Since starting work in Vietnam I quickly noticed how computer games, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr and Yahoo Messenger are seen as essential activities within the working day of office staff. In fact, it’s rare to walk through an office or shop and NOT see at least one employee engaging in such pursuits.
Once, I questioned a colleague as to why he spent hours on personal and leisure pursuits, in full daily view of the boss, seemingly without repercussions. His answer was that the job was boring and he didn’t get paid enough to work all day. Hmmm…
After having spent a significant amount of time in Vietnam now, I’m sad to say I’d be highly unlikely to employ a Vietnamese candidate for an office job back in Australia if I was looking for those with initiative, motivation and work ethic. I’ve heard nothing but complaints about workload (mind you, they make a rod for their own backs with the ridiculous administrative procedures in place, and the fact that they don’t use computer software/services effectively), and I suspect access to a computer would be too much of a magnet for them. Mind you, it’s probable that this issue is prevalent amongst the younger generation worldwide, so I shouldn’t be so judgmental of Vietnamese in general. I get so disappointed reading the scores of articles stating that modern employees expect access to leisure pursuits (eg Facebook) during office hours. Many say they wouldn’t work for a company that blocked such things. I say, “good riddance & all the best with your career, you lazy sod!”. Having said that, I see this trend across all age groups in Vietnam, so over here I think it’s more about general laziness than a youth thing.
Yesterday Quynh & I were chatting over coffee and a tasteless fried egg (there are salt farms everywhere in Vietnam, so where’s the damn salt!) with a bread roll, at Trung Nguyen on the corner of Tran Hung Dao and Nguyen Van Cu in District 5. Service is pretty good there, even if the food isn’t, so I don’t have many reasons to complain, but I seem to have found a new one. 
As we chat animatedly about life, the universe and everything, including subjects such as clever wedding proposals, fiction-writing skills, and how to crop a terribly-composed photo to make it slightly presentable, I was distracted by flashes of green and diagonal, concentric squares. I look to my right, and yes – our waitress is playing Farmville in full view of the entire cafe. What’s more, nobody other than me cares.
I just want to say Hi
Thank you, Mr/Ms Anonymous. Hello back.
Seems that Facebook is not blocked in this restaurant.
I’m yet to see it blocked anywhere.
FPT, Mobifone 3G and Viettel 3G block Fb at the moment.
True, I can’t access it from my phone while out and about (not that I actually care).
I really do not like Fb and G+ anyway so no complaints from me. I use VPN when I am not home anyway, especially after somebody used Firesheep to hijack my Twitter account.
Hm…Thinking what happen if her boss read your writing and seeing this pix
He would be too busy playing on Facebook himself to care.