Sounds Like<\/b><\/p>\n
I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve known Hung for sixteen of the twenty years he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been in the US. He has four children, lives in Dorchester and owns three houses. He works hard now, but worked much harder when he lived in Vietnam or as he calls it, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153My country.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
For twelve of those years I called him \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hung.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t say Hung, like hung by the neck. I tried to imitate his Vietnamese so I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d add my own musical lilt. And I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d do my best to leave off most of the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153H\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 as he does. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d exhale forcefully, hit a high register and sound like, I guess, a donkey getting goosed. <\/p>\n
I was never comfortable with my pronunciation, but it was the best I could do and then one day, I heard Hung tell someone on the phone his name was Hong. But not Hong as in Hong Kong. When he hung up, I said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been calling you Hung all these years, why didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t you tell me your name was Hong.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Again, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d go easy on the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcH\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 and kind of bark it out.<\/p>\n
I have no doubt if I was as close to the pronunciation of Hong as Joan is to John. And whatever it was I was saying before I switched to Hong, it was probably equally butchered. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why it didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t surprise me when he said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t matter.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n
Today, Hung and his son laid the Sand Mix, which is a mixture of concrete sand and Portland Cement, as substrate for the tile. Wednesday is an important day for the Kibbes because that will signify a huge step in the completion of the job – laying of the tile. But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an important day for me too, because I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to introduce Hung to multi-lingual Adam who will then help me with the proper pronunciation.<\/p>\n
Doing the Deal<\/b><\/p>\n
Hung exemplifies my utter confusion around money. This is the conversation we have at the end of every job and remember, this has been going on for years. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153How much do I owe you?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153What do you think?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think whatever you think.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153You tell me how much.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t tell you how much, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what the job is worth, Hung.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know, what do you think?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Now I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m squirming and turning red, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Just tell me how much
\nI owe you\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n
This will continue until l\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve exhausted him, and he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll finally say,
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153How about six hundred?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll think to myself, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s about half of what the job is worth; I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got to pay him more than that, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153How about seven hundred?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nThe deal closes when Hung replies, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153How about six fifty?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Diane reminds me that when I was asking him to price the Kibbe job, that I kept saying, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not for me, charge what the job is worth.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been tiling for twenty years and he knew the square footage of the job – small by his standards – yet he had to call me back with a price. When he did, it was about half of the so-called competing estimate.<\/p>\n
Harder Work<\/b><\/p>\n
Hung brought help, his twenty year old son. I shook his hand and noted that he looked like Matt after we ask him to take out the trash. Clearly, he did not want to be working with his father. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re in the same boat.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Hung said to me. This after we commiserated about how our children get driven everywhere and how they would rather not work. For Matthew, that is work at home because he has had two jobs since he was fourteen and has missed maybe one day. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153When I was five or six I had to bicycle eight kilometers to school.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nI thought, here is the Vietnamese variation of walking six miles in the snow, but I can relate because I walked to school. <\/p>\n
Then he said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153When I was fifteen to about twenty, I drove a tractor.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nI offered, that I too worked hard as a teenager. I thought to myself, Hung and I have a lot in common. <\/p>\n
Then he said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Many people in my country can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t go to school because they have little to eat. Each day they have to find their own food. Before school I would dive into the river and catch fish to eat. He held his fingers close together to show me how small the fish were. <\/p>\n
I thought to myself, maybe different boats. Sounds Like I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve known Hung for sixteen of the twenty years he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been in the US. He has four children, lives in Dorchester and owns three houses. He works hard now, but worked much harder when he lived in Vietnam … Continue reading
\n![\"mud.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/mainecourse.com\/mt\/archives\/images\/mud.jpg\")
\nMud job in progress.
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