When Madam Ng Ser Kin joined Metro's retail team in 1997, she could manage only simple English sentences such as 'Good morning' and 'How can I help you?'.

But things soon changed.

The company's management sent the former seamstress for an English language course to enhance her service at its Tampines outlet's toy department.

'Before that, I was learning English on my own, five words a day. I would check the dictionary or ask my daughter when I see words I do not know,' says the mother of two.

While her English is still not entirely fluent, the 55-year-old's earnest attitude has drawn customers to return.

'Once, a customer wanted to buy a Lego toy set which was not available in the store yet,' she recalls.

After several phone calls to the supplier, she managed to locate a set and informed the customer.

'I told him to buy the set during our sale so he could get a 20 per cent discount,' she says.

The customer, who turned out to be a teacher at a childcare centre, later bought 80 additional sets for his students.

'I was so happy for so many days!' Madam Ng says.

Eleven months ago, she requested for a transfer to the handbags department when she moved to the Sengkang branch to 'gain more product knowledge'.

'When I serve customers well and manage to solve problems, it leaves me in a good mood all day,' she says.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on Jul 20, 2008.