Pushy Chinese sales ladies, cold saffron rice and booted out of a taxi.

Belive it or not, this kid has had a better day than I did.

Seems like today I had one of those wasted days I have more often than I like to  anymore. I felt moody and tired and edgy from the get go but decided to take the bus into Beijing with Ivy to get some new clothes. I wound up buying no clothes of the type I needed and returned home later in the night tired and in a bad mood. Little things can be trying here for me, such as getting a good dinner or buying clothes. Two things happened today to show how my mood is challenged and taxed. They may seem like little things, but these things can happen on a regular basis. After deciding to leave for Beijing proper and not being able to get a simple cup of coffee anywhere in this neighborhood we arrived after a long bus ride to an area that has clothes in sizes I can sometimes buy. It does not mean I will like the style, but I can sometimes find something. I have been wanting some new pants. We stopped by one of these weird military style stores they have here that sells army clothes, and even carry  one brand called US Army. Most of my students do not know what US Army is and assume it is the name of a clothes brand. In any case the people here are fascinated with the US and American icons such as the US flag. All I wanted was a pair of pants and I stepped in and was in a quiet mood to look at my own pace, but as I started to look at the pants I said to Ivy "I hope the lady does not run over here and grab the first thing I touch and take it and start trying to sell it to me." I just wanted to see if I could find some in my waste size. Sure enough, the first pair I touched to see if I could locate the label she grabbed and started out with her measuring tape and chattering away in Chinese to Ivy. In truth, I did not even want the pants, I just wanted to look and relax and see if I could find the sizes, then shop at a leisurely pace and find something I could wear in a dark color. But she was  pushy and aggressive so I simply decided to leave the store. I just was not in the mood today for it. I aw some pants I wanted to look at, but damn, all she wanted to do was get me to buy anything as fast as possible. I was disappointed too that they had no shirts. None, not one. Strange. The only thing more frustrating than this technique is he one where you select something finally and then the sales person gives you another product that usually costs  about four times as much. I wanted some vitamins once and found a bottle for about 25 RMB and the lady grabs something off the shelf and babbles away pointing at the box and all I see is that it is 120 RMB. She must have thought I was simply stupid, so I left without buying anything. It is the most primitive sales techniques I have ever seen. Very aggressive and even rude.

            Later we went to an Indian restaurant and ordered some food. I was worried about the spicy food as my stomach has been upset lately because they drench everything in garlic it seems, but I figured what the heck, I do not eat out at nice places often and I save money in Beiyuan so we can splurge on a good and expensive meal. Problem was the saffron and lamb rice was ice cold. Ivy tried it first and told me it was cold and I thought it might be warm, but it was cold, as if it was in the refrigerator. Even some of the grains were hard, you know, the way refrigerated rice gets. So we called the girl over and asked her to warm it I guess. After she left Ivy said maybe we should not get it, that It seemed old and I agreed. We called the girl and Ivy told her we wished to cancel the rice. I said cancel it or replace it with an order of fresh rice that was just fried. Not unreasonable right? And is an upscale type place. I spend about 10 to 20 RMB on average eating out lately, and this meal cost in the end 165 RMB, so you would think we would have some say I what we got right? Wrong. The girl comes back and says we cannot replace it but she can give us steamed white rice. We cannot cancel the order, we have to pay for it, even though we only took one bite each out of it. She says she will take it back and fry it for us. Okay I think...good compromise. But, she returns less than two minuets later with the plate and it is obvious she simply stuck it in the microwave real fast is all. The tomatoes and garnish are all wilted and the plate setting is identical and there are even the two empty areas where Ivy and I tried a bite each. I simply will not go back there. When we came in they even had on this loop of music that I complained about the last time. It is like a sample of some crappy Indian rap song, maybe 30 seconds long and they let it play over and over all day I guess. Why anyone would have to complain about it is beyond me. It is not even a song, it is a short sample and it goes on and on until I am nuts. And the people there seem oblivious to it. This is all capped off by the asshole taxi driver who made us get out on the exit ramp of the freeway because Ivy told him not to drive the long away around this giant loop around Beijing but to go directly to Beiyuan. This of course would cut his fare in half, but we have caught onto this scam already. He just booted us out and we were lucky to get another cabbie right off who was honest and brought us directly back with no hassle.

So I did not get any clothes because the lady made me nervous and we got screwed on some rice in a place where service should be above that of a street side noodle restaurant. I will stick to the cheap little places I think, where if I get bad service and shitty food (which is common) at least I do not have to pay 165 RMB for it. The whole day put me off and into a bad mood and I was snappy later with Ivy. I just get tired and worn out. I cannot seem to even put a comical twist on any of this lately. Lets leave it at that then.

2:01 AM - 11/13/2005 - post comment

THAT REMINDS ME

That one taxi driver up there across the lake from you know where asked me to tell you hi in the fashion of a Fuisian expat. He used to rip me off every Sunday, when I broke would pay exhorbitant sums of cash (I don't know where it came from honest) to drive me up to get my smackish bowl of Vietnam Soup and then off to Mass at St. Louisas from where I'd then walk back home to chill with Jeffster, Bronco and that hilarious fellow Carlo.



-Roman Catalyst

Anonymous - 2:09 PM - 11/13/2005

UNACCEPTABLE!

WHAT THE HELL? I WAS TRYING TO KEEP UP ON OLE DANNY BOY ONLY TO FIND HE GOT DELETED OR SOMETHING? NO IN ENGLISH, SPANISH, and DUTCH.



-Al Gore

Al Gore - 4:10 PM - 11/13/2005

Aight Aight Just needed another recount.

Gotcha.

Al Gore - 4:12 PM - 11/13/2005