Top 10 List: My Top “Dislikes” in Shanghai tagged: , , ,

Top 10 List: My Top “Dislikes” in Shanghai

Posted by Mike in China Living

I’ve been working on this website for roughly 5 months as a fun outlet and a break from my other ventures and I noticed something absolutely missing from my website – a top 10 list. While not original in the least, they always lead to some good debate. Before I begin with the topic at hand, please be mindful that this isn’t my way of trashing China or Shanghai. I absolutely love both and would rank Shanghai as one of my top 3 favorite cities in the world (if not #1). For every 1 “dislike” of mine, I could list 3 things I absolutely love about the city or country. With that justification out of the way, here are my top 10 dislikes so far:

10. Spitting – Maybe I’ve been here too long, but the spitting doesn’t get to me as much as it used to. I expect it from the elderly and look past it when I see a younger man do it. However, there are two instances where it makes me cringe – 1) when a girl does it (under the age of 30) and 2) when it is done indoors. The worst instance came when I was eating dinner in a local restaurant and a man in front of me spat on the floor.

9.  Hard beds – Why the need? Are hard beds cheaper? It is doubly painful since I am a side/stomach sleeper (side with legs sprawled out). Without any softness to my bed, I can feel my spine being pushed out into an odd angle. Instead of my shoulder pushing into the softness of my bed as I am used to, I get my shoulder crammed against my chin and need two pillows to compensate for this. As an aside, for those with the same complaint, I would highly recommend SlumberMaxx mattress pads to give you a soft rest. I’ve heard rave reviews about their products from people who have actually used them and I would easily invest in one if I knew where I would be living beyond the next 6 months. Visit their website using the link below if you are interested in getting a free gift from them for being one of my readers (just mention “MovingtoChinaBlog” at the checkout).

8. Wai guo ren (foreigner) superiority complex in fake markets – This one might be an odd thing to add seeing as how my most popular articles are on Shanghai Fake markets (Shanghai Fake Market prices, Shanghai Fake Market information), but this doesn’t mean that I don’t have respect for the people behind the counters. I generally don’t fall into any heated arguments with the sales people. Even the ones who say they “want to kill me” up until I pay them generally say “thank you” and are pleasant when I leave. It’s a game and its business. I respect their attempt to negotiate with me and they generally respect my unwillingness to budge on prices. There is no reason to take offense in this game. I’ve seen quite a bit of disrespect aimed at shop keepers from foreigners who take the “game” a bit too far and act almost childish in making fun of the sales people. I’ve also seen people who simply don’t understand the game and take actual offense to these negotiation strategies. Just yesterday, I was walking around the Science and Technology fake market when I saw a foreigner (I will hold back his nationality) asking the shop keeper if he wanted to physically fight him. A swarm of Chinese surrounded him and drowned out his screams with a lovely chorus of “F*&% You!” All of this due to the shop keeper telling him that his price was “crazy”…

7. Public Crapping – I can understand that the cost of diapers is likely expensive, but I will never get over going through my normal daily activities and seeing a kid crapping on the sidewalk like a dog. What’s worse is when the mother holds the child up to allow everything to drop from a distance.

6. Picking noses in public – To tag along with #7, is picking one’s nose in public. If you do it outside and I am far away, I can handle this. If you do this on the metro when I’m crammed next to you or if you are a bank clerk handling my papers and passport, I can’t handle this. Both of these events have happened to me. Oh, and there is an unconfirmed rumor that the long pinkie fingernail is custom grown to help with this activity. I’ll reserve judgment until I confirm this.

5. Lack of Reasonably Priced Foreign Food – I get cravings for non-Chinese food about thrice daily. Unfortunately, any western food I buy costs 2-3x more than the Chinese food I buy. When I try to compromise and buy western food from Chinese places, I end up with a teriyaki chicken sandwich when the picture and description clearly shows “cheese burger”. I miss the variety of foods I got from the USA – Mexican food, Greek food, Italian food, Indian food, Chinese food (Americanized) etc. For now, my diet has become very limited and is essentially void of any cheese or milk.

4. The Rush to Enter Doors – Whether it is to cut me off to get first dibs on elevator space or people shoving old ladies out of the way to get onto the metro, there is an inexplicable sense of urgency in getting through doors. I don’t really mind since the first ones into these doors are the last ones to exit, however I still can’t get over people rushing to jump in front of others to enter doors.

3. Construction Work – It’s 7:00 AM on Sunday and I’m not woken up by the morning sunlight, birds chirping or an end to my natural sleep cycle. No, I am woken up by jackhammers one floor above mine. Thanks guys. Taking this further, it’s always a pleasant experience to walk past construction work and having small pieces of concrete fly up into my face.

2. Customer Service (or lack thereof) – Formerly working for a brand that was built on the idea of superior customer service gave me an appreciation for how customer service is done. The Chinese customer service within businesses is typically horrendous. As an example – a few months ago I forgot my ATM password to one of my Chinese ATM cards. I went to the front desk to ask for help. Because I was in the “English speaking” line, I told the clerk in English that I had forgotten my ATM code and that I’d like her to tell it to me. She gave me a keypad and asked me to enter my number. I told her that I didn’t know it, however she insisted that I put in a 6 digit number. I put one in and she said “not correct”. I again told her that I was going to her because I didn’t know it. She said to try another number. I did with the same result. She said one more time. I did, same result. She then told me to “come back tomorrow” since I had “locked myself out of the system” for trying my password too many times. I looked at her in amazement, further explained my reasoning for visiting her desk, and then walked out empty handed. She tried to do it to me again the next day, but I finally pleaded with her to simply give me a new code. She did eventually comply after filling out 30 minutes worth of paperwork while picking her nose (see #6 dislike). I won’t even get into my “internet banking” story or my online grocery discount story….

Oh, and this isn’t to say that USA customer service is infallible. However, I can complain in the USA and feel as though it makes a difference. I simply give up in China.

1. Internet Firewalls – It isn’t necessarily the censorship that gets to me, it’s the firewalls that case this censorship. These same firewalls are the ones that considerably slow down my internet to a crawl at times. While my internet has become faster recently (probably due to a combination of luck and my secret to making internet faster in China), these firewalls could be the one “dislike” that truly forces me to leave this city that I love so much. I’m hoping that things start to ease up in the near future, but I’m not holding my breath.

Did I forget any “dislikes” that jump out at you right now? Let me know in the comments section.