Let's clear up one misunderstanding about the Chinese. You have that image in mind of serene, patient, meeky people. Forget you ever had that thought. Here are a few situations that I encounter every day here in Hong Kong.
In the morning when i take the MTR (Mass Transport Railway) and get off at Admiralty station, there is a rush to the escalators. Being used to London, where people patiently follow the mass of people to get on to the escalator, I was quite surprised to see that over here people have a lot less patience. While people are queuing to get on, there always are people who go right to the front of the queue and push in from the side. When I say 'push in', I mean that quite literally: they push. In London people observe a certain patience and politeness towards each other. Not here. The worst offenders are invariably women, they are just plain rude at times.
A second example. After I get up the escalator, I get to the lift lobby at the Lippo Centre, where I work. Four elevators next to each other, and a bunh of people waiting along the width of the four doors. When a lift arrives, people who happen to stand in front of that door get in, select the floor where they asre heading, and then right after that start pushing the 'close doors' button - not once, but over and over again. Do they care about the people who are a bit of a distance away and have to walk to the right doors first? Not at all. I've seen it happen several times that people are still walking towards the elevator and inside someone is already playing a drum solo on the button so it closes before the person actually reaches the doors. Again - very rude and inconsiderate when seen through western eyes.
The funny thing is though that you take over these bad habits. An eye for an eye, I guess. See that woman running on her stilettos to get to the lift in time? Oh, the sheer satisfaction of pushing that button so the doors close right before she gets there...
In the morning when i take the MTR (Mass Transport Railway) and get off at Admiralty station, there is a rush to the escalators. Being used to London, where people patiently follow the mass of people to get on to the escalator, I was quite surprised to see that over here people have a lot less patience. While people are queuing to get on, there always are people who go right to the front of the queue and push in from the side. When I say 'push in', I mean that quite literally: they push. In London people observe a certain patience and politeness towards each other. Not here. The worst offenders are invariably women, they are just plain rude at times.
A second example. After I get up the escalator, I get to the lift lobby at the Lippo Centre, where I work. Four elevators next to each other, and a bunh of people waiting along the width of the four doors. When a lift arrives, people who happen to stand in front of that door get in, select the floor where they asre heading, and then right after that start pushing the 'close doors' button - not once, but over and over again. Do they care about the people who are a bit of a distance away and have to walk to the right doors first? Not at all. I've seen it happen several times that people are still walking towards the elevator and inside someone is already playing a drum solo on the button so it closes before the person actually reaches the doors. Again - very rude and inconsiderate when seen through western eyes.
The funny thing is though that you take over these bad habits. An eye for an eye, I guess. See that woman running on her stilettos to get to the lift in time? Oh, the sheer satisfaction of pushing that button so the doors close right before she gets there...
1 comment:
Weird that I'd land on a blog where the person works at a Lippo Centre as well and guess what we have four lifts too! and yes the bad habits can rub off !
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