Just a Gigolo

Delilah's post on work reminded me of an incident that was narrated by a friend some years ago.

This was a fairly long time back, maybe about eight or nine years ago. I had a friend who was working for a certain bank at a salary of Rs.11,000 a month. He was not very junior, an assistant manager, I think, it was just that he was underpaid. Today Rs.11,000 will not buy anything but even back then it was very poor pay and he never had any money to spare.

He was looking around for another job when he met a friend of his who used to work for the Negombo branch of the same bank. The friend seemed to be doing very well, driving a new Montero. Remember, that at the time the Montero had only just been introduced to the market and it was about the most expensive vehicle around.

The rich friend knew all about the underpaid job at the bank (he had held one himself) and he told his friend that he too could get him set up in the new business, it was quite easy and he had all the contacts. He could bring along some friends as well if he liked, he would set them up as well.

The secret of his success? The rich friend had shacked up with an old German woman, in her fifties, who was semi resident in the country. She treated him very well, getting him a house as well as the Montero and paying him a very decent sum for living expenses. She was also very liberal. She was resident for around six months of the year and while she was away the friend was allowed to have a local girlfriend.

All in all a very satisfactory arrangement. He tried quite hard to convince my friend to join him, he did not succeed, but my friend did give the matter some thought before dropping the idea.

A couple of trainers from gyms I have visited in the past are rumoured to have followed a similar path.

Maybe the government should actively promote this; it provides much needed employment and pays much higher prices than those commanded by housemaids whose labour is one of the principal exports of this country.