Shuttlecocks and shuttle flights

Employee benefits are important to many workers, but at the end of the day employers decided when and how they are doled out.

An airport in the central province of Đồng Hới was fined VNĐ35 million (US$1,500) last week for closing a terminal so staff could play badminton.

The terminal was closed from 7.55am to 9am, causing chaos for passengers of an aircraft coming from Khánh Hòa Province, who had to claim their baggage at a restricted area in another terminal.

Some passengers who arrived at the airport early for their flights were forced to wait for the games to end before checking in.

Kudos to the airport bosses for giving staff a chance to exercise. But perhaps shutting an entire terminal in the middle of the day was a step too far.

Never too late

Some say gender equality starts at home. Unfortunately, it certainly didn’t in the case of an elderly woman in Thái Bình Province, who divorced her husband at the age of 86 because “he never washes dishes.”

Dzung and her ex-husband married when she was in her twenties. The man never once helped with household chores during their 60 years of marriage, Dzung said.

“All these years all I asked of him was, for once, to help me to cook a meal or wash dishes when I was ill with a fever or had back pain,” she said. “But he never did.”

She wanted to get divorced twice, in 1985 and 1992, but her family talked her out of it. In September 2014, Dzung decided she was through and filed for divorce. She was officially freed from the marriage in 2016.

Having no children with her ex-husband, now at 88, Dzuing enjoys her time at a nursing home in Hà Nội, supported by her retirement pension and her relatives, with no husband in sight.

A friendly reminder to men who think household chores are a woman’s job: Don’t take anything for granted, even a person you may think belongs to you.

Only big breasted ladies need apply

Appearance doesn’t seem to be a requirement just for beauty pageants anymore, but also for getting work in the railway sector.

The Ministry of Health caused confusion last week with its announcement of health requirements for train drivers and assistants.

The proposal included a breast measurement requirement: men’s not smaller than 80cm and women’s not smaller than 75cm. People with upper jaw protrusions were also unfit for rail work, the proposal said.

The requirements hit the headlines, and after much debate from citizens, a health ministry official explained the breast size specifications.

“It is only a biological measure to ensure candidates have large lung expansion and good respiration and are able to meet the job’s requirements,” said Lê Lương Đống, head of the Rehabilitation Department under the health ministry’s Medical Services Administration, member of the proposal drafting group.

As for the jaw deformity, as if realising it has nothing to do with the job, Đổng said it will no longer be an issue for potential candidates.

Next time if they plan to keep on having odd job requirements, officials may want to consider including an appendix. — VNS