The lady of the night loves dogs

Pencilled eyebrows greyish and thick, made-up face, red Lego-like tattoo in her left upper arm, tanned face, gaunt. Late forties and more prone to speak the Hokkien dialect now and then. Fortunately, I could speak Hokkien. She had brought her dog for a second vaccination.

"The breeder at 10 Pasir Ris permitted me to replace the Maltese with this Shih Tzu on payment of some money. At least this Shih Tzu did not have diarrhoea for the last 7 days. The puppy seller offered to transport my dog to Pasir Ris on a Wednesday on payment of $40 transport fee and $30 vaccination fee as his vet comes on a Wednesday. When I told him I would not be free to wait for my puppy to come back as I have to work at 7 p.m, he gave me his vet's address to go to get my puppy vaccinated."

This is a good example of a value-added service by this puppy seller in the face of underpricing. Provide a unique service after puppy sales.

"How come you have to work at night?" I asked her.

"I work from 7 p.m to 11 p.m for $38.00," she said. "I don't want to be tied down to full-time employment so that I have more time for my puppies."

I was wondering whether she was a dance hostess. She had the trim figure for her age.

"I am a beer promoter," she said. All the time I thought beer promoters for this famous beer company are nubile young girls with high heels and mini-skirts." Not grandmothers.

"I promote beer in hawker centres near my residence. I take a bus to work."

"$38.00 seems to be insufficient to make a living," I said.

"Well, full-time beer promoters earn $32.00. They get commissions on sale of beer and need to achieve a quota. In the end, they earn a similar amount but with lots of stress and being tied down."

"Why not $40.00?" I asked.

"The agent takes $2.00. The agent phones me. The places I serve can be accessed by direct bus."

What a hard life she must have.

"During my time, children don't study. I dropped out after Primary 5. I started to promote whiskey Mattel and Hennessy at the age of 19 and married at 20."

"Children do study during your time," I said. "I was still in school while you were becoming street smart. Did you work in the Golden Million NightClub and meet horse trainers, owners and jockeys? I had worked in the Turf Club as a vet before. I know some of them spent lots of money after the weekend racing at the night clubs," I asked. When she started working, it would be 1980. I would still be a government servant. And civil servants like me did not or could not afford to go to night clubs.

"Yes," she said. "I earned $2,000 to $3,000. I helped myself to the Hennessy. One day I felt sick. The doctor said I had liver problems."

"Were you in hospital?"

"For one month," she said. "Now, I don't even drink beer."

What an unusual life I thought. She was a lady of the night to earn a livelihood and to support her one son. The other son went to live with the father after the divorce. Now, she is still a lady of the night. The son has grown up and has a good military job. But the poor mum is still working. Maybe she enjoys her work.

"What happens if the agent does not call you and you have no work and no money?" I thought of the younger competitors in high heels and mascara.

"I am seldom jobless," she said. "Sometimes the agent has to beg me to work 7 days a week."

For $38.00 for 4 hours. She seems to have this "work-life balance which the Singapore Government is pushing hard as she spends time doing what she likes.

Suddenly she said, "You shouldn't permit James, your old receptionist to use the computer to check for my dog records," she advised me. "It is too stressful for the old man. He clicked here and there and could not locate my reference number. When he wrote my telephone number, he wrote one digit incorrectly..."

"I have had told James to let the client write," I said.

Each client has her own reference number from which James would find and take out the case card from the drawer.

"James may be over 70 years old, but he is not brain-dead," I said.

"You could just let James clean up the surgery and do some simple tasks," she replied.

"This is such a small surgery, around 600 sq. ft. Do you expect James to mop and sweep the floor ten times a day? It is better for him to do some mental work so that he will not be senile prematurely.

"The fault lies with the software Mark is writing for the surgery. It is not user friendly..." I looked at Mark who did the customised programming. "If James can use it, you will have a best seller."

Apparently, the beer promoter had seen James failing to find the reference number. I have again to ask Mark to write a user-friendly software but you can't bring a horse to the water and force him to drink.

As for James, his mind is alert and if he is retired to pasture, he will die early.