Nanyang Butterflies: Nanyang Butterflies

Nanyang Butterflies - Chapter 5

The average worker salary was about $20 per day. Mr Moe calculated that if he fired forty workers, he could save $80,000 in salary for the next 3 months. That would save him some money to tide over the cash flow until the new orders come in. He had two other big orders lined up, so that should make it work.

Mr Moe didn't like the solution. But there was no choice. It was better to cut a limb than to die outright.

He knew Ms Lim had a point all along. It was just about priorities. Which was more important? Meeting orders or training workers? He had to make these decisions. Of course now that the shit had hit the fan. He had to change his priorities.

Mr Moe was not a bad person. He was just too pragmatic.

He thought hard about how to help the girls who were going to get the axe tomorrow. He called his neighbour, Stephen.

"Hey Stephen, I got a cashflow problem, I need to fire some of my girls. Can you take some?"
"Hey Moe, I not running a charity leh... I can probably take 1 or 2 lah. How many you got?"
"Forty."
"Wah lao! What happen? You employ underage girls tio dua ki summon issit?"

Mr Moe was not in a mood to joke about this. Stephen sort of got the hint.

Aiya, ok lah, ok lah, at most I take 3 or 4 ok. For old time's sake lah, since we go back long way."
"Ok thanks. I owe you one, bro."
"Please don't sing that Wooh ho-oh, oh oh song ever okay?"
"Got it."

There's still 30 over girls. Then Mr Moe remembered something and picked up the phone.

"Mrs Tee, I remember you mentioned your husband needed workers? Can I trouble you to get him on the phone now? It's urgent."

“Hi, this is Tee” someone answered at the other end of the line.

“ Mr Tee, I have a favour to ask from you”

* * * *

It was quite a commotion at Ocean the next day. Girls were sobbing and Mrs Tee and Ms Lim were running around. Mr Moe gathered everyone to a big room and introduced someone to the audience. He was Mrs Tee's husband.

Mr Tee knew Ocean well. Ocean was a supplier to his firm when he was still working there. That's how he met his wife too. He saw all the problems with Ocean and persuaded his wife to quit, in preparation to strike out on their own. However Mrs Tee was passionate about her job and was not about to call it a day. Well, as it happened, she got pregnant. Mr Tee then started his own company and employed a few Ocean staff who unwilling to take Ocean's poor working environment, decided to leave and join his new setup.

Mr Moe took a stance, like a singer before his best performance.

Something like this

"Everyone, as you might know, Ocean is running into some difficulties. But we are gonna be okay in a few months. Mr Tee here is running his own company and he needs workers. I think his company is called Tee Lifestyle Limited, or TLL in short. He has kindly accepted some of our workers. I shall let Mr Tee talk about his company to make you all understand his business."

Mr Tee spoke in a confident voice, “ Hi Everyone. TLL is what I call a learning laboratory. THE Learning Lab, No.1 in Singapore.You see, there is huge demand for additional learning all over Singapore. Children, teenagers, young adults even seasoned workers want to spend their leisure time to learn more. Weekday evenings, weekends..."

"Learning during weekends? Why?" Someone asked.

"Why? Because everyone wants to win the rat race. But more importantly, I think mainstream education had too many issues."

"Way too many issues." Mr Tee added.

Su Zhen didn't really understand what this guy was talking about.

Someone then asked, "But what exactly is a learning laboratory?"

"Well... simply said, it's an employment agency. But not everyone is eligible That's why I am here."

"How to be eligible?" Mr Moe asked naively.

"I issue something call a Certificate of Entitlement. But there is only a limited quota. So I setup this auction process for people to bid. And I tell you, people go crazy over this. Sometimes the bids go to five or six digits..."

A few people gasped after hearing the price.

"But don't worry, there is quite a bit of supply for these certs now, so prices should fall."

The speech and questions continued. Su Zhen kept quiet, thinking. After everything has ended she approached Mr and Mrs Tee.

"Hi, I would like to know more about TLL." She said timidly.
"Yes! How can I help?" Mr Tee asked.
"Su Zhen, don't worry, you will have your job at Ocean." Mrs Tee added.
"I understand. I was thinking about how can I also upgrade myself."

Mr Tee immediately got her thinking and he said, "Let me put it this way, we do have programs that start from 7 o'clock, after your work has ended.

Mrs Tee was asked to attend some other matters and left the conversation.

"But what kind of programs start so late?"
"Well... Essentially TLL is an agency. We help train workers for other industries. There are all sorts of industries and some of them operate at different hours. Like restaurants, hotels etc, they would need workers around the clock."

"I see." Su Zhen beamed.

“Of course, if you live up to your potential, I can personally train you to do value added stuff like sales and marketing, that sort of thing that will help you in Ocean.” Mr Tee said.

“You know sales and marketing?” Su Zhen asked in disbelief.

“Yeah, of course. I would say I contributed to the growth of Ocean through my wife. I did gave her a lot of good advice!”

“Wow!"

"Look, if you are really interested do give me a call."

He handed Su Zhen a namecard.

* * * *

Dinner that night, Su Zhen ate quietly with her parents. She day-dreamed for a couple of minutes and then she blurted out.

“Pa, Ma, what do you think if I took on another job?”

“What? Are you crazy? We fought so hard to get you into Ocean you know? Is it bcos of that angmo boyfriend?” Mama Su was not amused.

“No no, I am not quitting. It’s an additional job. They can pay me double and they will train me to do marketing. By the way, his name is Brian and he is Singaporean.”

Mama Su was not happy that her daughter was talking back. She gave a deep frown.

“The new job... Sounds good, actually.” Papa Su said.

Su Zhen's face brightened and she added quickly, “It could help me in Ocean too. I have moved up to EM One but think I can do more. I see Mrs Tee. She can make uniforms, do sales and marketing.”

Papa Su spoke slowly without looking up. “It’s a rat race out there, you have to run faster, work harder, earn some money before you get married. It’s good that you are trying to do that.”

Su Zhen listened to her father silently. Somehow it didn't sound too right from a parent.

"The older girl next door is also doing marketing. I think the pay is better." Mama Su said, still frowning. Comparing her daughter again.

Su Zhen rolled her eyes.

Moving to Line EM One was an accomplishment for her. The next logical step was to move to a higher level. She did witness other seamstresses got demoted to EM Two and Three. If they really cannot make it, then they were asked to attend Foundation Training. Nobody wanted to go Foundation Training because the pay would be cut to zero. Sometimes it wasn't entirely fair.

There was another plus point. She can have more money which could help Brian with his music school enrolment. It was a bonus.

Or was it?

She thought about her fashion designer dream. But convinced herself that taking on another job from seven o'clock should be the better plan for now. It would be tough but she thought it's worth it.

Su Zhen thought about all the bad news at Ocean today: daily ranking, her colleagues getting retrenched, quality issues... If she did not continue to do well, she might also be asked to leave. It’s really like running a rat race, as Mr Tee and her father put it. You cannot be the last rat.

Somewhere inside her, a voice cried out: this didn’t make sense. Humans are not rats. Each and every person is unique and possessed different talents. She could create art. She could become a great fashion designer. Brian could play music well. Ibrahim was good in his own ways too.

But for now, she decided to give marketing a try. She looked at the namecard Mr Tee passed to her. It stated TLL: Tee Lifestyle Limited.

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