Less than objective cultural observations

I've been making a list of things I wanted to write about at some point, and I suppose there's no better option than to just go through it.

Superfluous employees

I've been amazed at some of the jobs that people hold in China. Besides the full-time driver, guard, and cleaning person at my work, most of whom put in a couple of hours a day and then chat and check their stock prices for hours, China seems to be about half populated with people holding make-work jobs.

Some examples:

-The crossing guards at every corner of every major intersection that are universally ignored as they wave their red flags around.

-The guy who's paid to stand at the bus stop and wave to the bus drivers telling them that there are people to get on their particular bus, despite the fact that all buses stop at all of their stops without exception.

-Almost every non-family business has a guard or six. Grocery stores, cell phone shops, book stores, the seediest of apartment buildings, large restaurants, etc. Here's a free suggestion to the grocery stores: make the guards man a register and do something about your interminable checkout lines.

-Most apartment buildings, including Scot and Catlin's and my own, which are far from elegant, have elevator attendants. My elevator attendant is a nice girl, but she works 12 hour days 6 days a week and doesn't really seem to do much besides take up space in the elevator. We can't push the button for our own floor? I understand that maybe the idea is to increase elevator efficiency, but maybe they should just start using the usually-deactivated second elevator instead.

-There are the 4 person construction crews where 3 guys are watching 1 work, but I guess those are pretty universal. They manage to do it here even without unions, though- a tribute to Chinese innovation.

-Waiters don't give you a menu and walk away to let you think, they stand there while you look through it and wait for you to order. That's taken me a while to get used to; I had been rushing to order because I felt bad about them standing, pad and pencil in hand, waiting for me to slowly parse the Chinese. You can say, "Oh, let me look at it first and come back", but that only buys you maybe 30 seconds. I've gotten over feeling bad, though; if they weren't waiting for me they'd be standing in a clump with several other idle waiters.

-That's another thing, there are these groups of people just standing around. The businesses simply over-employ people. People are cheap, and I guess having lots of employees makes you look successful or up-scale. I went to one mall, admittedly selling only designer brands, that had service desks absolutely everywhere, and three, count them three, dedicated, traditionally clothed, beautiful greeter/bowers at every entrance. You know how cosmetics sections in the states have a lot of people standing and waiting to sell you expensive soap? Now imagine each one of them having a partner.

Things I do in Beijing that I didn't do in the US

I read one of those "You know you're..." lists for expats in Beijing, and it of course listed a number of things that were applicable. Some examples:

-Going on umbrella bashing missions on sunny days. Women here are very particular about their skin. I'm not sure if it's the traditional view that pale is beautiful or a more modern skin disease phobia, but you regularly see women with full skin protection. They'll ride around on bikes wearing face shields; reflective, skin-tight arm covers, wide brimmed hats, and long pants. I'll try to get a picture at some point, because it's really a sight. Anyway, the umbrellas come out en masse on sunny days, often for both men and women, and people seem oblivious to the fact that they're wielding them like weapons as they make their way through a packed sidewalk. I was originally polite, but I've started just batting them away when they come near my face, and because of my 'imposing' western height that's pretty often.

-On the similar lines, there's what I've termed Combat Walking, also referred to as 'sidewalks at rush hour'. The comment on the list I read was, "In NYC people are seen as objects best avoided, in Beijing they're seen as objects best nudged out of the way." Also, I've concluded that if you want to hold your place in line (mob) you'd better be prepared to throw some elbows, and I mean that literally. Well, not literally hurl elbows, but project them forcefully.

-I glare at people a lot now. Street hawkers don't bug you as much if you're scowling. I've gotta get better at switching it off when I realize that the person staring at me is an attractive girl, maybe crack a smile or wink or something charming and disarming. As it is I've been automatically locking on my death stare before my brain processes.

-Along similar lines, I now often ignore people who talk to me without the slightest bit of remorse. "Herro, sir! Rickshaw sir!" or, "Herro, sir! Happy hour!" don't get any response as I walk on and stare straight ahead. One 'happy hour' guy actually jumped in front of me, for which he got my now-practised Combat Walking shoulder. On the other hand if someone random on the street smiles, waves, and says hello I'll return the greeting (in Chinese). But I'll also keep walking deliberately and quickly to avoid becoming someone's English practice dummy. I've started lying about my english ability. I like using, "Il ne sprechen pas russke?" with a southern accent.

-Drinking at lunchtime. I just have a bottle of beer, but I swear that some of these guys with stacks of bottles are going to leave the restaurant and get into their cabs for the rest of their shift.

Some of these sound like criticisms of China, and I guess some of them are. I go into these things trying to be open minded and non-judgmental, but on some counts I don't see how they can possibly be 'good' cultural traits. I don't really mind Combat Walking, it's just different and deserved comment, I thought. And I guess I don't have a better option than these make-work jobs. They're the result of a free market which I believe in, so barring any radical changes in Chinese industry or population restructuring they're here to stay and probably belong. I understand that people want to practice English, and that doesn't bother me, I just don't want to be their victim. The grasping hawkers, on the other hand, seriously piss me off. People who respond to me in English when I speak to them in Chinese also bother me, but to a much lesser extent. They're both connected to me being white, but the militancy and sense of entitlement from the hawkers gets to me.

I have more cultural quirks to write about, including some rather complimentary observations, but I'll save them for another post.