Moses' start page Listen to T.S. Khoo's tale of a two-cent meal

Simple beginnings (Overtime was 10 cents an hour) The teenage T.S.Khoo was extremely slim -- under 100lbs, with a 16" to 17" waist January 1939. A young man named Khoo Teng Soon, had just finished his final year exams in Anglo Chinese Secondary school in Cairnhill Road. Whilst waiting for his exam results, the 17-year-old, known among friends as T.S., decided to look for a job. He knew that his parents could not afford to send him to college. "Jobs were not easy to get in those days, but I was fortunate enough to get a job at the Singapore Cold Storage as a clerk. The pay was dismal -- $25 a month -- but I accepted it without argument. "In those days, labour was very cheap. I was doing a lot of overtime for 10 cents per hour. I was happy to collect $4 or $5 a month. When you think in the context of the value of money then, it wasn’t so bad." Cold Storage premises at Orchard Road in the 1930s   Today: The Centrepoint building stands at the old Cold Storage site. It still houses a Cold Storage supermarket. "I could get a char kway teow meal for two cents" Only $1.20 to feed 60 people! Everything also 10 cents Meet the men who risked their lives just for $1 When the Cambridge exam results were released, T.S. found that he had done rather well. He told the accounts clerk, and his pay was increased to $30. A month later, it was increased by another $5. T.S. worked at Cold Storage for seven months. He and his young male colleagues had a favourite past time, that young people today enjoy, too! Gone With The Wind Best Picture -- 1939 What T.S. did not realise, was that, his life was to change dramatically real soon. It all began with a chance meeting in a darkened cinema hall... T.S. Khoo's life: Next chapter Copyright © 1998 Singapore Press Holdings. All Rights Reserved.