I'm on my way home relatively early. I figure I'll stop off at a 7/11 to get a couple of beers to accompany a DVD at home and a packet of croissants for breakfast tomorrow. The store is taking a delivery. There's a big wheelie-cage stacked with cartons of various products parked just inside the door..... completely blocking the entrance. I stand in the entrance for a while. I make friendly "so, what-the-f***, how long is this going to take, are you going to move this thing or what?" eye contact with the delivery guy. And with the clerks behind the counter. They nod and smile and do nothing. A Chinese would-be customer arrives, and goes through the same rigmarole. They nod and smile and do nothing. Three or four minutes have elapsed. The Chinese guy and I both shrug and leave. The delivery trolley is bulky, to be sure, but there is room to move it into one of the aisles; or at least to shift it a little further away from the door and the cash-desk, so that it is not completely blocking entry to the store. But NO - the shop is effectively closed down for 15 or 20 minutes because everyone is too lazy or stupid to move the trolley a matter of 8 or 10 inches to allow people to squeeze in past it. You see this kind of mind-buggering thoughtlessness every day in China. It never gets any easier to bear. |
Friday, November 20, 2009
China keeps finding ways to piss me off (2)
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2 comments:
These are irritations of daily life. Here in Canada many grocery stores often block the aisles with large skids of product while unloading goods during the day. A short talk with the manager fixes one aisle blockage but a week later, nothing has changed much. People are not considerate enough and managers are not smart enough to effect lasting change.
Maybe you need a change of scenery?
I like the scenery just fine, Don. But patience ebbs and flows.
You're right up to a point. I hated living in England (and Canada) too. But the problems do seem to be of a different order of magnitude here: it's not just 'lack of development' or poor education, but a relentless, thoroughgoing thoughtlessness - no concern for others, no forward planning, no 'common sense'. Ever.
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