Why do Vietnamese do nails?
The Vietnamese Americans concentrate on the nail salon industry which is one of the fast growing types of Asian American businesses. The Nails magazine reported that among the total licenses possessed by the people nation-wide regarding this business, Vietnamese constituted about 40 percent. The nail salon workers do not have the same type of work load as the people in all other professions have. They need to work for long hours and will get very low pay for an hour. They face very tough competition from all the corners of the block as well as face health problems due to inhalation of poisonous chemicals like acetone and acrylic every day.
Nail salon workers especially Vietnamese have so much patience to work all through the year. They work all the 7 days in a week starting from 9am till 7pm in a day. Vietnamese have the habit of working in the nail salons as part of their profession and they do not take more than 3 days leave even during Christmas and New Year period. Vietnamese do nail so artfully and they are known for this art of doing nails in America too. In Vietnam, people seldom touch the hands and feet of the customers unless they are economically backward to carry out this job. But, American Vietnamese mostly do this profession of nails.
The old uneducated Vietnamese women were observed to carry out this work well than the young people as the young women do not have enough patience to finish it properly before they call for the next customer. Vietnamese are so possessive over this profession that they keep assistants to help them while running the salon. At the same time they do not teach all their skills to the employees for the fear of losing them. The Vietnamese manage to get the help from their employees in the nail salons and do not make them learn everything which can allow them to start their own business. Nail salon was found to be giving a survival path for the Vietnamese in America. Vietnamese children, who were well educated and do not opt for working in the nail salons just like the white people.
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