'Embrace your strengths': Deaf S'porean courier, 49, says best part of his job is communicating with customers

As a courier, Eskandariah Sulaiman, 49, leads a pretty average life.

He works a nine-to-six job, jostles with the lunch crowds at the central business district (CBD) daily, and spends his time outside of work with his wife and two sons.

Interacting with his regular customers at Raffles Place daily is his favourite part of his job, he says.

But what people don't always realise right away is that Esk, as he is more commonly known, is deaf.

A morning in the life

On a typical Friday, Esk kindly invites me to tag along on his morning route.

His day starts with a one-and-a-half-hour bus journey to FedEx's headquarters in the eastern end of Singapore, accessible only by one public bus.

Like all 130 couriers at FedEx Singapore, he is rostered on a daily schedule that indicates the day's route and parcels to be delivered.

The CBD is typically where he is assigned. Today is no different, with Collyer Quay being his first stop.

Half an hour of scanning, sorting and loading parcels later, he is in his van and on the road.

For the rest of the day, his role involves traversing office buildings in the CBD, delivering and collecting parcels from customers.

He will not return to the main office for another eight hours, sometimes more, when last-minute pickups call for it, he tells me.

In his element

Navigating the numerous high-rise buildings of Raffles Place is second nature to Esk, who strides from office to office with barely a glance at their addresses.

With the aid of an interpreter, he guides us through the complexities of office security, cautions us about the lengthy walks between buildings, and warns us about the high costs of parking in the CBD.

However, it is Esk's unique form of communication with the people he met throughout the day that piqued my interest.

His signed exchanges with colleagues are responded to in kind and, as FedEx's Managing Director Eric Tan would later tell me, many had picked up sign language to communicate with Esk.

On most days, he interacts with others through a mix of texts, written words and hand gestures.

Regular customers, many of whom recognised him on sight, were often able to sign back to him.

Over lunch, I ask Esk what his favourite part of each day is.

"Meeting regular customers," he told me.

For that same reason, Raffles Place has also become his favourite part of Singapore.

New customers tend to be surprised that he is non-verbal, though, he adds.

In a frontline career where interactions are an inevitable part of the job, it is not every day that customers meet a courier who does so without words.

Embracing his strengths

As we chat over some nasi padang in the heart of the CBD, I begin to understand Esk a little better.

He joined TNT, a courier delivery service company, in 1996 as a senior operations assistant. He later pivoted to a courier role in 2019, when TNT was acquired by FedEx, and has remained there to date.

There were some struggles in the early days, including training issues and a more physically demanding role.

But the main part that stood out to me was his people-centeredness.

Being able to "understand customers' needs" and "make customers feel valued" were also daunting challenges, he said, but have over time become his proudest strengths.

"I want to show that I am very attentive to customers so that they feel valued."

He lives with his wife and two sons, 19 and 24, all of whom are "very encouraging and supportive" of his sometimes heavy workload, he told me, beaming with pride.

An avid magnet and keychain collector, he indulges in the long-forgotten art of collecting tokens of different countries.

He was born profoundly deaf and learnt the Singapore sign language as a child, but quipped that he "can't always understand newer versions" used by younger people today.

I asked what his hopes were for the deaf community.

"Embrace your strengths, be proactive in seeking support and explore new opportunities," he said.

As for those not from the community, simply being respectful and supportive are the best ways to understand those with different abilities, he added.

We ended our meeting on the topic of goals and dreams.

His biggest dream? Visiting the global FedEx headquarters in Memphis, Tennessee, U.S., he said with a laugh.

But he has never been one for ambitious goals.

"I've never thought about my career like that. I try and make it and I live with it."

"So far it's worked out."

Top images via Mothership