China has too many people. I don’t know why I never noticed it before in all my other trips to China, but there are WAY too many people in China. It’s not that I’m particularly bothered by the fact that there are tons of people everywhere or that it’s crowded on the subway, etc., but I’m more annoyed by how because there are so many people, most people tend to be selfish, inconsiderate, rude, and strict rule followers. (I don’t want to say everybody, but it’s pretty damn close). By selfish/rude, I mean people tend to have an “I’m gonna get mine”/me first mentality, ie lines disappear once the bus comes and become mobs as people try to do the loop around move and cut to the front, cutting people off/not letting people in traffic lanes, not letting pedestrians cross even when there’s a walk light—pretty sure yield does not translate in Chinese.
At first, when I was disturbed but not at all surprised, I decided that I was not gonna become inconsiderate as them, but after dealing with this day in and day out for weeks, I noticed that waiting in line was pointless and developed just have an eff you, let’s see your little Chinese ass push me mentality—which was incredibly entertaining because the men never pushed me (at least intentionally), only the women. My fav part was that the women who were trying to push me out (b/c I just did the loop around and go wide to the door move to get on the bus) were 1. Clearly trying to be subtle (b/c they would only look straight ahead, never at you) but still push you hard enough to try and get you out of the edge of the mob circle and 2. Reached my shoulder and were probly under 100 lbs. haha I loved it. In return, I just pushed them back and squeezed on the bus before them. ><
(Note that this only occurs with a mass of strangers. A Chinese person among a group of acquaintances is overly polite.)
Anyways, because of there are too many people in China, customer service sucks. Actually, nonexistent is a better adj. Maybe it’s because you don’t tip in China, so they have no incentive to be courteous, helpful, or considerate, but somehow I doubt it. Maybe it’s just because I was in a big city for the majority of my 10 ½ weeks in China, and city people everywhere are just impatient…would New Yorkers would be the same of there were like 10 million people who lived in Manhattan? My uncle's reasoning was that there’s no such thing as customization for your food in a restaurant, esp big and busy ones, because there are so many people…if everyone wanted their pizza a certain way, then there’s no way that you food would ever finish in time…that makes no sense. What kind of restaurant is that? What if I had some sort of health issue and had to control my sodium intake?
Maybe traffic would be similar, but somehow I think customer service would still exist. I think during my 3 days in Shanghai, the sentence that I heard most often was along the lines of “I can’t do ___ because it’s against the rules.”It’s not like we were requesting anything remotely far from reasonable…I mean is it that unreasonable to request a small red bean shaved ice?
This is how hard it is to get a small cup of red bean shaved ice.
Me: I’d like that 8 yuan cup of red bean shaved ice, but I don’t want the green beans (not the vegetable).
Nice vendor: I’m not sure we can do that, let me ask…
Old lady who clearly hates people and her job but can’t find a better job to let her quit and thus has been working the same job for too many years and is a strict bitch rule follower b/c she has nothing else going for her. (She’s kind of like the lady at Walmart who you know is a Walmart-lifer and won’t let you film in the store, but a complete bitch instead of just plain mean and bitter): No you can’t, that’s not allowed. (not even a sorry, just an I hate my making smoothies island tone)
Me: But I don’t want the green bean part, I only want red beans.
Mean old lady: Well if you only want red beans, you have to get the red bean shaved ice mountain. (It’s 17 yuan and like 2-3 times bigger).
Me: But I don’t want that much. I want a small cup of red bean shaved ice. (I had a feeling that she was trying to make me spent 17 yuan instead of 8).
MOL: We don’t have small cups. You can only get that mountain if you want red bean only.
Me: What if you just give me the same amount of red bean that you would put in a normal red bean-green bean cup and then just didn’t give me the green beans?
MOL: No, that’s not allowed.
Me: Why not?
MOL: Because, it’s against the rule. For that 8 yuan deal, you have to get the combo.
Me: But I’m planning on paying the same amount of the same amount of red bean that you usually put in it, it’s not like I’m asking for extra red bean.
MOL: You still can’t get it without the green beans.
Me: Why? (Starting to get frustrated and slightly amused by how stupid this convo is). I’m gonna pay the same price and you save some green bean toppings.
MOL: Because. It’s against the rules.
This is pretty much the debate that I had with her for at least 3 minutes before I realized that she was a lifer and gave up.
Then, my uncle tag-teamed for me…
My uncle to the nice vendor: Hi, I’d like this small cup of red bean shaved ice.
MOL now fixing the smoothie machine: No, you’re not allowed.
My uncle: Why not?
MOL: Because. It’s against the rules. You’re not allowed to get the special without getting the green beans.
My uncle caused a little more trouble and caused the smoothie island lifer to return to the register and summarized my 3 minute debate to the lady…twice. 10 some minutes and a very pissed off hag later…SUCCESS.
We were pioneers for all of the New World Mall food court customers who wanted a small cup of red bean shaved ice that day, making it easier for everyone else. Right after I got my small cup of red bean shaved ice, the lady behind us approached the counter, points to my cup, and was like “I’d like a small cup of red bean shaved ice”…hahahah I think the MOL wanted to strangle somebody after that, so I didn’t hang around to watch.
Fortunately, for the MOL, she probly won’t end up being a smoothie island lifer because it wasn’t very good. In fact, I didn’t know red bean shaved ice could taste so flavorless…hahaha. Maybe it woulda tasted better if I had got it with green beans and she just was looking out for me…
Even tho I didn’t get my red bean fix that day, it was ok because on the first floor, there was a BreadTalk!
Mmmmm red bean nian gao inside soft chewy bread.
Red Bean Mochi--now easily the best thing that BreadTalk has.
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