"Time" to a Vietnamese national?

I guess my urine sample came back clean. Glad I was a good boy (this time). That will teach us to get off topic. I wonder what the statute of limitation is on such an infraction. Yeah I hear you on the time stuff. Drives me whacko. Being a military person punctuality, not to mention consideration for others is in our blood. SHE, no matter what tries to come up with some reason we can wait just a little bit longer. Me, if I'm to be at someones house at 7 pm I will drive there and set down the block to make sure I arrive on time. I loath tardiness, and SHE thinks she should get a merit badge for each half hour she is late. Well, at any rate I'm glad your not in jail. I hardly slept a wink last night worried about this investigation. I imagine Bluenz is in the hoosegow hoping he can make bail.

bta87 wrote:

I guess my urine sample came back clean. Glad I was a good boy (this time). That will teach us to get off topic. I wonder what the statute of limitation is on such an infraction. Yeah I hear you on the time stuff. Drives me whacko. Being a military person punctuality, not to mention consideration for others is in our blood. SHE, no matter what tries to come up with some reason we can wait just a little bit longer. Me, if I'm to be at someones house at 7 pm I will drive there and set down the block to make sure I arrive on time. I loath tardiness, and SHE thinks she should get a merit badge for each half hour she is late. Well, at any rate I'm glad your not in jail. I hardly slept a wink last night worried about this investigation. I imagine Bluenz is in the hoosegow hoping he can make bail.

Yes, mine doesn't understand why time is important to me and I do not understand why it is not important to her. I learned my lesson 3 months ago about having her pick me up at a certain time.  Once I wanted 1.5 hours, then went to a different place to drink. 1/2 an hour latter she was in a panic calling to find out where I was.  Now I do not make arrangements for her to pick me up.  But she does come looking for me if she thinks I have been gone too long.

That sounds like a church....introduced by the French....and the bells are PRECISELY because the peasants were on Việt time and didn't wear watches in the olden days.

Actually THD, the Church itself was around long before the French, run by Portuguese and Spanish Jesuits. But yes, during the French period far more churches were built, and many of those still have the Gallic Rooster on their steeples.

If you've ever seen the Robert de Niro movie "Mission", about the Paraguayan missions, the early churches in VIetnam were run along those lines, complete with militias. Phat Diem and Bui Diem up in the North, run as virtual princely states, lasted until the 1950s. It took Operation Anthracite in October 1949 to force them over to the French (i.e., Bao Dai) side.

I think you'll find that all real Buddhist temples in Asia, i.e. the ones with resident monks following 'the path' all start their day at 0400. So some actually do have sn acute sense of time, and it predates our knowledge of the region.

Nam Mo a di da phat.

VungTauDon wrote:

Yes, she did learn her lesson. But she is always at work at 7:45

Not bad in Vietnam for someone who is suppose to be at work at 730 (sarcasm)

milkybunnyHCM wrote:

Roosters here are very much on "rubber band time", sometimes they start their squawking at 2am, sometimes not until 4, just whenever they feel like it. I thought moving to HCMC would get me away from that but somebody around here owns a rooster that wakes me up nightly. I'm hoping it's not someone in a condo.

Funny you mention roosters, I just told my girlfriend the other day that the rooster behind us is the only thing in Vietnam that is on time. Every morning at 3:30 it starts and even has a 30 minute snooze alarm. You can set your watch to that damn thing.

Parmyd wrote:

milkybunnyHCM wrote:

Roosters here are very much on "rubber band time", sometimes they start their squawking at 2am, sometimes not until 4, just whenever they feel like it. I thought moving to HCMC would get me away from that but somebody around here owns a rooster that wakes me up nightly. I'm hoping it's not someone in a condo.

Funny you mention roosters, I just told my girlfriend the other day that the rooster behind us is the only thing in Vietnam that is on time. Every morning at 3:30 it starts and even has a 30 minute snooze alarm. You can set your watch to that damn thing.

And cats. Damn randy cats.You know  it's late when all the cats are out shagging and fighting.They don't make a sound during the day,just sleep.

Parmyd wrote:

milkybunnyHCM wrote:

Roosters here are very much on "rubber band time", sometimes they start their squawking at 2am, sometimes not until 4, just whenever they feel like it. I thought moving to HCMC would get me away from that but somebody around here owns a rooster that wakes me up nightly. I'm hoping it's not someone in a condo.

Funny you mention roosters, I just told my girlfriend the other day that the rooster behind us is the only thing in Vietnam that is on time. Every morning at 3:30 it starts and even has a 30 minute snooze alarm. You can set your watch to that damn thing.

I have many farmer neighbours like this, that's why they have to have the siesta mid day.  Their Roosters are 24/7, you can hear one faintly in the distance, the noise gets louder and louder until it starts next door, probably all related, like most VN's would have to be, ( Pop 90 mil last week, and that's only the ones in VN(  it's like all the beautiful girls in the country, they go off to the cities, the same goes for intelligent people here , they go off to Uni and never return, I think they call it ' the brain drain'? ).

I had a secretary who for nearly two years was late 15 mins every day. I told her she should leave home 15 mins earlier and be on time, she just looked at me with that blank look and mouth open as to say" whats he on about". Luckily she was a really nice young girl so I wasnt too hard on her.

I just looked at her pay stub. They actually have a column for "Late". Boy the hours that are charged to late. Yet I can see their point of view. From what I've seen from the employers here they really take advantage of the workers. Overtime pay,not a chance. So I think I would come and go as I please as well. They make you work over and have no qualms about not paying you for it.

VN employers definately want more bang for their buck then most.

I know a lady who was cleaning a school, she was required at the school for around 8-9 hours per day, 7 days a week for the grand some of 2 million vnd per month. The guy who owns the school was pocketing around 200 million plus a month, yet he couldnt pay her anymore as he said he was struggling.Makes me feel like smacking the guy for being such a grub.

bta87 wrote:

I just looked at her pay stub. They actually have a column for "Late". Boy the hours that are charged to late. Yet I can see their point of view. From what I've seen from the employers here they really take advantage of the workers. Overtime pay,not a chance. So I think I would come and go as I please as well. They make you work over and have no qualms about not paying you for it.

Not to mention a wedding every week, and deceased Family members to worship, many places they take off for the rice, etc, harvests as well.

Not all Vietnamese are like this, but in general, it's also called "Asian time". Most Asian countries tend to have the same mindset about time with the exception of Japan and Korea..

bluesky1 wrote:

Not all Vietnamese are like this, but in general, it's also called "Asian time". Most Asian countries tend to have the same mindset about time with the exception of Japan and Korea..

Korea = South Korea?  Interesting that both Japan and South Korea were both developed by the United States of America.

Interesting that both Japan and South Korea were both developed by the United States of America.

"By the United States" is gross oversimplification.

Japan's initial contact with the United States (Commodore Perry) spurred it to develop itself, and they sent teams of government leaders into Europe as well as to the U.S. to study how to rapidly modernize. The U.S. itself had very little to do with that. If you are talking post-WWII, Japan was building upon its previous experience at a time when it was in American interest to bring it back to its feet.

Korea got its start in modernization in the pre-Colonial period, reacting to Japan's rise as an Asian power, partially assisted by Japan. This link will give you and idea:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabo_Reform

That said, the greatest leap forward took place in the Japanese colonial period, largely as a Japanese reaction to the March 1st (1919) movement. This was when Japanese business conglomerates partnered with Korean industry to establish an economic modernization program that would make Korea a junior partner in empire. World War two, followed by the bitterly fought Korean war, virtually destroyed Korean industry. But while it was rebuilt with American aid, the brains and power behind it were purely Korean. Massive Korean savings programs among the South Korean public and faith in their industrial conglomerates did far more for Korea's modernization than U.S. economic aid. However, the maintenance of an entire U.S. Army Corps in Korea did the lower the threat of invasion and assisted that economic development.

Carter Eckert's study on the roots of Korean capitalism is a worth a look, if only to peruse the opening chapters.

http://www.amazon.com/Offspring-Empire- … 0295975334

Hi All,

Please note that the title of this discussion is about "Time" to a Vietnamese national?.

So I kindly urge you to focus on the original topic of this thread and not to be off topic.

If you want to give your opinions on another subject, please feel free to start another discussion.

Thank you,

Hasnaa
Expat.com Team