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From The New Paper: Don't hate me, please Benita Aw Yeong The New Paper Tuesday, Feb 04, 2014 “Do you have a quota?” This is one of the top three questions Mr Victor Kumaran receives from friends whenever he tells them he works as a parking enforcement officer. The other two include whether he gets a commission from booking cars parked illegally, and if he can “close one eye” if you give him your car plate number. The answer? “No, no and no.” The 29-year-old, who has been doing the job since July 2005, explains that parking enforcement officers like him issue summonses to motorists who park without a valid coupon or illegally. He now runs a team of 36 officers. “If there was a quota or commission to earn, I wouldn’t have to spring surprise ‘audits’ on them while they work,” says the tall lad with a chuckle. Part of his job is to deploy members of his team to different areas daily, and to ensure they are doing their work. On top of that, he pounds the pavements as well. The job has its challenges, he admits. “It’s not too popular because you’ve got to endure the heat, and quite frankly, once people see our white uniforms, they don’t like it already,” he says with a rueful smile. “Not too popular” may be an understatement. In fact, just a few days ago, he was assaulted in Banda Street and it was captured in a news report. - See more at: http://business.asiaone.com/news/dont-hate-me-please/#sthash.8CdPZTYM.dpuf And stories from the drivers? Here goes: Confessions of drivers who got fined We asked some people to confess what excuses they had previously used to get out of parking tickets in the past. “I said I was fetching a friend who lost his way so I just left the car for a minute to bring my friend over.” – Teacher, 47 “I blamed it on the officer who didn’t even bother asking me why I was parking there, when I was standing right in front of him.” – Businessman Kwong K. C., 53 “I tried to say I didn’t know the rules and regulations. It failed.” – Mr Kelvin Tay, director, 53 “I said I had a stomachache and needed to run to the kopitiam toilet, all while apologising profusely to the macik.” – Madam Koh Bee Leng, 36, assistant manager “I said my kid needed the washroom badly. She didn’t.” – Mr L. Ng, 30, who is in sales Of the 50 people we spoke to in a straw poll, 80 per cent, or 40, said that they never gave excuses to get out of a parking fine - See more at: http://business.asiaone.com/news/dont-hate-me-please/page/0/7#sthash.o0QEUeR7.dpuf