The Chinese Po-Po
Last night was ridiculous.
I met fellow laowai Rory and Julie for dinner along the beach, and we decided to go to a restaurant they had been to before, specifically because they hadn't been ripped off the first time. We ordered several dishes and I observed that they were a little expensive to start with (14yuan for tomato-egg dish, which is normally about 8; 14 for lamb, which is usually about 12; 14 for kung pow chicken, which is normally around 12; and 18 for fried potatoes, which are normally around 8; we also got two bottles of baijiu for 10 apiece, a little overpriced, and 3 bottles of beer for 5 apiece, though they should have been around 3), but considering it was the beach, I thought it was acceptable. Add all of this up, and it should have been 85yuan, which, again, is expensive by normal standards. Imagine our surprise when the bill came and the total was 127yuan. The 14 for the lamb had been crossed out and mysteriously converted to 28, and then to 38 yuan. The kung pow chicken had now become 24, and the egg-tomato had also increased. The only thing that remained the same was the potato dish, which, incidentally, was the most outrageously overpriced dish to begin with. Now, the difference in the bills was only about 40 yuan, or around 5 dollars, but at this point in my time in China, I'm sick of being treated differently because I'm a foreigner. I'm tired of people telling me what I can and can't do because they think I'm inept or don't understand; that I can't take pictures even though I am photographed more than a model; and that I should pay more because they assume I'm a tourist. I think this has made me bolder, so when the waitress brought the bill, we refused to pay it. We argued with the waitress for a good 30 minutes, but she wouldn't budge, so we finally just decided to leave 100 on the table and leave. When we did this, she came storming out of the restaurant with her husband and they grabbed the three of us and wouldn't let us go. She had a grip on me so tight that I had to karate chop her hands and arms before I could twist free, but not before she ripped a hole in my shirt the size of a cantaloupe. At one point I stopped and thought, man, I am hitting a woman, but she would not let go! In America I could have sued her for sure. Even after we wrestled free, she left her husband to guard us while she called the police. All over 4 dollars, and even though we had been the only customers all night. So, we waited another half hour for the police to arrive, and then waited for him while he alternately listened to each of our stories, back and forth, for an hour. I was a little nervous not that we would get in trouble, that he'd write us off as foreigners and assume we were to blame, but he was actually very impartial. He asked us a few times why we couldn't just pay the money, and I reiterated the fact that we shouldn't have to, and that we get cheated every time we try to do something. The policemen did try to write my name down, but I again refused because we had no fault.
I also pointed out where the waitress had crossed out the original prices on the ticket, and mr. policeman finally sided with us and told us to go ahead and leave. I think he knew all along we were right, but he didn't want to piss off the (Chinese) restaurant owner. He told me that I should get a receipt in the future whenever I order the food, so that something similar wouldn't happen again; I had pretty much done that last night, but I assumed that the waitress wouldn't blatantly try to change the prices even after I had asked her how much the dishes were and seen her write the prices down. So, I guess from now on when I go to a restaurant, I'm going to have to sign a contract!
At one point, another group of policemen arrived, and one of the policemen that had arrived first explained to the second car what was going on, and they just smiled and left, waiving as they drove away; they, too, understood how ridiculous the situation was. So, everything was finally over after several hours. I saved the 30 yuan, though ironically, the shirt that the lady destroyed cost more than 30 yuan, so I actually came out in the red. Sometimes being stubborn/firm/hard-headed/resistant/principled is worth more than a monetary value, I suppose.
I met fellow laowai Rory and Julie for dinner along the beach, and we decided to go to a restaurant they had been to before, specifically because they hadn't been ripped off the first time. We ordered several dishes and I observed that they were a little expensive to start with (14yuan for tomato-egg dish, which is normally about 8; 14 for lamb, which is usually about 12; 14 for kung pow chicken, which is normally around 12; and 18 for fried potatoes, which are normally around 8; we also got two bottles of baijiu for 10 apiece, a little overpriced, and 3 bottles of beer for 5 apiece, though they should have been around 3), but considering it was the beach, I thought it was acceptable. Add all of this up, and it should have been 85yuan, which, again, is expensive by normal standards. Imagine our surprise when the bill came and the total was 127yuan. The 14 for the lamb had been crossed out and mysteriously converted to 28, and then to 38 yuan. The kung pow chicken had now become 24, and the egg-tomato had also increased. The only thing that remained the same was the potato dish, which, incidentally, was the most outrageously overpriced dish to begin with. Now, the difference in the bills was only about 40 yuan, or around 5 dollars, but at this point in my time in China, I'm sick of being treated differently because I'm a foreigner. I'm tired of people telling me what I can and can't do because they think I'm inept or don't understand; that I can't take pictures even though I am photographed more than a model; and that I should pay more because they assume I'm a tourist. I think this has made me bolder, so when the waitress brought the bill, we refused to pay it. We argued with the waitress for a good 30 minutes, but she wouldn't budge, so we finally just decided to leave 100 on the table and leave. When we did this, she came storming out of the restaurant with her husband and they grabbed the three of us and wouldn't let us go. She had a grip on me so tight that I had to karate chop her hands and arms before I could twist free, but not before she ripped a hole in my shirt the size of a cantaloupe. At one point I stopped and thought, man, I am hitting a woman, but she would not let go! In America I could have sued her for sure. Even after we wrestled free, she left her husband to guard us while she called the police. All over 4 dollars, and even though we had been the only customers all night. So, we waited another half hour for the police to arrive, and then waited for him while he alternately listened to each of our stories, back and forth, for an hour. I was a little nervous not that we would get in trouble, that he'd write us off as foreigners and assume we were to blame, but he was actually very impartial. He asked us a few times why we couldn't just pay the money, and I reiterated the fact that we shouldn't have to, and that we get cheated every time we try to do something. The policemen did try to write my name down, but I again refused because we had no fault.
I also pointed out where the waitress had crossed out the original prices on the ticket, and mr. policeman finally sided with us and told us to go ahead and leave. I think he knew all along we were right, but he didn't want to piss off the (Chinese) restaurant owner. He told me that I should get a receipt in the future whenever I order the food, so that something similar wouldn't happen again; I had pretty much done that last night, but I assumed that the waitress wouldn't blatantly try to change the prices even after I had asked her how much the dishes were and seen her write the prices down. So, I guess from now on when I go to a restaurant, I'm going to have to sign a contract!
At one point, another group of policemen arrived, and one of the policemen that had arrived first explained to the second car what was going on, and they just smiled and left, waiving as they drove away; they, too, understood how ridiculous the situation was. So, everything was finally over after several hours. I saved the 30 yuan, though ironically, the shirt that the lady destroyed cost more than 30 yuan, so I actually came out in the red. Sometimes being stubborn/firm/hard-headed/resistant/principled is worth more than a monetary value, I suppose.
posted by Mysteries of The Orient at 2:07 AM
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