Have you ever wondered what your barista is thinking as she makes your morning coffee? What’s it like to be a successful restaurateur in a ruthlessly competitive market? How did a young Thai woman come to work in a hostess bar? Is an academic ghostwriter undermining or shoring up a world-famous education system? How does a drag performer explain her profession to her conservative parents? And what does an elderly tissue vendor make of the momentous changes she’s seen in Singapore since independence?

In Hard at Work, sixty people talk about work and life in contemporary Singapore. Their stories shed light not just on Singapore’s present but also its past and its future, and reveal the nation as a place where people from around the world work hard to survive and sometimes thrive in a modern global city. The book offers readers a unique opportunity to look beyond the nation’s iconic skyline and gleaming surfaces to explore the diverse experiences of work and life in Singapore today.