Connie Lau steps down as Consumer Council chief
Connie Lam is finally retiring after spending 38 years on the front line of consumer protection, from abandoned bank clients to too-fatty meat
She was a young sociology graduate fresh from Chinese University starting out at the Consumer Council, then a mere seven-month-old watchdog fielding complaints such as fried beef noodles being served with too little meat.
That was 1974. In the next 38 years, Connie Lau Yin-hing would go from researcher all the way to chief executive.
It was never planned, but then again, thoughts of leaving never crossed her mind - until, after almost four decades, Lau finally retires next week.
"I was hired on a 30-month contract back in 1974 and my contract kept being renewed until now," Lau said yesterday.
As she progressed up the ladder, Lau has been witness to the changing nature of complaints coming from Hongkongers.
"The complaints we received in the 1970s were as simple as a dish of stir-fried noodles with beef not having enough beef, or the meat sold in the market being too fatty."
Cases these days were more complicated, she said. "With changes to the society and consumers' better knowledge of their rights, we see more complicated cases, which always involve legal issues."