Today’s little adventure for a newly free mama was a trip to the salon for a manicure and pedicure. Like other countries in Southeast Asia, spa treatments are affordable in Vietnam. Not taking advantage of the opportunity seems like a waste.
The “spa manicure and spa pedicure” I got included exfoliation (only of my arms and legs, not of the serious build-up of dead skin on my heels and the soles of my feet), herbal oil massage (more like firm touching), lotion, and nail polish. The one-hour treatment was acceptable and for $20 USD, it’s hard to complain.
What really struck me about my experience was the ratio of staff to customers – at least 5:1. At one point, I had one woman manicuring my left hand, another my right, and the third doing the exfoliation and massage.
“You must feel like a queen!” the spa owner said.
“Uh, not really. I feel kinda embarrassed to have so many people wait on me,” I replied.
Wherever you go in Vietnam, workers often outnumber customers. At the department store, most sales staff are usually standing around idly, applying make-up, or chatting with each other. At the food court, there are usually a number of wait staff standing around, one person to take you order, one to deliver it to your table, one to ring up the sale on the cash register, two or three to prepare the food, and another two to clean-up afterwards; that’s at least eight people to serve one customer.
Labor is cheap because the number of employable people exceed the number of jobs available. In contrast to other countries, Vietnam is actually trying to curb population growth by encouraging couples to have no more than two children – the average number of children born to each woman is 2.3. The fear is that it will be increasingly difficult to improve socio-economic conditions with a growing population.
It’s one thing if having more staff means better service. In my experience, however, that’s rarely the case. And, also from direct experience, having a job with nothing to do is often more dreary than being kept busy all day long. (And, no, I’m not talking about being a stay-at-home mom with children in school.)
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