These hostesses are hired to sing, dance or act as waitresses in the many flower joints in Singapore.

How much would you pay for love? For some men in Singapore, they’re willing to spend exorbitant amounts of money just to get the attention of a “flower joint” hostess.

Similar to Thai discos – better known as siam dius – these flower joints are mainly entertainment venues that open through the night on most days of the week, not just the weekends. While hostesses at Thai discos are mainly of Thai origin, those working at flower joints come from a variety of countries such as Taiwan, China and Korea.

Aura and Neverland are among Singapore’s popular flower joints where many local patrons go to enjoy drinks with friends, enjoy live music performances, as well as to buy sashes and garlands for hostesses in return for some intimate companionship. But what exactly do these sashes and garlands mean?

“Buying a girl a garland doesn’t entitle the customer to anything. She might come over and spend some time talking to you at the table, but that’s about it,” said a flower joint patron, who only wanted to be known as Jeremy. “No sex, no touching, nothing. Buying the garland is really just the first step in getting to know the girl,” he added.

Meanwhile for Robert, who frequents flower joints several times a month, the women’s willingness to flirt and make conversation is the main reason he shells out big bucks on the sashes and garlands, which are typically priced from $20 each and more. “You spend $50 buying a garland for a girl you like in a flower joint, and she’ll come and make friends with you,” the 23-year old said.

Robert continued, “Going to clubs and trying to score is a lot harder than in these flower joints. In clubs, you’ll have to try jostle with so many other guys and the girls normally have male friends who act as barrier when you try to get to know them.

On the other hand, flower joints make it so much easier: the women come and talk to you, because they know the more you like them, the more likely it is for you to spend on a garland. “The girls come to us at flower joints, instead of us chasing them in dance clubs.”

While these hostesses are not obliged to do anything for patrons who buy them sashes or garlands, their dependency on such purchases for earnings means that entertaining patrons is vital to their livelihood. Some even resort to offering sexual services to make more money.

The women at “flower joints” depend largely on patrons buying garlands for them to make a living. More

“A lot of people say that it’s not sleazy – it’s not, but it can very easily be. Many of these girls provide extra service, but not all of them are willing to. It really depends on the individual girl,” a flower joint talent agent told Yahoo Lifestyle Singapore.

The agent, who did not wish to be named, said, “If a customer wants a girl to have sex with him, he has two options. The first and cheaper option is to wait for her to end work and pay about $150 to bring her out for ‘supper’, or he can choose to spend several thousands to buy her out from the flower joint for that night.”

The high price of buying a hostess’ time for the rest of the night is to make up for the loss of income the club would suffer as the venue owners get a percentage of each garland sold. “You can’t really blame the girls for doing this. They’re only here for a few weeks (and) might as well make as much money as they can while they’re here,” the agent said.

It is not rare for a hostess to earn $100,000 in a single night by singing, dancing, DJ-ing or waiting tables. Jeremy once witnessed a Thai hostess receiving a $100,000-garland from a sole patron.

Commonly in their twenties, these women are often scouted by Singapore-based agents, who would then bring them to Singapore on short-term visit passes in exchange for a cut of their earnings from working at the flower joints.

According to the same talent agent Yahoo Lifestyle Singapore spoke to, the lure of the money for these women is too great. The agent went on to explain that these women will earn a portion of the selling price of the garlands while the remaining will be split between the agent and the club.

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