the other miss saigon

Greetings from the Ho Chi Minh City Airport in Vietnam.

When I travel, I'm usually treated like a VIP. People I meet know that I make the final decisions for a lot of things that we do, and that I'm usually the senior person in our traveling group. As such, CEOs, chairmen, managers or whoever the senior person on hand is from the other side will want me to ride in their car or sit next to them at the table or whatever. Asians are big on protocol. It's nice to be treated like you're important, but it's not my style and can create some awkward situations. Yesterday was the best example of this I've experienced thus far in my glorious corporate career.

Three cars were waiting for my two colleagues and me when we arrived in Vietnam yesterday. The chairman of the factory (the company and all its leadership are Japanese) invited me to ride with him in his personal car, while my two colleagues were assigned to other, lesser vehicles. Traffic in Vietnam is among the worst I've ever seen--there are too many motorcycles and scooters, and there are few obvious rules--so it took over an hour to travel what seemed like less than 10 miles. This gave the chairman and me lots of time to talk. It was during this ride that he first mentioned karaoke and something about "girls being arranged" for the evening.

The subject came up again during our ride to the hotel after our factory tour and meeting. It was at this point that I wove into our conversation the fact that my colleagues and I were married, and I also asked the chairman if he had a family. He told me he had three children. Despite these facts, the subject of karaoke and girls came up again during the ride. The chairman also told me that he hoped "the girls would be quiet, just like Japanese girls". I laughed nervously, trying to play along while wondering what I should say next to try to get out of any uncomfortable situations.

After dinner, we again got in the same car to be driven to our next destination, which he told me was called Miss Saigon. At this point, I made it clear to him that I had discussed the matter with my colleagues, and we all agreed we wanted no girls there and that it was against our company policy to accept more than dinner. He replied that he had made reservations, so we needed to go but would not have to worry about the girls.

Miss Saigon looked shady--there were bright neon yellow lights on the outside, and only Japanese men and scantily clad Vietnamese women inside. We were led to a room and seated. A big bottle of Jack Daniels was brought out, which all three of us promptly refused. A few minutes later, one girl for each of us was brought out, each wearing a sheer, see-through blouse and a very short skirt. It was at this point that we starting freaking out, particularly my Chinese colleague. He excused himself from the room for a few minutes under the pretense of a phone call, while my other colleague and I gave each other "WTF" and "What should we do?" looks. The girl seated next to me couldn't speak English very well, but she was trying to talk to me so I told her my name and asked hers, and we tried communicating a bit more but didn't get too far. She tried to get me to pick a song to sing out of a phonebook-sized karaoke list, but I refused and told her to pick one. She picked Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On" or whatever it's called--a loathsome ditty, but whatever. After much pushing from a couple of the girls, I jumped in for one chorus but then handed the mic back. I was really freaking out. The girl next to me kept touching my arm and leg and sitting closer, and while she was decent looking and seemed nice, hey--I'm married and don't need a hooker, thank you very much.

My Chinese colleague came back in the room and announced that he wasn't feeling well and that he had to go. My other colleague and I said we would accompany him, so we all got up when we were told that a car was ready. The girls looked bewildered, and the chairman became very upset. He tried to force me to stay in the room while letting my colleagues go, and looked like he wanted to kill me when I told him that I absolutely had to leave right then. He followed us outside and insisted that I ride in his personal car again. Fortunately, one of his subordinates got in rather than him, and while I was freaked out that I was going to be taken somewhere other than the hotel, they delivered me there as I had requested. I explained our ethics policy to the subordinate and also told him that while the Japanese may find this kind of entertainment acceptable and normal for business (and they do), Americans did not and we could not accept it. He apologized and said it wasn't a problem, but I didn't feel like he was being very sincere.

The chairman had said that he would arrange for us to be taken to the airport today, and sure enough, he did--he was waiting for us in the hotel lobby this morning at the appointed time. You can imagine my dread when I saw him waiting there. The first thing he did was apologize and say that he'd "take care of things in the future", whatever that meant. Regardless, it was a pretty awkward ride to the airport. At least I had one colleague with me this time.

To be honest, I'm surprised something shady/uncomfortable like this hasn't happened earlier in my career. We've had people in our China offices fired for demanding and/or accepting bribes, and since I'm in a position to make decisions on tens of millions of dollars in business, it's natural that I would be a target for "special services", bribes or other forms of influence that are not acceptable in the U.S.

It's unfortunate that my trip had to end this way. My trip has generally gone very well, and Vietnam is a fascinating place--I would liked to have seen more of it. The people seem very friendly and welcoming and there's a lot of interesting culture here. I'm sure I'll be back someday, but hopefully not to visit this factory again. If so, maybe I'll just forward them a copy of my company's code of business ethics before I arrive.

Anyway, I'm excited to go home. It's been a long trip.

The view from my hotel window in Ho Chi Minh City: