On the occasion of the April 30 and May 1 holidays, many universities and colleges in Hanoi give students long breaks.

However, many students put off visiting their families and traveling to stay in the city to work part-time because they are paid double or triple the usual salary.

Stay in Hanoi to work extra

Instead of taking a holiday like her friends, Thuy Duong (a student at Hanoi University of Culture) chose to stay in the capital to work part-time at a convenience store.

Duong said that on the holidays of April 30 and May 1, the store usually pays 3 times higher than normal days, so on holidays, the income is up to 80,000 VND/hour.

Working 8 hours a day can earn 640,000 VND. This is a huge amount for students when working part-time.

“In addition, the store owner is also willing to give an additional bonus of 300,000 VND to anyone who signs up to work all 5 days of the holiday. With this bonus, I also voluntarily signed up to stay and work during my holiday,” Duong shared.

The only thing that made Duong worried and anxious about not going home for the holidays was making his parents worry and concerned. Because Duong was a first-year student, it was the first time he was going on holiday without going home with his family.

“My parents really want me to come home this holiday. My dad jokingly told me to come home because I’m about to forget my children. I’ve been working a lot lately so I haven’t been home for a long time.

My parents are also worried because my health is not very good, I work too much and am afraid of getting sick, so they want me to take some time to rest.

My mother told me that poor families should have rice to eat, porridge to eat, as long as they are healthy, my child. If you work too much and get sick, you should work as much as you can to get back your lost income" - Duong said.

To reassure her parents, Duong said she had to encourage, comfort and "psychologize" them and promised that after the holiday she would arrange to visit her family.

In addition to the attractive holiday bonus, many students also hesitate to return home due to the long distance, high cost, and expensive travel.

Living in Da Nang but studying in Hanoi, Nguyen Thuy Linh (student of Thuy Loi University) said that although she really wanted to go back to her hometown, the plane tickets were too expensive, the traffic was crowded, and the tickets were sold out, so Linh chose to stay in the capital to work part-time.

"Plane tickets for the April 30 and May 1 holidays cost at least 3 million VND. If I go to work this time, the salary and bonus are quite high, so I decided to stay. I will try to work hard and save money so that next summer it will be more reasonable to visit my family" - Duong said.

The owner is willing to increase the salary.

During long holidays, tourism, catering services, and conferences in Hanoi tend to develop strongly and attract many customers. To retain employees, shop and restaurant owners are willing to pay much higher salaries.

“All year round, service business people like us just wait for big holidays. On April 30 and May 1, my restaurant welcomes a lot of class reunions, family parties, and gatherings. Therefore, I don’t hesitate to triple the salary for my employees, even adding a bonus of 50,000 - 100,000 VND after each shift" - said Mr. Nguyen Quang Minh (owner of a restaurant in Hanoi).