Take-Aways

No doubt about it, China is a big country with loads of people in it. What’s more, they all need jobs. And by Jove they get them! The ministry of transportation seems to be very creative on that account. In Beijing, all buses are not only staffed with the necessary driver but with an additional 1-2 people whose primary purpose is to shout for people to get on and off the bus as quickly as possible and not stand in front of the doors. Every time I have ridden a bus this task has been accomplished extremely enthusiastically and very loudly. It makes me think that Beijing pollution cannot be that bad as it definitely breeds good lungs. At the bus stops there is additionally an employee telling you where you should stand. The metro is an utter delight. Other than the people standing in the tunnels telling you which side to walk on, there are people on the platforms watching you get on and off the trains. Also the ticket system between the two older lines and the new one is a hymn to bureaucracy. You buy a ticket which 4 meters later the controller exchanges for a new one that 2 meters later you use to go through an additional control. Luckily this doesn’t stop the process being really quick. In the restaurants the service is conducted with military precision and you probably will end up with 4 waiters for each table, even if it’s a table for one. There is one person bringing the food on a tray that another lifts from the tray and places on the table while a third one pours the tea and a fourth one in a suit and walkie-talkie supervises everything. Problem is that if you want anything you have to catch the right person for the right job as the person bringing the food is most unlikely to also take an order. Hierarchy is strictly adhered to. And no one expects any tips. At every restaurant and occasionally electronics store there are people at the door just saying welcome and warning another set of people at the top of the stairs that you are coming by means of walkie-talkies. Productivity is actually not that high but everyone is busy, one way or another and what’s more there is real work ethic. All jobs no matter how superfluous they may appear are executed with a lot of dignity and conscience. And even if you do not know how, when or by whom you are going to be served, pushed in a bus or squeezed in a train you always end up being a satisfied customer.