World of beer girls: tears and dreams Tuoi Tre Many male customers love to force beer girls to down their drinks. Tuoitre  The girls who work as beer attendants boisterously clink their glasses and chatter with their male clients on the drinking table, but they sob bitterly after the drinking sessions end. However, some still cherish their dreams of turning over a new leaf and starting their lives from scratch, though the dreams may be far-fetched. It was almost 12 pm. The drinking session ended, only two patrons lingered with Truc, a beer attendant, to listen to her melancholic traditional song, which speaks of her mood. “We have lots of dreams and plans, but our reality is just relentless drinking bouts and gloominess,” she lamented. Sad tales Three years ago, after leaving her hometown, southernmost Ca Mau province for Ho Chi Minh City, Truc had a boyfriend, a law student, whom she told she was working as a restaurant waitress. Over one year later, her boyfriend graduated and took her to his home to see his parents and prepare for their wedding. Truc was stunned to see her boyfriend’s father, who, by a twist of fate, turned out to be one of the clients she just served the other day. After that, her boyfriend never mentioned marrying her again. Their relationship grew insipid before they broke up soon. Since then, she weeps after every drinking session with her clients. Thuy, 19, another beer girl, is popular in her world for her notable drinking ability. Once, she and a customer had a ‘drinking duel’. After downing 24 bottles of beer non-stop, the man was knocked out while she managed to stay sober. Thuy is also known for her sad family story. She was born to a wealthy family and was a banking student herself. But then her parents got divorced simply because her father, director of a big petrol business, got a crush on a beer girl. After a fight with her father, she dropped out of school, left home and worked as a beer girl right at the restaurant which her father would frequent to see his mistress as an impulsive act of revenge. Behind her cloak of indifference lie her tears, which she sheds when she’s alone every night. Gloomy future vs dreams At almost 1 am, at the Le Van Sy – Tran Huy Lieu intersection in Phu Nhuan district, the girls were staggering back to their rented rooms after a drinking session. Ha, a seasoned beer girl, lamented that she only got called twice this whole week and got tips of VND200,000 (US$10) each time and struggled to make ends meet. “We don’t usually have many calls, and clients who give generous tips aren’t always easy to come by either. The meager tips we receive is only enough to buy clothes and cosmetics for our job. If we don’t tighten our belts, we even can’t support ourselves, let alone sending money to our family back home or saving for our future,” Ha confided. She said with her small savings after several years working as a beer attendant, she plans to open a small café in her hometown in some months’ time. Ly, another beer girl, who is obsessed with her drunken nights during which she almost hit people while riding her bike, said she has spent her savings on learning how to do professional make-up. “No decent man wants to marry a beer girl, and the job involves serious health risks as well. By this year end, I’ll finish my make-up course and open a small shop of my own,” she shared hopefully. Who are the customers? According to H.H.M., manager of SM restaurant on Bach Dang street in Binh Thanh district, the service first appeared in Ho Chi Minh City around 8 years ago. Initially the service just arose from the demands of a number of men for pretty girls who can drink to liven up their drinking sessions. Three years ago, the service boomed and is offered by almost all restaurants and bars to cater to clients’ increasing demands, M. added. Clients come in a wide variety of types, the most common of which are young and old big spenders who love to be entertained while drinking by pretty girls. The second most common is businessmen who usually summon beer girls to entertain their partners. They even hire the beer girls with good education to pretend to be their secretaries while they discuss business with their partners. The third are senior employees at state-owned companies, whose restaurant bills and tips for the girls are paid by their juniors. Some customers got a crush on the girls and spend some nights a week at the restaurants and give them generous tips. “Unlike beer om (hug beer) girls which offer sex services, the beer girls mostly act as listeners so that their clients can relieve their stress in work and life, and cheer them up. Many men never flirt with or harass the girls. We also fire any girls who are too intimate with their clients,” said L.T.L., who owns DS restaurant in Bau Cat, Tan Binh district. “I think there’s nothing wrong about the service. It only corrupts when the men don’t mean well and the girls offer themselves for money,” said T.V.N., a businessman who often hires beer girls. “While drinking, some men enjoy watching pretty girls drinking and chattering, while others may do so just to please their business partners or friends. We always keep to that limit,” explained V.Q.H., who owns a construction material business in district 1 and a frequenter of H. bar on Tran Hung Dao street in district 1.