Cung Nguyen
4-18-2016
MGMT 398-012 1. Who did you interview and why? Describe in detail what this person does for a living.
So for this assignment, I person I chose to interview is my mom because I believe what she does is great! She is a nail salon worker, very typical of Vietnamese immigrant. It takes a huge amount of humility and tough work in her world. In contrary her existence is unique and wonderful. She does people’s nails, mostly women. She give them services such as pedicure, and manicures. To explain what manicures and pedicures are, manicures is like a fancy massage and pampering of one’s hands and pedicures is the same for one’s feet. As a guest wanting a manicure, he or she would first soak their hands in a warm salt water bath to loosen the dead skin. Then their hands are gently massage with pumice rock to remove the dead skin. The guest then get a series of massages and stretches of their hands to help releases their tension. The hands then get dipped in a warm wax solution. The wax is intended to lock in the moisture in the hand to keep them beautiful and prevent them from drying out. So that’s a basic manicures is like. 2. What did you learn? What surprised you? What disappointed you? Nail salon business is a unique niche to its own. Statistically, nail salon businesses are mostly owned by a Vietnamese. This create a whole subculture that is quite complex. Among the employees, they communicate in Vietnamese. They have a unique culture in which there are a lot of informalities. Often time, there are no guide line to what is expected of a nail worker, and everything is up to the worker to decide at the moment. One might call it controlled chaos. But in this world, nail salon workers are indeed subjected to many challenges. In the morning, my mom wakes up at around 7. She does some chore around the house and prepare a meal for her work day. She has this same routine for years. Hardly ever she would go out to restaurant for lunch so she can save more money. She work until around 8 at night and usually get home by 9. 3. What do you like about their job? What do you dislike?
The thing I like most about my mom job is that it give my mom a way to provide for her family. Doing nails is hard work but it pays well. On average, a nail salon worker can earn $50,000 per year. Although, a nail salon worker can make even more than that when tip is included. Most of time, tip money in cash is more even reported to their total earning. Considering that you don’t need a formal education to become a nail worker, it is quite a high earning job.
I don’t like that it is such a competitive and a cut throat business. You would think that since a lot of the nail workers are Vietnamese, there would be a comradery but usually it is the opposite. For example, during slow time when there aren’t a lot of guests coming in, the employees would fight each other’s to get that customer. Sometime things can get ugly and drama would break out. 4. Is this something you would like to do? Why or why not?
Doing nail is not so much what I would like to do but owning and operating a nail salon is something that I would consider. I think that this is a real opportunity that one can become very financially successful. There is a lot of demand for this kind of service and there is a lot of money to be made. With my language skill and business knowledge, I think that I can be a very effective manager at a nail salon business. 5. What advice he or she would give to someone who want to pursue this job?
The advice that my mom has for someone that would want to work in a nail salon is to have a lot of humility and being able to stay aware. There are a lot of challenges in this business that is hard to quantify and to put into words. When you are a nail worker, you just have to mind yourself and try to revolve issue the most peaceful way possible. An example of something that you might have to deal with when you are a nail worker is that you might have to keep track of your earning and tax form. It had happened to my mom that the owner of the salon she worked for claimed more a higher earning for her actual amount and that caused her to pay more taxes. 6. How much money does someone in this position make annually?
On average a nail salon worker can make around $50,000 per year. As of this year, my mom claimed that she had made $53,400 in total wages. However this number is usually not include cash tip and so the actual earning might be even higher. Of course your earning can be double or triple that if you are owning your own business and are doing the right things