In-depth
Office workers hunting for “royal food” to present Tet gifts to bosses
  • | VietNamNet | December 28, 2011 06:00 AM

What to buy for Tet gifts to bosses is now the headache of many office workers. Expensive “royal food” which is good to human heath is the choice of many people.

 

Swallow nests

Bosses nowadays don’t need money, need good health

Tet is the good opportunity for office workers to present gifts to their bosses that serve their job promotion. Therefore, even in the current economic difficulties, where people have to fasten their belt, they are still willing to spend millions of dong for Tet gifts to the bosses.

In previous years, “envelops with money inside”, wooden furniture and feng shui decoration things were the biggest choices. However, people’s thoughts seem to have changed and they now tend to choose nutritious food for their bosses.

“The bosses now have everything they want, from money to villas. Therefore, what they want to have to is just the good health,” an officer commented.

Nguyen Thi Lan, officer of a construction company headquartered on Phan Dinh Phung Street, said that she is racking her brain about what to buy for the boss. Last year, she gave the boss a bottle of wine her husband bought during a foreign business trip to Russia. Of course, the bottle of wine was very expensive, about 500 dollars, or 10 million dong, which was equal to the monthly income of a middle class Vietnamese office worker.

“The boss liked the bottle of wine very much. And my business has been going very smoothly so far,” she said.

Lan went on to say that she is planning to buy either salangane’s nests, shark fin or abalone. “I have been told that these products are very good to human health, therefore, I believe that the boss will be satisfactory with the gifts.” Lan said.

“The art in presenting gifts is choosing the rare and precious things which the boss likes,” she added.

Le Ngoc Minh on Doi Can Street complains that she still has not decided what to buy. “My boss has everything already. She is very keen on perfume and cosmetics, therefore, it would be better not to buy these products,” she said.

Minh said she has been told to buy salangane’s nests, priced at 3-5 million dong per 100 gram. This is very good to people’s health, especially, this helps women stay young for a long time.

“When the boss feels satisfactory with the gifts, you will succeed”

The owner of Lan Ca Shop at Dong Xuan Market, the biggest wholesale market in the north, said that a lot of people have come to buy “royal food” such as salangane’s nests, shark fins for the Tet gifts to the bosses this year.

Specialty shark fin is priced at 15 million dong per kilo, while preliminarily treated shark fin is sold at 9 million dong, while the products of lower classes are sold at 8-10 million dong. As for salangane’s nests, wild birds’ nests are very expensive, about 22 million dong per 100 grams, while farmed birds are cheaper, just 3-5 million dong per 100 grams.

The salesmen at Dong Xuan Market tell buyers that they can feel about the quality of the products and the prices when buying the royal food here. The sale prices would be 1.5-2 times higher if people buy the same products on Lan Ong Street, which has been well known as the Chinese traditional medicine street.

However, the commitments of the salesmen at the Dong Xuan Market just make people half-believe. Tran The Loi, the officer of a computer company, said that he cannot be sure about the quality of the products sold at the markets. “My sister is working for Horison Hotel, and it would be better to ask her buy specialty food for me. This will help avoid counterfeit products,” Loi said.

Meanwhile, Huong, a bank officer, said that she has placed order directly with a production workshop in Nha Trang City.  

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