Just seeing a new customer at the door, the employee of a ‘sleep service’ shop on Pham Ngoc Thach Road, District 3, HCM City, welcomed him and took him to a big room with an air conditioner, where over ten people were staying already. Most of them are office staff.

The room has several sofas with pillows. Music came from a corner, mixing with low voices. A moment later, some customers began to snore. Sleep came quickly.

In another room, nearly 20 people were sitting against the wall, their legs stretched on the timber floor. This is the room for those who want to have a sitting sleep.

“Those customers are mainly state employees who have only around 30 minutes for a nap,” an employee of the ‘sleeping shop’ explained.

At noon, at a small café on the corner of Le Thanh Ton - Nam Ky Khoi Nghia, District 1, two young girls who look like employees of foreign offices entered, called for two strawberry juices and quickly lied down on a bed.

On an adjacent sofa, a group of four foreign girls were also getting a wink of sleep.

Hong Phuong, an accountant, a regular customer of this café, said: “We often come here for lunch and take a nap after lunch as well. The price for food is quite high but we have a nap to regain strength for the afternoon."

A stock broker said that his colleagues and foreign businessmen often go to an apartment on Le Loi Street to take a siesta. The price for one hour there is VND20,000 and to sleep there customers must book in advance.

Sleep business

Truong Binh Trong, a stock investor, introduced us to an address for naps that businessmen often go to. That’s a house at the corner of Vo Van Tan - Nguyen Thuong Hien roads.

The house looks like a normal office from outside but when customers enter the house they will be immediately welcomed by two charming girls.

“You have come for a nap?” they asked, and led a customer to a room with eight sofas. Five sofas were occupied already. Next to each sofa was a girl who was massaging the face or washing the hair of a sleeping customer.

Thanh Hoa, an employee at this place, explained: “Our job is serving customers in a friendly manner. All customers are well-behaved men who come here to take a nap. If something happened between us and customers, we would be fired."

This shop not only serves men but also women, who are office employees or businesswomen. The price for a sleep at this high-end shop is VND70,000 - 80,000 (US$4.3 - 5), plus fees for massage and hair washing.

Labels: nap, power nap, powernap

# posted by Mr.Sandman @ 10:01 PM