I was wandering to the vegetable market (早市) with my Chinese friend’s mother at ‘Mentougou’ district last morning. Aunty brought rice and put it into the bag which I was carrying. While she was moving back shopkeeper loudly asked –‘Madam! Money, money.’
She said- I’ve already paid. Thus, you weighed the rice.
Shopkeeper – No, you haven’t given.
She said – look I’ve only 11 RMB, I didn’t want to break 100RMB so i first handed 10 rmb and you weighed the rice equal to 10 rmb, isn’t it?
Shopkeeper- No, No…If you had given 10 RMB why I asked you for little more or little rice while weighing?
She said – you might have forgotten, try to remember…!
Suddenly crowd gathered. Both were jabbering and rests were looking their barking skill. Nobody helped to manage the temper. Aunty was trying to prove that she has given money at first but shopkeeper was not ready to accept it.
Eventually situation was going to the worst.
I suggested to aunty –‘leave the rice, 10rmb is nothing for us.
She attacked me – why should I leave while I have paid for it?
I couldn’t manage her temper. Again, I suggested shopkeeper to keep calm and listen the logic how customer is performing. Shopkeeper aggressively denied my suggestion too.
I failed to manage the situation. Finally, I pushed her to go back and stop to quarreling. I didn’t leave the rice bag and we rushed away.
We were talking the same issue even crossing the half way.
I asked, what’s wrong while leaving this rice rather than fighting with the poor street vendor?
She said,- if you had done it shopkeeper and crowd might treat you as a thief. If you are not wrong, why don’t you defend your point?
honestly, i am too poor in bargaining point. i will leave rather than deafening voice.
I am confused. Is it better to buy things on footpath and pay at first? Or, if you pay at last, also can be create troublesome, Or would you draw their attention before paying? Or you suggest, don’t buy the things on footpath, where vendors don’t have bill for the evidences or leave it, sometimes it happens in life?
it was really a very unhappy experience.. i agree with your anuty to some degree, if you left the rice then the people around might think that you are the thief,, but how to deal with the situation was really tough...if neither of them wanted to give up...after all, you have got out of the quarrel thanksgoodness!
so maybe next time you when you paid something, you'd better make the shopkeeper aware...avoiding the conflits is the best choice!
i agree with you!
Yes I am never in a hurry. It is weird now that I think about it because in many situations lines do annoy me but they really never annoy me in supermarkets for some reason. ( I think this is a recent thing actually. I used to have a gf to do my grocery shopping for me but not for a while. I used to hate grocery shopping but it really doesnt bother me these days. I am far more relaxed over the last few years. Now that I think about it lines really dont bother me too much these days unless they are ridiculous. )
In Australia we have an express lane for people that have ten items or less too. A lot of the time when I go grocery shopping I am getting ten items or less. I would prefer to wait in the ten items or less express lane than have to swipe my own items.
I have seen lines for the self service lanes anyway.
I also do not use the self serve screen things they have in McDonalds now - not that I actually go to McDonalds but sometimes I am with someone that will go there. I would prefer to just say my order to the McDonalds worker than to enter it in to a machine. I do not like having to do things like that because it makes things more difficult not less. What is so hard about telling a person your order with your mouth? It is easier than having to enter your order in to some screen. Plus those screens are covered in germs.
Do you know what else I hate? Those ticket machines at train stations. I liked it better when you bought your ticket from an actual person. And you get lines for the ticket machines at times anyway. And if you happened to have a question you could ask the ticket worker or whatever they were but you cant ask a ticket machine a question.
The fact is that it is better to have humans to do low skilled labour. I do not like machines very much really. A machine can shine your shoes but isnt it better for a person to do it? A machine can give you a massage but isnt it better for a person to do it? All of the automation of the workforce is all well and good for many things but for a lot of low skilled work that can be automated it is better to have a human worker than a machine.
edit - Also, there are always super hot check out chicks in supermarkets where I live you know. I prefer humans - even when I get a male check out chick.
edit - People go on about how great all this technology is. I would be quite happy to be a wealthy Roman living in a nice marble city and owning some slaves to do stuff for me. I would not miss the tv or the internet or smartphones. Roman elites lived a lot better than modern elites live today with all of their technology.
When i was a child, my cousin told me a similar story. She paid the money at first to buy breakfast, and there were many customers. When she got the breakfast she bought, the boss asked her to pay the money. She said she had paid, but the boss didn't remember. Since she was a child, she failed. And she told me that it's very important to pay when you get what you buy, not to pay before you get the thing. When you shopping in a supermarket or mall, you will get a receipt after paying and you won't have such worry.
There is a saying in China, "hand over the money with one hand and take the purchased goods with the other hand". No confusion there, and no argument either.
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