I was at a pharmacy in Bukit Mertajam recently to get my monthly supply of steroid creams for my eczema when I came across a man dressed quite shabbily.

“Yes, can I help you?” he asked upon noticing me.

“Hello, is the pharmacist in?” I asked.

“Yes, can I help you?” he repeated.

“Yes, please. Is the pharmacist in?”

He smiled. “I am the pharmacist. How can I help you?”

I froze as I looked at the man standing in front of me. Dressed in white singlet, blue shorts and slippers, he hardly looked like a pharmacist.

“A pharmacist dressed like a fishmonger?” I thought.

“Which kind would you like – cream or ointment? If your eczema is very dry, I suggest you wear ointment,” he said as he took out two small boxes from a glass cabinet, sounding very much like a pharmacist and nothing like a fishmonger.

“Ointment it is,” I said, smiling.

I do realise that a person’s performance should not be measured by his choice of attire, but then again, I doubt anyone would trust a doctor or a surgeon who treats patients while dressed in singlet, shorts and slippers.

Unlike a lorry driver whose choice of attire does not affect his work, anyone in the service industry – a taxi driver, a teacher, a waiter or a politician – should be appropriately dressed during working hours.

Then again, a fishmonger, a grocer, a hairdresser, a masseuse and a tau foo fah seller also deal with consumers. Should they not be appropriately dressed as well then?

Try digesting the thought of a fishmonger in Phua Chu Kang boots, long pants, a nice shirt, an apron and a head covering. Now wouldn’t that be soothing for the eyes to see? Come on, if our roti man can make the effort to always dress neatly when making his rounds in our taman, why can’t the rest of them do the same?

After all, if there is a provision in our legal system to punish lorry drivers with ripped jeans even when all they do is transport things from one location to another, shouldn’t there also be provisions to punish anyone dressed inappropriately in the service industry who do interact with consumers?

Hanging out at the pharmacy for a while, I sniffed a lot more issues with the store beyond the pharmacist’s sense of fashion:

• I saw a few shelves full of instant noodles and an ice cream ice box located at a corner. Err, is this a pharmacy or a convenience store?
• I saw the pharmacist doing a doctor’s work on his customers. He checked blood pressure levels and conducted blood and urine tests.
• I heard the young cashier suggesting medications to a customer who complained of a fever and body aches.

I am not able to comprehend how the owner obtained a permit to run a pharmacy with all these wrongdoings.

Then I realised that I was no longer bothered with the pharmacist’s shorts, singlets and slippers. He could be wearing a ballerina’s tutu for all I cared, and it would still mean nothing much to me, not when there are more important things to worry about.

I guess if the lorry driver summoned for wearing ripped jeans was intoxicated, he would be summoned for driving under the influence of alcohol and not for his attire.