Showing posts with label culture shock. Show all posts
Showing posts with label culture shock. Show all posts

Monday, October 27, 2014

11:00 AM - No comments

Your Personal Stalker

Some Chinese shops seem to have a very strange idea about customer service. As a Swede - springing from a less-talkative, chillier culture - I'm most comfortable if the clerk says hello and asks if they can help (not saying hi is rude, OK Sweden?), but lets me do my own looking once I've declined.

 Here, though, entering a shop might get you hitched with a bodyguard/parasite/human surveillance camera. A staff member who does not say hello or welcome or anything at all will latch onto you and silently follow you around the store. At some point they might try forcing wares on you or informing you about deals (which, often, you won't be able to understand). But it doesn't matter whether or not you are interested: they will keep heeling you until the moment you leave. I'm not sure if this is supposed to be some sort of butler concept or if shoplifting is a big problem in China, but it makes me feel like either a wanted criminal, or someone being stalked by a restless ghost.
general tip: if your staff is giving off a slenderman vibe, you're probably doing it wrong?

 In other stores, they take customer service to unprecedented heights. I visited a small shop selling hair accessories. Its two rooms could easily have been staffed by one, two, or perhaps even three people on a busy day, but there were five or six women working simultaneously. Several women would greet you as you walked in and one would follow you, anticipating what you wanted to look at as soon as you took a step or turned your head. It was extremely difficult to move around because each customer had their own attendant standing behind them - usually in another customer's (read: my) way.

 A Beijing tea shop actually had two women race each other to see who could get to my friend first. The entire time we were there we had the shop assistant breathing down our necks and shoving teas in our faces for us to smell. At a clothing shop with no other customers, the girl behind the counter followed me with her eyes and proffered products to me but didn't speak a word. It's really weird. And usually makes me leave a shop prematurely, because I'm not comfortable shopping while my spine crawls.

 I mean, I understand that the shop personnel are going to be extremely annoying in a fake-goods market where all that matters is being able to hawk the loudest and most insistently. But in a genuine store? Terrible idea, that drives customers away. Independence is the name of the game.

Monday, September 22, 2014

3:31 AM - , No comments

Don't Go To China

The first piece of advice I can give anyone considering going to China is: don't.

 Unless studying or working in China has been your life-long dream, I honestly can't say that I'd recommend coming to China long-term, in any way, shape or form. Especially not if you're used to a country that has any semblance of a working system.

 Don't get me wrong: this scholarship is a great opportunity for me and I'm very grateful to have been given this chance. But there are so many things that make it just not worth it to come here under your own steam.

 Mainly, everything is incredibly disorganized. Jiao Tong University is supposed to be one of the absolute elite universities, not only in Shanghai but in all of China. However, I've already met a whole barrage of foreigners from all over the world tearing their hair because there is no organization whatsoever.

 Almost all the correct and relevant information I've gotten has been off other students, not the people who are supposed to be in charge. There's a great sense of community among students, but the flipside is that people have no chance but to open up and rely on each other, because we have nowhere else to turn. I learned how to eat at the canteen and get hot water from another student. I learned about the school's online account from another student. I learned how to (provisionally) send mail from another student. I double-check all the information about visa processes with other students. And if I hear something from an official channel, I don't trust it until I've heard it confirmed by another student.

 I still don't know what's going on with my residence permit, that I think the school is supposed to help me get. The process is basically "come to this place in a week to find out what the next step is." And sooner or later, my visa is going to expire.

 I still don't know what's going on with my bank account, that the school is supposed to set up for me. I have, however, received emails telling me to hurry up processes that no one told me about in the first place.

 I still don't know what's going on with the money I'm supposed to get each month from my scholarship. Well, besides the fact that a guy who had the scholarship before told me not to expect or count on that money, because the payments are "slow and irregular" at best.

 I still don't know how to pay my electricity bill. I still don't know the exact price of doing laundry, because there is no price list and it seems to get more expensive each time someone goes. I still don't know if they gave me the correct postal address after asking three times. I still don't know if people answer "no" to my questions because they mean no, or because they just don't feel like helping a foreigner.

 Googling doesn't help, because most information - even official information, about official procedure - is several years old, or poorly translated.

 I realize that it works this way in many parts of the world, and that what I'm actually experiencing right now is just what life is like when it's not super comfortable all the time, when your citizenship number opens up every door. Being able to deal with these situations is a great life skill to have. But I'm never going to willingly put myself through this bureaucratic labyrinth ever again.

 Talking to people who've been abroad before - Japan, Great Britain, America - they all agree that nothing is as disorganized as China. Sure, each country has its problems. But they don't tell you to fill out forms specifying "to be filled out by the school" yourself. They don't expect you to show up one day not knowing whether or not you'll have a place to live.

 I'm certain this year will give me loads of great experiences and let me meet tons of amazing people. But sorry, China - once this year is over, I won't be coming back.

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

12:37 PM - , No comments

(Mis)adventure

So my hot water ran out this morning.

 I think this is an optimal time to tell you all about the sort of thing that one has to deal with on a near-daily basis here in China.

 When I registered at my dorm, I was given an envelope containing sundry items: keycard, air-con remote, desk key, and hot-water card. You stick the hot-water card into a machine in the bathroom, an ominous countdown begins, and you've got to take your shower before it reaches zero or the sun explodes. (OK, I lied about the sun, but not about the countdown.) But this morning, there was no countdown, and my shower was as cold as if the sun really had blown into a million pieces, never to warm my water-supply again.

 I figured fixing this would be a simple process of finding the right desk, giving them some money, and returning home to enjoy the warmth. I figured I could get all of this done before lunch. But no. Beware, ye who enter here, for the road is long and fraught with peril.

  • Dumped books in dorm, adventure commenced.
  • Went to Building 3, which turned out to be the wrong building. Was told by the rude attendant in very fast Chinese that I was in the wrong place; all I really understood was that I was supposed to go "over there."
  • Had a look "over there"; came up blank; saw another girl approaching the office and ran up to see if she had the same problem. She did; the man told her to go away as well, and this time I heard that he was saying "Building 1". Repeated Building 1 to confirm, was met by a snappy "That's what I told you."
  • Other girl and I joined forces and went to Building 1; lady at Building 1 said we were in the wrong place and should be at Building 3.
  • What the fuck.
  • We went back to the dorm to ask the help desk. Woman behind the counter made phone calls, figured out that the water cards we had been given were actually temporary ones (this was not mentioned when we were given them). International student she was helping informed us that the hot-water card is actually a different card, the "campus card."
  • Other girl already had this card, was told to get it when she asked how to pay for food at the canteen. She helped me get my own. Required a phone call to be made to the other campus to get a new student number, since the student number printed on the admission letter and student ID card was not applicable for this other card.
  • Got 20 RMB back from the front desk in exchange for the temporary water card.
  • Other girl showed me the building where she got her campus card. Handed passport, new student number, and registration form to lady behind counter, got picture taken (once again looked like unwashed criminal, or someone who had a cold shower that morning), received campus card.
  • Paid 20 RMB for campus card.
  • Other girl said that office for recharging card is closed according to info she's been given. I finally got lunch while waiting for it to re-open. It was almost 3 PM.
  • We asked two people and finally found office. Information was incorrect, office is open only from 10:00-13:00.
  • "At least we know where the office is."
  • Returned to dorm, still hot-water-less as of now.

I'm going to go back tomorrow, and then we'll see.

But what about electricity?????


Wednesday, September 3, 2014

11:00 AM - No comments

Culture Shock: Customer's Conscience

Shopping in Beijing was different from home, most noticeably the aggressiveness of the vendors. Of course, the people who approach you are the ones trying to make a profit off you … usually dishonest. But for somebody used to Sweden, a country where eye contact with strangers is avoided and small talk nigh unthinkable (unless one of the strangers has a dog), it’s incredibly taxing to have every shopkeeper hawking their wares at you in an insistent and ear-splitting way … and even more stressful to imagine the bargaining situation that might ensue.

Bargaining, of course, is a big thing in China. The locals and shopkeepers are used to it and expect it. Nevertheless, I find bargaining incredibly stressful. Aside from having to interact on close terms with someone, in a language I can’t truly speak, the mere prospect of making another person feel disappointed and upset really bothers me - no matter if that person is loud, relentlessly annoying, and obviously trying to score a big one off me.

inside a chinese department store, where learning to push prices is key

There’s a particular type who’s just the worst, though. It’s usually a woman, who’s calm, kind, and helpful, makes friendly conversation, and seems really nice. If you’re curious about her wares, she’ll help you try them on, show you different ones, spend significant chunks of time just catering to you (but of course, as soon as another customer appears, she’ll use all her skills to split her doting between both of you special, pretty girls). Anyhow, my natural reaction when someone’s being nice to me usually isn’t trying to mercilessly force down the price they’ve set. And when someone’s given me such good service, I feel awful if I finally decide I don’t want to buy anything after all.

Of course, they know this, too. Guilt-tripping is a powerful marketing ploy.

When I go off to live in China, I’m going to remember that the seller is always making a profit - anything implying otherwise is just an attempt to make that profit even bigger. Like any person, I hope to be well liked by others, but it’s so important to realize that you don’t owe anything to somebody you just met - no matter how nice they’re being.

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

7:54 PM - , No comments

Culture Shock: Dealing with Chinese Agencies

Applying for my scholarship has, honestly, been one of the most awful, gruelling things I’ve ever done. Partly it’s my fault: I’m bad at dealing with stress and uncertainty, especially when they’re all mixed up in a noxious cocktail. And partly, it’s because the Chinese system operates very differently from what I’m used to.

Quick recap of my situation: Along with a team of two other girls, I won a Chinese language competition and (I believed) a nice, juicy scholarship. I had much to learn in the radio silence that ensued. For about a year, I had no idea what I was entitled to, how to get it, or who was in charge. There seemed to be no information to be had, and nobody who could tell me where to turn. It did a real job on my nerves. But somehow (read: the neverending patience of my mom), some kind of clarity was finally gleaned from this ordeal, and I’ve learned a lot, too. Here’s a look at what to expect when you’re dealing with a frustratingly obtuse Chinese agency.

Don't let this be you.

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