The Sichuan Restaurant
Okay. This is my first blog entry. I am starting this blog to let everyone know some of the cool stuff that is happening here. I only have time to share some of the quick highlights in newsletters. This blog will hopefully let you all know what is happening here in more detail and more frequently. I'll try to update at least every week and hopefully more often than that. I hope you have fun reading it!
I'll start with an interesting thing that I witnessed today. Tonight I went to one of my favorite Sichuan Restaurants with a few friends. We were in the middle of eating when we heard an argument erupt at the cash register. One man was yelling at the manager (who happens to be a very small lady in her early fifties, also very sweet). There were also four other people in his party - three young girls in their twenties and another man in his late thirties. They were standing there and not saying a word. From our table I could hear the argument quite well, but I could not understand it all because I am still learning Chinese. I overheard several vulgar words and was able to determine that the argument was about the check. My friend Andrew translated the rest for me. Apparently, the check was about 100RMB. The man was telling the manager that he was only going to pay 50RMB. He refused to pay the entire bill because he said that the restaurant was very popular and doing very well financially, so they wouldn't feel the financial impact if he did not pay the other part of the bill. I thought Andrew was joking at first, but he was very serious. I was astonished. The man continued with his threats saying things like, "Do you know who I am?", "If I tell my friends to never come here, you restaurant will go under, because I know so many people.", "I am a very important man." He even implied that he would have some of his friends come back and damage the restaurant, if the manager did not agree to his demands. Eventually he left the restaurant screaming and never having paid the other half of the check.
I've heard many people try to get out of paying a bill with a variety of different excuses, but this was insane. "Your restaurant makes enough money, so I shouldn't have to pay." Unbelievable! In the States, managers would call the police, but that isn't really how these situations are handled here. Most of the time a compromise is reached when irrational demands are made. Situations like these are few and far between. Most of the time business is conducted honorably in any given store, shop, or restaurant. Face is of vital importance. This man lost a lot of it. I wonder how his silent friends perceived the situation. If they agreed with him, I have to think that they would have also engaged in the argument. I think his friends were embarrassed, and that the argument cost the man far more than he realized. He may have left the restaurant with 50RMB extra, but he lost his integrity in the eyes of his friends.
"If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don't have integrity, nothing else matters." -Alan K. Simpson
I'll start with an interesting thing that I witnessed today. Tonight I went to one of my favorite Sichuan Restaurants with a few friends. We were in the middle of eating when we heard an argument erupt at the cash register. One man was yelling at the manager (who happens to be a very small lady in her early fifties, also very sweet). There were also four other people in his party - three young girls in their twenties and another man in his late thirties. They were standing there and not saying a word. From our table I could hear the argument quite well, but I could not understand it all because I am still learning Chinese. I overheard several vulgar words and was able to determine that the argument was about the check. My friend Andrew translated the rest for me. Apparently, the check was about 100RMB. The man was telling the manager that he was only going to pay 50RMB. He refused to pay the entire bill because he said that the restaurant was very popular and doing very well financially, so they wouldn't feel the financial impact if he did not pay the other part of the bill. I thought Andrew was joking at first, but he was very serious. I was astonished. The man continued with his threats saying things like, "Do you know who I am?", "If I tell my friends to never come here, you restaurant will go under, because I know so many people.", "I am a very important man." He even implied that he would have some of his friends come back and damage the restaurant, if the manager did not agree to his demands. Eventually he left the restaurant screaming and never having paid the other half of the check.
I've heard many people try to get out of paying a bill with a variety of different excuses, but this was insane. "Your restaurant makes enough money, so I shouldn't have to pay." Unbelievable! In the States, managers would call the police, but that isn't really how these situations are handled here. Most of the time a compromise is reached when irrational demands are made. Situations like these are few and far between. Most of the time business is conducted honorably in any given store, shop, or restaurant. Face is of vital importance. This man lost a lot of it. I wonder how his silent friends perceived the situation. If they agreed with him, I have to think that they would have also engaged in the argument. I think his friends were embarrassed, and that the argument cost the man far more than he realized. He may have left the restaurant with 50RMB extra, but he lost his integrity in the eyes of his friends.
"If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don't have integrity, nothing else matters." -Alan K. Simpson
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