It must be the Shoes

With the Shanghai posts made recently, it may have been speculated that we threw our kids under the bus so now we will briefly talk about the kids (after all, we do have to live with them). We don’t like to pimp out our kids and be the “rub your face in it” parents so I’ll keep this short.

Warren is now in High School so he’s got a ton more homework and responsibility to keep him well grounded (or he will be grounded….how ‘bout that play on words. Man, I kill myself.). Last year near year end, he started to play water polo. This year, he has joined the swim team at school. If he can achieve some certain criteria, he’ll be asked to travel with the team to compete in swim meets both inside and outside of China. We’ll have to wait and see how that goes, he is still learning how to make the proper dives, turns, etc. He also continues to play the trombone and has earned a spot on the orchestra. By earning this spot, in November he will travel to Japan to play. I’m sure you are wondering where he got his musical talent, well I don’t mean to brag (or live in the past) but I was in All-County Band during my Middle School years and was in the Marching Band in 9th grade so I think you can see where I’m going with this. That’s right, I take all the credit for his musical skills (as Tammy always says “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree”, although usually when she says this she is talking about Jacob and his personality traits (and I don’t mean the good ones).

This year Jacob has moved into the Middle School and so has obtained his laptop computer that he needs for school (it’s a school requirement so don’t think that we said “Hey, if you make it to Middle School you’ll get a computer. That’s not really how we work, High School will get you a new car and College will get you a lifetime supply of loans to repay and no job to make money to repay those loans. Whoops! Off-track.) He decided to try out for the school soccer team and made the team. Now, since he has made the team, we had to purchase him cleats so he could show off his “skills”. [Have I said enough about the kids yet? Well, that’s all you are going to get, this was my lead-in to the point of the post]

So, in China, buying things is slightly different than at home. This was a perfect example of how different things are. We stop at a shoe store that is located at Li Gong Di. Typically these stores are very expensive and we never see anyone shopping there but since we had dinner nearby, we decided to take a look while we were there. So, there are the 4 of us but inside the store (which was about the size of a shoe store in a mall) there were 6 people working. No one else was shopping, just us (and I mean no one, probably hadn’t seen a customer in weeks or at least that is the feeling I get each time we walk by these shops). So the one girl braves the foreigners to come over and help. Jacob looks at the shoes and finds a pair he likes and surprisingly, the price was right (much to my surprise). So, he tries them on with some help from the young lady who was willing to help although we had a little difficulty in communicating. They seemed a little surprised that Tammy and I were checking the shoes to determine where his toes were (you know, push down and find the toe). Perhaps they weren’t accustomed to this type of size check & confirmation or maybe they thought we were doing their job, who really knows. So, once we get the correct size we are ready to pay. We indicate the shoes are okay and she takes us over to the counter. The counter is shaped kind of like an “L”. On the one side, there is our salesperson that begins to ring up the sale. She indicates the price and hands us an invoice then points us to the other woman behind the other side angle of the counter (no shoes, she keeps those). Now, these two workers were within 2 feet of each other but both had different job functions. The second woman looks at the receipt, indicates the price and then takes our money and gives us a stamp on the invoice. We then “walk” the distance to the initial salesperson and hand her the receipt (now that it has two stamps it changes from an invoice to a receipt). Once she has the receipt, she bags the shoes and hands them over to us so we can take them home.

This seems to be a bit tedious and a bit more complex than really necessary. I mean, it’s not like they both didn’t seem the same process (heck, they both watched it all happen). However, this is how many things are sold here in China. In many cases, you take items to a counter where they are held for you. The clerk gives you an invoice (with one stamp), which you carry to the cashier. The cashier takes your money and places a second stamp on the invoice. You take the invoice back to the original clerk and pickup your item. This is how all invoices are done in China, if it only has one stamp, it’s not valid. You have to have two stamps on everything. Unnecessary…yes. Stupid…you decide. This is actually done to prevent the clerk from providing a discount to the customer and pocketing the difference. The clerk could ring you up for a pair of much cheaper shoes but charge you for the more expensive pair and pocket the difference. Also, the clerk could sell you the expensive shoes for a much cheaper price (with a little bonus for themselves from the appreciative customer). I still watch and wonder what exactly is behind this. Are the Chinese basically dishonest people that will steal at every opportunity? Are the employers so paranoid that they hire twice as many people as they need (one to do the work and another to watch them do it and yet another to be sure the second one is doing their job, and so on it goes)? Could it be that with the need to have jobs for people that it’s better to hire more than you need (since you are subsidized by the gov’t anyhow…can you say stimulus? I know you can.) with the theory that working people are satisfied people. I’ll take #3 for $500 Alex (oooh, it’s the Daily Double). Now, you can go many places and purchase items without this process but if you go to some of these more “Western” type shops this is what you should expect. No bargaining, no easy grab it and go, a little more hassle and a lot more bureaucracy.

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And just for fun, a few numbers for you.
· While in Shanghai on the Metro traveling around, there was a screen indicating how many people had gone to the World Expo on that day. How about over 300,000 people? Considering the Expo opens at 9:00am, and it was around 4:00pm when we saw the number, we would say it was probably a little crowded. Really, over 300,000 people. How many people visit Disney on a single day?
· The Shanghai Metro system achieved a new milestone for riders yesterday, 7 million people…in one day (7 million!). And due to the fact that it is Chinese National Day on Oct. 1st, they will be shutting down certain stops to prevent overcrowding. Ha! To prevent overcrowding, 7 million people in one day, that’s the very definition of overcrowding. I don’t know what the subway line in New York does on any given day but 7,000,000 is a lot of people.
· Some of the people at work are headed home for the October holiday (Oct. 1 – Oct. 5). Most travel by train to save money. Let me give you some times for the train. Vicky went to visit her sister, 25 hours. Laverne went to see her mother, 18 hours. Jerry is going to see his family, 21 hours. Not only is he traveling 21 hours, he was only able to get standing room only tickets….21 hours where you can’t be in a seat so you sit in the aisle or near the doors. 21 hours!!!! We complain about the 16 hours to get home (we’re in a seat, get 2 meals and can watch movies or sleep). That’s a cakewalk. If you are interested to know the price, 275 RMB for the 21 hour, standing room only ticket. By plane, over 1,700 RMB. You wonder why they take the train?