VietNamNet Bridge – Businessmen have become more picky when choosing the first caller for the New Year Day. The services of providing people born under the auspices of the animals compatible with the businessmen’s age have boomed.

Since Vietnamese businessmen have experienced a very tough year 2012, they tend to be very careful in choosing the first caller for the New Year’s Day. They want the people who have compatible ages with businessmen’s ages, to be the first ones to turn up at the office on the first working day after Tet.

Vietnamese believe that “A good beginning would make a happy ending,” and that the person they meet first on the New Year would decide what they would meet, luckiness or misfortune, in the year.

Dung, Director of a construction company, has accessed many websites to find the advices about how to choose lucky first callers. Dung has also come to meet feng shui experts to consult with them about who he should meet first on New Year’s Day.

“I did not care much about this in previous years. However, since I had a very bad year 2012, I need to be more cautious. I was born under the auspices of the horse, the age that is compatible with the snake. Therefore, I feel worried about my business this year,” he said.

Superstitious bosses have made everything in their companies upset. Linh, a receptionist of an SMS company in Cau Giay district, said at first, she was put on duty on the first day of the lunar new year. Therefore, she booked an air ticket to the home village on the second day of the year. However, the boss has changed his mind, saying that Linh needs to be on duty on the next day.

“My boss has insisted that I must not be on duty on the first day of the New Year, because I was born under the auspices of the pig, while 2013 is the year of snake,” she explained.

She finally has to follow the instruction by the boss, because the “boss is always right.” This means that she would have to delay her Tet holiday by one day.

Having realized the high demand for lucky first callers on the New Year’s Day, the service has boomed in big cities. In general, one needs to pay VND500,000-1.5 million for a visit on the New Year’s Day to be paid by a person with compatible age. Some firms only provide consultancy service, VND100,000 for an advice.

Minh, born in 1984, 1.70 meters tall, said he would be the first caller on the New Year’s Day at many offices and homes this year. If he has to visit the clients on the New Year’s Eve, he would receive VND1.5 million. Meanwhile, the service fees would be lower at VND800,000-1million on the next days. From the fourth day of the New Year, the fee would be VND500,000 only.

The manager of a firm which specializes in providing reception services, has confirmed that the people to be chosen as the first callers in the New Year’s Day all must be good looking, tall and have many other good characteristics.

The manager said that he also provides the service under which the clients’ houses or offices would be visited by the Happiness, Wealth and Longevity. Clients would have to pay VND5-6 million dong to the three “genies” in return for the genies’ 3-hour visit to their offices, fireworks and gifts on the New Year. If clients only want one of the three genies, he would have to pay VND2-2.5 million dong

VNE