"three sticks three coins" profession
At the corner of Nguyen Trai Street (District 5, Ho Chi Minh City), Mr. Trinh Huu Phuoc (50 years old) is busy with a pile of pants that need to be hemmed and overlocked. A moment later, a motorbike taxi driver passes by and says loudly: "Are your pants ready yet, Mr. Phuoc?"
"Come by this afternoon, there are so many orders today!", Mr. Phuoc replied with a smile.
Every day, Mr. Phuoc sits and repairs clothes at the corner of Nguyen Trai Street (District 5, HCMC) (Photo: Nguyen Vy).
Phuoc’s clothing repair shop is only 10 square meters but is always busy in the last months of the year. He can earn 15,000-40,000 VND for each pair of pants, and pants that require elaborate repairs can cost hundreds of thousands of VND.
While sharing about his job, Mr. Phuoc held a piece of chalk and marked the spot where the pants needed to be hemmed. Then, he quickly cut the marked spot, folded it, and put it back into the sewing machine. For simple requests, Mr. Phuoc took less than 5 minutes to repair a pair of pants.
Although this is a “coin-picking” job, he is happy to be… busy working from morning to evening. On busy days, he can repair more than 20 pairs of pants per day, earning a few hundred thousand dong to make a living.
According to Mr. Phuoc, this job looks easy but requires the worker to be meticulous and understand the customer's wishes (Photo: Nguyen Vy).
"My customers are mainly freelancers. They pass by and see my sign and stop to have it fixed. Occasionally, there are a few customers who come and the cost of the repair is more expensive than the cost of buying the pants," said Mr. Phuoc.
The trouser repairman shared that his work starts from 7am to 5pm. Living in Hoc Mon district, he and his wife wake up very early every morning to ride their old motorbike, traveling nearly an hour to the city center.
Phuoc left his sewing machine and clothing repair tools at a friend’s house, and only started working when he arrived. Working hard from morning to evening, Phuoc confided that there were many times when he forgot to eat and drink, causing him to suffer from stomach and back pain.
Every day, Mr. Phuoc earns several hundred thousand dong for 10 hours of work (Photo: Nguyen Vy).
"The days before Tet are even busier. I'm happy but also feel pressured because I have to speed up to make sure the customers' pants are finished quickly and beautifully. The craftsmen have to be meticulous and please the customers to expect good sales," said Mr. Phuoc.
Dream of changing your child's life
Speaking of this, Mr. Phuoc pointed to the crutch he left in the corner.
"My wife and I are both disabled, so it's inconvenient to travel this long. I fell off my bike and broke my leg twice, and each time I had to rely on locals to take me to the hospital," he recalled.
After those "heavenly" pains, the worker never thought of quitting the job. On the contrary, Mr. Phuoc considered it a lesson to learn from and be more careful next time.
The crutch was placed in the corner by Mr. Phuoc (Photo: Nguyen Vy).
"God gave me a job that supports me and sends my children to school. It's not something I can just give up," said Mr. Phuoc.
Phuoc had a high fever and was paralyzed since he was a child. Born into a family of 5 siblings in Quang Ngai province, Phuoc was the eldest child so from a young age he helped his parents with farming.
In 9th grade, due to difficult family circumstances and inferiority complex about his appearance, Phuoc dropped out of school to learn tailoring to earn money to help his family.
When he was over 20 years old, he asked his parents to let him go to Ho Chi Minh City to "change his life". At that time, he applied to work as a tailor at an acquaintance's company and was introduced to Ms. Hanh (now 43 years old), then got married and had children. Because he wanted freedom, he and his wife decided to quit their jobs and open their own clothing shop until now.
"Our child is now over 10 years old, but he has been independent since he was young because his parents work far away. Every morning, we take him to school, and he stays at school all day and eats lunch by himself. I feel it's a loss for him, not being like the children around him, but I have no other choice," Mr. Phuoc mused.
Ms. Hanh, the wife who always accompanies him (Photo: Nguyen Vy).
The tailor confided that it had been a long time since he had visited his parents in the countryside. Every year, if he had money, he could only return on Qingming Festival to visit his ancestors' graves.
"This year is a matter of luck. I'll have to win the lottery to come back because it costs too much. Tet in the city is fun and bustling, but I'm sad because life is still difficult. I'm still lucky because my wife and children are always by my side," said Mr. Phuoc.
For him and his wife, the biggest dream is to buy a small house to shelter from the sun and rain, and open a tailor shop right in the house. But then, Mr. Phuoc suddenly burst out laughing, because that dream seems so far away...
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