Sunday Times 25th Jan 2004
His teen daughter joins company selling 'biomagnetic'
mattresses
She starts drinking, smoking and keeping late nights
Now, she wants to quit school
By Arlina Arshad
BUSINESSMAN Tan Pin Ho set a curfew for his 16-year-old daughter
and made her sign an undertaking that she would not sneak out of
school to work as a salesgirl.
Nothing has worked, laments Mr Tan (above), who has been trying to
get daughter Yi Zhen to concentrate on her studies. -- ENRIQUE
SORIANO
He even threatened to lock Yi Zhen up and paid $800 for
professional counselling. But she dropped out after a few sessions,
he said.
Nothing has worked and Mr Tan, 57, says he is at his wit's
end.
Instead, Yi Zhen wants to drop out of school to sell expensive
'biomagnetic' mattress pads and comforters for a direct-marketer
called DW Group.
She was 15 when she joined DW in August last year, on a referral by
a schoolmate who is her boyfriend, and she has definitely changed
for the worse, said Mr Tan.
She attends group gatherings and talks that end at midnight or
later, wakes up too late to go to school, and once came home drunk,
he said. And her grades have nosedived.
Yi Zhen says she can earn $100 to $200 for every item she sells.
She has not sold a thing so far, but gets $300 a month in transport
and meal allowances.
Mr Tan said he has tried to get the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), the
police and her teachers to help. He has even spoken to DW's bosses.
But to no avail.
MOM said that a child may be employed if he is 12 or older in
'light work suited to his capacity'.
The Direct Selling Association of Singapore (DSAS) says that direct
marketers should not recruit anyone below 18.
But because DW Group is not registered with DSAS, it is not bound
by its rules.
'Whatever it is, there must be parental consent in writing,' said
DSAS chairman Benjamin Tan.
Mr Tan Pin Ho never consented. He didn't even know Yi Zhen was
working with DW till she started bugging him and their relatives to
buy its $2,880 mattresses.
'She said she needed to sell one to get promoted to a
'supervisor',' he said.
'She used to be obedient but now she doesn't believe anything I
say. The company has influenced her and she doesn't realise
this.'
He and his wife got divorced in 2001, and Yi Zhen lives with her
mother, a 42-year-old insurance agent who wanted to be known only
as Madam Tay.
Madam Tay said: 'We split but that doesn't mean we don't love
her.
'Her colleagues take her to pubs and she smokes. It's not logical
that they're selling a health product and yet they do all
this.'
Yi Zhen told The Sunday Times that she sees a 'future with the
company'.
'I used to be quiet but now I can make my own decisions. I want to
quit school after my N levels this year and do this full-time,' she
said.
'I want to prove to my parents that 16-year-olds can make it in
this industry.'
She said she goes to DW's office at Apex Tower in Anson Road at 3pm
every day, after school, to set up appointments with clients, and
she makes two-hour sales presentations outside until as late as
midnight.
Sometimes, she said, she stays back to attend gatherings with the
directors because 'I want to learn more from them'.
'It's not a must but the directors said I've been specially
selected because of my good performance and work attitude. So I
go,' she said.
A 17-year-old said he quit DW after six months because his father
cut his pocket money and threatened to disown him.
He said his superiors would take small groups out to pubs in the
Orchard and Tanjong Pagar area for drinking sessions, sometimes as
often as three times a week.
'I'd come home late and fall asleep during lessons,' he said.
His sister, Miss Liu, 24, an administrative executive, said he
spent so much time working and earned only $400 a month.
She said: 'These are just impressionable kids. They dress smartly
and think 'biomagnetism' sounds professional. But they know
nothing.'
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boss: She's not too young to start work
AT 16, Yi Zhen is not too young to sell mattresses, said DW Group's
managing director Joey Tan, 34.
She's not staff, he said, but gets $100 to $200 for referring
clients.
There are 10 other under-18 'recommenders', he said.
'It's not wrong to give her some money because she helps me, like a
brother to a sister, right?' he said.
So how can she be a 'supervisor' if she's not on the staff?
'It's just a term to motivate her,' said Mr Tan, who set up the
company in May 2002 and claims it has an annual turnover of $2
million.
He also said it had 200 staff working in 10 subsidiaries, all
selling biomagnetic mattress pads and comforters from Japan.
A quarter are younger than 20.
He said his company gives her $300 a month for transport and meals,
even if she doesn't make a sale, and she can attend daily two-hour
talks to pick up communication, convincing and interpersonal
skills.
'She earns as she learns,' he said. 'Out of so many youngsters, I
feel that she has a vision. I feel that she's mature enough to
work,' he said.
But he denies influencing her to cut classes and to quit
school.
'She's not interested in studies, and isn't it better that she
works with me than spend her time mixing with bad company?' he
said.
Paper qualifications aren't everything, he added. Mr Tan, who holds
a diploma in electrical engineering, said: 'I've never used it to
be where I am today.'
Of the late-night gatherings, Mr Tan said he was aware that his
employees go to pubs, but said that the 10 underaged 'recommenders'
only get soft drinks.
Whether or not the teenage workers want to work or study, it is
their decision, he said, and added: 'Their parents and I have no
right to stop them from doing so.'
http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,4386,231645,00.html
