the first shop- the first impression of "Vietkieu"

The first shop I worked was a very small salon located in a small town main street of the south shore Long Island, near from the township, on the way from home to the hospital where my son was born. I got phone number when sitting in the car my husband drove by, called in, asked if any job. The shop woman owner became the very first Vietnamese I had ever met in person, in America.
Her name was Mai Ly (pronounce as My Lee). She was in her early 50s, short, gray long messy hair, in supper mini skirt and thigh high boots. Messy hair, because she said whenever going out, a wig would be used, so skipped the hair done.
She was rather sweet to me, a fresh beginner. I really didn’t know anything about working in a nail salon, neither been inside any nail salon before. I came to work, sat down… and wish she let me know what to do. She told me “stay here work for me, I’d teach you everything, how to do nails in the real work, thing is different from your school. I’m also come from the north like you, even though my family moved to the south in 1954, but we still speak northern accent, cook northern foods… I will treat you like my own daughter…”
You can imagine how hard my lonely heart was moved. God, she was the very first fellow Vietnamese I had ever met since moving to America! I could speak Vietnamese to her, think Vietnamese way… my husband speak only English. I so missed my mother tongue. Few months before, after an year long without speaking Vietnamese, I got the Vietnam Embassy number from a website, and called…
Just to hear stranger’s voices speaking the language.
My heart was so homesick.
“I helped a lot of girls to learn the job, how to do nails, how to wax eye browns. They learnt well, then left me, no one stayed to work for me. No one be loyal to me. They all betrayed me, left me… But they were all southerners. I have never met any northern. I’ll teach you well, and you will stay to work for me, ok? Don’t betray me like them…”
I promised to myself loyalty.
It took me 2 hours to do the first pedicure. Just applying color, took me 20 minutes. Didn’t have much practicing at the beauty school, I didn’t even know how to apply color correctly.
But she gave me 5 dollar tip.
I was so happy to look at the 5 dollar bill, like I hadn’t seen it in my whole life. I thought I was lucky, I would be able to make a little money from now on…
I looked at her like looked at my own mother.
After a week, things sudden changed.
The little in town shop had 2 entrances. The front door opened to the main street, the back door open to the parking lot where my husband often waited for me in the car. One evening, after saying good bye to her and called it a day, I went to the back door. I was opening the door, but changed my mind to go to the rest room before leaving. So I close the back door, got in the rest room.
“She’s gone! What’s stupid vile girl! She comes from the poverty land, how come that American guy liked her, took her here? She doesn’t know anything, too stupid. Her family was poor, had nothing on the dinner table… do you look at her? Such a poor girl…”
No, I came from an upper middle class family in Hanoi. My father, a PhD, is one of the top nation expert in the field.
“She doesn’t have any car, her husband drive an old truck. Where does she live? Must be a basement ugly apartment somewhere. I’m too kind to take her in, and she doesn’t know it”
“If my niece is here, I would not need that stupid vile girl… I pray for my niece would get her visa as fast as possible”
blah blah blah.
The next day, I came to work, of course with different way of looking at things
“you don’t know what to do anything at all. What did the school teach you?”
Beauty schools are like any other business, they open to make money. They teach you theory, get you ready for state board, that’s it. Want to really make money, have to be trained in the job.
“ I have Gio` in there, do you want to try. It tastes very good. Must be very rich people in Vietnam to have this big Gio`, but here, it’s nothing!”
What she was talking about? This is “fast food”. In lazy days, didn’t want to cook, I would just buy these home. My dad would feel unhappy when he saw this, because he knew I was lazy. Or maybe she was talking about the old time, during the early 80s, when the Vietnam economy was under crisis? But even then, I didn’t think that Gio` was that expensive…
“I was very beautiful when I was young. I married a colonel when I was 16… When I came to long Island, the whole Long Island looked forward me walking..”
16 year old? Are you kidding me? If it happened here, that colonel must go to jail.
Yes, I really think her way of walking was something special, the 14 year old model in training walk, fighting with those thigh high boots. Did she really think showing off her too short pale thighs would be a beautiful thing to do?
“I teach you, like doing charity works. You have to remember my good heart of helping you out, to be loyalty to me.
Now things were really wrong.
The very first Vietnamese I ever met in the new land, turned out to be a wicked witch. She can be so sweet in front of you, and can be so mean behind your back. The whole week learning, I got total 132 dollars
So I left.