This week team cucumber was able to interview a manager for a refrigerator company. This interview was also our first interview so most if not all of us were trying to get used to carrying out specialized roles during the interview. We were able to interview our interviewee at S-Club over dinner though only a few of us were eating. The manager is young and only 2 years out of college. In many degrees, this interview helped me think more about my own future after undergrad which is only a mere few months away.
Before we conducted the interview with him, team cucumber had a meeting to discuss the rationale for this project to get all the members on a common ground and direction. We read in our notes that the purpose of this project is to inquire on the multi-dimensionality of life in Ha Noi as work is a significant part of human life here. When I read the Gerard's proposed purpose I thought to myself how work is essentially not only a very large part of human life in Hanoi specifically, but human life in general as much as Western thought seeks to separate spheres of life in motion into categories (ie: work life, public life, private life, etc.)
From what I've observed from the village-like settlements in Ha Noi, home, work, family, friends, and customers are often not separated from one other spatially and socially. This contention of what constitutes human life, especially "modern human life" always brings me back to the question of whether life "here" which is perhaps "less modern" better (or will bring you more happiness) "there" in the US. The US may have "efficiency" and more advanced technology, but how happy are people in the US compared to people in Vietnam? Is what you call "development" actually "development"; if so, for who? and what is the meaning behind moving forward? Who or what dictates spatial and temporal direction in the first place besides rationality that is induced by science or the constant human struggle to discover truth, to always outdo what the human mind and body is bounded by-- and that is itself.
To my surprise, our interviewee loved his job because he expressed that his forte is management considering that he studied Tourism and Management," a major of which is popular among many HANU students. Although it may be stressful at times, he emphasized his philosophy on "human improvement" which perhaps implies a progressive-oriented way of thinking. He is always trying to improve himself and help improve others around him; those others are people who he manages. He states that his work is contingent upon the clock. He works 12 hour days and he understands that within the 24 hours of the day he does not necessarily get much "time to himself" besides sleep. For lunches, he is restricted to a time slot and time limit.
This corporate-factory ethos reminds me of when I worked at McDonald's and Macy*s. You time in, and when you're done working, you time out on a machine. My pay was precisely calculated on this machine. Say if I were to time out 20 min early, I would get deducted the pay for 20 minutes. Humans and machines work along and with each other.
After the interview was over, I was enlightened and intrigued by the interviewee's knowledge and passion for his work in a corporate sphere. I knew that as we gradually progress in our project and conduct more interviews, my perception and understanding of Ha No will continue to open up.
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