Are the Robots Taking Over Your Job?
Last time I used to laugh at this whole “AI will take your job” thing. I said, relax lah. Robots cannot replace humans. Humans got heart. Humans got soul. Humans got CPF.
Then I looked at how we actually work.
A robot wakes up on time. We wake up, snooze three times, then blame the weather. A robot does not need kopi before functioning. We cannot even reply one email before caffeine enters bloodstream. A robot does not say, “Today a bit sian.” For us, Monday is a medical condition.
Robot does not ask for increment. Robot does not say, “Boss, market rate very high now.” Robot does not need bonus to feel motivated. Just plug in and it will work until electricity finishes. Meanwhile, we need salary, AWS, bonus, transport allowance, mental health day, team bonding, and maybe a company trip to Bintan before we feel appreciated. The robot just needs a socket.
Robot does not take MC. No flu. No headache. No “food poisoning but still posting Instagram story.” Robot does not have office politics. It does not send passive aggressive emails saying, “As per my last email.” It does not form small lunchtime cliques to discuss who got promoted unfairly.
And the worst part? Robot does not scroll social media during work hours. It does not open five tabs, check Shopee 9.9 sale, read comments, and call it “research.”
If I am a CEO, I look at one side: human staff. Leave, benefits, feelings to manage carefully. On the other side: robot. Needs electricity.
You tell me who looks more stable.
But before we panic, let’s be honest. Robot can do tasks. It can calculate faster than your whole department combined. It can answer customer queries at 3am without attitude. It can process data without complaining that the file format is wrong.
But robot cannot laugh at stupid jokes in the pantry. It cannot feel proud when its kid gets into university. It cannot sit at hawker centre and argue whether chicken rice should be $3.50 or $5.50. It cannot write a sarcastic post about MRT squeezing and call it “national unity.”
Actually… I lied. This whole post was written by AI. I just added the “lah.”
Robot can execute. It cannot care.
Maybe the problem is not that robots are extraordinary. Maybe it is that some of us have become replaceable.
If your job is just following instructions, ticking boxes, copying and pasting, then sorry ah. You are already behaving like a slightly slower robot with emotions.
The real competition is not robot versus human. It is replaceable human versus valuable human.
Robot is coming. That one confirm.
If you were your own boss this year…
Would you keep you?
