Daddy's Hobby

2 The Flatmates-2

opportunity to eye her and, maybe, fol ow her to work, if they were keen enough. On the way home at night, if she left work before one a.m., she could triple those odds, but she would not have much opportunity to assess her suitor, which is where experience or / and desperation came in.

They arrived at Daddy’s Hobby in high spirits. Lek was expecting a dressing-down and Ayr and Goong were looking forward to it. No sooner had Lek said 'Hel o' to Joy, one of their col eagues, than a voice boomed out:

“Lek! Get your sorry little arse in here right now! Right now, I said.”

Everyone knew who it was and Lek scurried in to see Mama San, making her friends smile with her imitation of a timid little mouse.

“Hello, Beou.” said Lek “How are you today? Takings good yesterday, were they?”

“Don’t give me al that crap! What happened to you last night?

You went off with that drunken Arab, which I thought was stupid, but up to you nevertheless. He paid the bar fine for you, so OK.

You gave him the benefit of the doubt. I wouldn’t have. Why didn’t you get the name of his hotel before you left with him? Why didn’t you phone it back to someone when you got there? You stupid cow!

“How do you think we would have felt if anything had happened to you? What if we’d read in the papers this morning that an unidentified girl had been found dead in a hotel? You stupid, selfish cow! You know how much the other girls look up to you and admire you. What sort of example do you think you’re setting them, eh? Eh?”

Lek tried: “I’m sor…,” but was cut off.

“Shut up when I’m speaking to you. Do you have any idea what you have put us through? Any idea at all? Ayr, Goong and I walked the streets from one until four this morning looking for you, asking if anybody had seen you and the other girls used up al their phone credit asking around after you and pestering me til noon today wondering whether you had deigned to inform us that you were OK!”

“Sheesh, girl. Don’t ever do that to us again” she added in a much quieter, more affectionate voice and gave Lek a hug. Lek squeezed her back.

“Sorry, Beou, really, I am ” she whispered in Mama San’s ear.

“OK, darling. OK,” said Mama San. “You are my Number One Head Girl and I need you to help me keep the others in line. I need you to help me keep them safe. I rely on you to help me keep my promise to their mothers to keep them safe. I need you to set not only a good example; I need you to set a perfect example. I need you to be their rôle model. I am too old for that now. They see me as a ‘has been’, their boss. I can only scare them into being sensible.

You can do more. Please try for me, for them, but above al for yourself, eh? Oh, and no more bul s**t stories about giving teachers’

blow jobs in hotel ‘classrooms’ either.”

Mama San let go of Lek, took her arm and led her forceful y back into the bar, where the other girls were pretending to put the finishing touches to their make up, but were really straining to hear what was being said.

“Lek has something to say to you al ” said Mama San, as she let go of Lek’s arm. “Go on!”

“I’m really terribly sorry for worrying you like that last night. It was unforgivable” Lek blurted out, trying to put pathos into her voice, but she was being seriously distracted by what Mama San had just said. How the hell did she know that the teacher story was a fabrication?

“I don’t know how or why I didn’t call in, but there’s no excuse. Sorry for putting you through the worry and, so I understand, the expense. As a gesture of my gratitude, I propose to share my bar takings from yesterday with you al ! How’s that? OK?”

Lek looked around smiling; expecting to see the same response back, but it was not there.

“Mama San has already left us al a packet with an eighth each of your share” interposed Joy. “Thanks for the thought anyway, though.”

That would have been about 300 Baht, she thought. After al , she had had a very good day, she reflected. There had been a guy who had bought her a few Lady Drinks early on; then another and lastly Ali: they were worth 30 Baht each to her and her half of the bar fine, which was 400 Baht. So, al in al 250-300 Baht – just above average daily takings. Oh, well.

That’s how it goes, she thought, easy come; easy go, although it was more than she had wanted to lose.

Mama San smiled, tapped Lek on the shoulder in mock commiseration and went back into her cubbyhole to finish preparing the til .

Lek was considered a high earner on her level of play. She could probably have made it big time as a ‘resident’ in one of the larger hotels in Bangkok or even Pattaya, where girls were expected to have a passport, a driving license, bal gowns and decent jewellery, but Lek had never pursued that line and had never been offered it either. If she had been offered the position, she would probably have stayed with Mama San anyway, who was from her village too. She owed her a large debt, or felt she did, which was the same in her eyes.

Lek earned the ‘basic wage’, the same as the other girls like her, of 3,000 Baht per month for attracting customers, keeping them talking and ‘being available to escort’. Those who preferred not to be considered for escorting services, say married ladies, got 2,500

Baht per month. On top of this, both classes of employee were encouraged to ask the men to buy them drinks called ‘Lady Drinks’, which were usually mildly alcoholic cider or perry, but in fancy champagne-type bottles. The girls got 30 Baht for each for these. If the customer bought them a beer or a coffee they got nothing, although they would sit there and keep him company anyway, at least until a better prospect sat down.

Then there was the bar fine. A bar girl was being paid by her boss to work in the bar, if a man wanted to take her out for the evening, then the boss wanted compensation for the wages she had paid. This is cal ed a ‘bar fine’ or a ‘bar find’. It is typically between about 300 and 1,000 Baht and is paid by the man. The boss wil split this with her employee later.

Escorting services are nothing to do with the bar, are negotiable between the customer and the escort, and range between 300 and 1,500 Baht or more per night. It could be a lot more or even a little less. Lek always pulled at least 1,000 Baht per customer, after first making sure that she had had as many Lady Drinks as she could get, before leaving her home bar.

No girl got paid for drinking in another person’s bar. If Lek had a ‘boyfriend’ for an average of say, 20 days a month, she would earn at least: 3,000 basic; say, 4,500 in Lady Drinks; 4,000 in bar fines and 20,000 in escort fees total ing, about 30,000 Baht per

month, which is four times what an armed rookie policeman with a family and a mortgage would earn in a month. Staying in good hotels and eating in the best restaurants were almost everyday occurrences; presents of gold and clothing were bonuses, but regular.

The bar girls trickled into work between four pm and 6 pm.

Lek, Ayr and Goong liked to get in early, because many of the early drinkers were British, other nationalities tended to come out later.

British people tended to be the most generous holidaymakers too, meaning higher drinks payouts at the end of the month. The British were well liked in Pattaya, probably more so than any other nationality, but they were harvested just the same as anyone else.

When the average British male gets to Pattaya he has flown 11,500 km and has been travelling for 20 hours. He is exposed to sun, sand, good, cheap food good, cheap accommodation and thousands of beautiful women, al of whom wil happily talk to him for hours for the price of a cheap, 100 Baht drink.

This bowls the average British male over. It is virtual y impossible to spend 7,000 Baht a day (a typical single holiday maker's budget), so he becomes generous and everybody wins.

Catching them early enough is the trick, while they can stil speak and have not lost their wal ets. Not that Lek ever ‘caught’ anyone; she prided herself on giving value for money. She wanted people to come back for her, she wanted a permanent falang boyfriend.

Once the girls had settled in and everybody had caught up on what everyone else had been doing for the last fifteen hours, Lek went back to see Mama San to apologise again. Mama San was smoking a cigarette, as usual when working, and she eyed Lek approaching her.

“Hi. You OK with me giving your money away like that? If you’re short, I’ll pay it to them, but I had to make an example of you. I would never be able to go back to the vil age and look their parents in the eyes again if anything happened to one of them while she was in my care, so to speak. I guess you’re wondering how I knew you’d slept with that Arab fellah? Ali, wasn’t it?”

“Mmm,” replied Lek. “Yes, I’m OK about the money and yes, I am curious to know how you knew about the teacher and Ali, but if you don’t want to tell me that’s OK too. I know that you like to keep some things secret, that you have your ways and means. I really

came in to say that I’d go cashier for the night, if you wanted to get off and catch up on your sleep after last night.”

“Aw, thanks, love,” said the boss, meaning it. “I really could do with putting my feet up and watching a good film after I’ve put the baby to bed. I can give the sitter the night off too then. She’s been moaning a bit recently that she never has any time. But who does?

That’s what I say. OK, I’ll take you up on that. Give me twenty minutes to get my things together and I’ll be gone.”

She had not said anything about how she knew about the teacher and Lek knew better that to pursue it. Beou never forgot anything, so, if she had not answered the question, it was because she did not intend to. Lek returned to the bar.

The night watch woman had put some rice in the steamer and Beou had bought a bag of pork curry and a bag of cooked vegetables for whoever felt hungry. It was usual y the younger girls that did not have cooking facilities or were temporarily short on funds that needed this and some were eating now, taking advantage of the quiet early evening. Most of the girls had eaten in ‘Mama’s Kitchen’ at some time or another. It cost only pennies to provide, but it meant that no one went hungry and that everyone had enough energy to work until one a.m.

Mama was no-one’s fool.

Mama San came out at that moment with her shopping bags and the keys to her motorcycle.

“OK, ladies, I’m off now. Be good.” she announced. “Lek has offered to stand in for me tonight, so get yourselves decent fellahs while she’s out of action. See you al tomorrow. Oh, and Lek! I nearly forgot. Your teacher man came by at about two o’clock and said to give you this. Apparently, you left it on his bedside table.”