No pants, no service?

Recently John and I visited some Vietnamese government offices to obtain a police report.  We had to go to the People's Committee to get documents notarized, and the Department of Justice to drop off the documents and fill out an application to get the report.  To our surprise, John wasn't allowed inside either building.  Reason?  He was wearing shorts!  Apparently that isn't allowed.

Fortunately, I could do most of the paperwork myself, but at the very end I ran into a problem... even though I had John's documents, the woman at the desk taking our documents for the police report wouldn't accept John's since he wasn't there.  She gave me a big "NO" and pointed to the desk.  No one spoke English in the office so I pointed outside and made a motion on my leg trying to tell her he was wearing shorts.  Still no.

Plan B... The man at the entrance of the building was in agony trying to decide if he should let John in with his shorts, as I pointed out the window at him in the parking lot and was pleading "I'm sorry! Xin lỗi! Please let him in..."  Luckily, it was almost closing time and he waved John in.  Success!  We got to submit all our docs, and will need to pick them up at a later date.  Next time we'll remember the dress code!