In these times when horror stories about babysitters and daycare owners mistreating children are legion, getting a good babysitter is like getting manna from heaven.
One couple living in HCM City’s District 12 had this good fortune. They found a babysitter who could not only help their two children finish their meals quickly, but also practice their handwriting regularly.
The wife was particularly pleased because the babysitter was clean, polite and could cook well. Better still, the children were attached to her. She and her husband sent silent prayers of thanks as they watched the kids practice writing everyday without protesting.
Then it got even better. The children were not just learning to write their numerals, they were discovering secrets behind the numbers. One day, when the mother asked them what they had learnt and written that day, the children told her things that even she did not know. They said numbers that correspond to a mouse are 15, 55 and 95; a tiger, 06, 46 and 86. Her children also told her that if a person dreams about a mouse or a tiger, she/he can play the lottery with corresponding numbers.
The babysitter always asked the children what they dreamt about the previous day, so that she could get clues to the numbers she could use that day.
The babysitter is now searching for another source of lucky numbers and the couple are thanking their lucky stars they found out what was happening before more worldly wisdom was imparted to their kids.
Crazy, stupid, love
Le Nhat Tien of Cho Gao District in the southern province of Tien Giang was in seventh heaven. The young man (23) had proposed to the love of his life and she had said yes. His euphoria would not be contained without a grand gesture that completely bowled her over.
Grand gestures cost significant sums of money, but his relative poverty did not discourage Tien. Where there is a will, there is a way, he told himself, and ended up losing his way.
This is what happened. He used an acquaintance’s ID to check into a hotel in Go Cong District, and packed a 24-inch TV into his suitcase. Then he checked into a hotel in My Tho District and did one better. He snaffled two TVs this time, but was nabbed by police as he was checking out.
He told the police that the TVs were a present for his fiance, but this could well mean that the engagement is a thing of the past.
Proprietary propriety
Do Ngoc Thang, chairman of the Kham Duc Town People’s Committee in the central province of Quang Nam, raised a few eyebrows when he resigned from his post last week.
What occasioned the surprise was not the sudden resignation but the reason for it. He needed to collect a huge debt.
Thang’s wife is the director of Quang An Company, which had lent more than VND20 billion (US$952,300) to the Phuoc Son Gold Mining Co Ltd. The latter has failed to repay the money as stated in a signed agreement between the two companies.
Thang told VietnamNet that he had been chairman of the town for many years and did not want the prestige of his office undermined by his efforts to collect the debt.
While working as a chairman, Thang had set up the Quang An Company in his wife’s name, so he had an owner’s interest in its affairs. With the Phuoc Son Company refusing to repay the money it owed, his company was unable to pay workers’ salaries and meet other expenses.
More information on this case might surface later, but for now, we can wonder: Is Thang doing the honourable thing now because he plans to engage in some not-so-honourable actions to get his money back? Is there another twist in the tale? — VNS
Đăng ký: VietNam News