However, during the promotion period, there will be changes as Google work on bugs and several things to make sure that they can be as fair as possible to everyone. May luck be with you. Remember two things: The more you want something, the less it will come to you. (Because of the state of the mind) & This should not shun you away from doing the proper and real things in life that matters to you. (Be real, be yourself)
If you like what I am sharing or if it resonates with you, do use my referral codes for other services at Referral and Recommendations
These pictures were taken off the Google Media Kit for reference.
