What's your comments?

This is the reply from a minister with regards to foreign worker in a coffee shop. Do you agree with him? Do you disagree? What are your reasons?

They're young, they're foreign, and they're helping to save your job, 18 Apr 2008

By Keith Lin

YOUNG and chatty foreign waitresses have been helping draw customers to some Housing Board coffee shops.

But they have also been raising eyebrows among some local co-workers.

One drinks seller at a coffee shop in Jurong West complained to Minister Lim Boon Heng that she felt threatened by a sweet, young lady from China who sells beer at the same joint.

She was worried that allowing such foreigners to work at coffee shops would undercut her wages. She was already working two jobs to make ends meet.

But the Minister in the Prime Minister's Office saw things differently.

The co-worker was drawing men in droves to the coffee shop, he said. This meant brisk business which, in turn, helped the local drinks lady keep her job.

Recounting this anecdote at a forum yesterday, he said: 'Obviously, if Tiger or Carlsberg asks this mature lady to sell beer, it will not have the same result.'

His broader point was that every person, local or foreign, had their own strengths.

YOUNG AND CHATTY: Malaysian Agnes Han (left), 26, and Chinese national Sun Xiaole, 27, are beer promoters who work at Fu Chan coffee shop in Block 491, Jurong West Avenue 1. Their outgoing nature helps attract business to the eatery. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND LIM