A 31-year-old woman from China who lived in Singapore for more than 10 years is gaining attention for her unusual work routine, as reported by Shin Min Daily News.
During the day, the woman named Chen works as a web designer. When night falls, she puts on her helmet and becomes a food delivery rider.
According to her, she does this not out of financial pressure but because she wants to feel and observe real life for herself.
Wanted to understand what riders go through
Chen said she began this routine during the Covid-19 pandemic, where she was working from home while developing a design project related to food delivery.
Instead of guessing from behind a computer screen, she decided to experience the job with her own hands and registered as a delivery rider to understand the work flow.
At the beginning, Chen did not even know how to ride a bicycle and relied on walking to deliver a few orders at night.
Over the course of six months, she picked up the skill of cycling, where she fell countless times, suffered bruises, and even got forced off the path by another rider. However, she refused to give up.
‘Money’s not the motivation’
To this day, Chen is still at her routine of being a web designer at day and a delivery rider at night.
After work, she heads out around seven or eight in the evening and completes two or three deliveries before going home.
The purpose is not to earn more money. Riding keeps me grounded and connected to real people.
“I use the experience to observe human behaviour, understand daily struggles and collect stories that spark new ideas for my daytime design work,” she shared.
Chen also shares bits of her delivery journey on social media to show what delivery riders silently face from confusing addresses to awkward encounters and quiet streets.
