Most days, I love shopping even if I’m not looking to buy and I’m just window shopping. It helps me relax and takes my mind off more pressing matters.
However, there are times when shopping in Taiwan severely tries my patience. Today was one of those days. I wanted some time to myself, so I headed to FE21 in Banciao to kill some time between classes.
Within minutes of entering the mall, it seemed like everyone was talking about me. I found myself getting aggravated with all the sales attendants whispering right in front of me and making the very bad assumption that I can’t understand a word of what they’re saying.
They pondered over my nationality and went over a range of possibilities: Russian, German and French but never Canadian. In fact, people here rarely guess I’m from North America and constantly tell me I look European. They tell me I’m too white to be Canadian. Whatever THAT means.
One shop girl watched me nervously and then ran away when she saw me approach the counter because she was too afraid to help me. She dragged another young man out to help me. His English was terrible, but I give him credit for trying. The shop girl wouldn’t even look at me when I responded in Chinese.
Another young man came out with a calculator assuming I wouldn’t be able to understand numbers and at a jewelry shop, two young women stood right behind the counter and had a grand old conversation about me. I finally put it to rest by telling them everything they wondered about in Chinese. I know I shouldn’t. I should just keep my mouth shut, but I couldn’t help it. They made me so angry. It’s just so rude.
There are plenty of foreign students here who speak Chinese. It’s not like I’m a rarity. So why can’t people ask me first if I understand before assuming I can’t?
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Dunno. If you find a good answer let me know
Been there and done that too many times in my 20 years here. Happy holidays.
What gets to me is lets say the total is $160NT and I give them $210NT they try to give me the $10 NT back because they couldn’t figure out that I want one $50NT coin rather than 4 $10NT coins, they just thought I:
1) Was too stupid to add the total of the items myself
2) Lacked proficiency to understand when the salesperson told me the total in Chinese (despite that I greeted him or her in Chinese/ ordered in Chinese/ and or asked where an item was in Chinese)
3) Couldn’t read the giant calculator shoved in my face.
This happens at least once a week.
Mark,
I had no idea you’ve been here that long. Where do I go to read about your first years in Taiwan?
Todd,
Funny you should mention it. I was at Banciao Train Station yesterday and the same thing happened. When she tried to give me the 10 NT back, her jaw dropped when I told her I wanted a 50 NT coin in Chinese. Then she had to count everything in her hand again. D’uh!
Good question Carrie-have podcasted about it but not really written much on it…
Why get angry about it especially if it happens quite often? Just let them know, as you actually did, you DO understand them and make THEM feel stupid!! I don’t think you should shut up….Happy Holidays!!
Rome,
Happy Holidays to you as well! Thanks very very much for commenting by the way. I love hearing from my readers.
I get angry because nothing ever changes. Five years in Asia and I still run into the same problems. Most of the time I let things slide, but every once in awhile it gets to me and I start wondering if things will ever change.
That coin thing never happened to me, though I am a bit oblivious to racism. Why? I got it all my life. Being in Taiwan is no different really. People talk about you everywhere. I spent my formative years growing up in Quebec as the only brownie is a sea of whities.
When I heard a woman talk about me in TaiShan, I flipped her off British style. She didn’t see me, but it made me feel good. She looked like a mainlander to me;). A few swear words worked well. Anyone can recognize a swear word in any language, it’s the way you say it.
However the Taiwanese do have a special condescending manner that I find aggravating sometimes. This especially shows in work relationships.
I say lighten up. They just feel awkward and perhaps even a little intimidated by having to talk to a foreigner, especially when they don’t speak English. It’s not their fault they may have never met a foreigner before, except maybe at a cram school. Many people do in fact ask me if I can speak Chinese before proceeding. And if they don’t ask, I just tell them, and smile. The look of relief on their faces…!
It is peeving when shop staff run away when they see you coming, but it’s a minor annoyance when you consider that in many instances shop staff will go out of their way to help you simply because you are a foreigner.
If you want to have some fun when they spend 20 minutes trying to think of something in English to say to you (like they always do, even if you’re speaking Chinese to them), do what I do.
Tell them, in Chinese, that you can’t speak English. I sometimes say I’m French, but there’s a few French speaking Taiwanese around, and my French skills don’t go much past Bonjour. So I’m thinking of telling them I’m Russian next time – I only know about 10 words in Russian, but it’s 10 more than 99.9% of Taiwanese know.
That calculator comes in handy when they have to recount it.
I’ve become so inured to this; but on the other hand, I can’t help but still be annoyed and amused by it. I can understand why it happens in Vietnam, but can you believe it even happens to me in India?!
Naruwan,
I’m usually quite patient. I didn’t get angry with anyone, nor was I rude, but I can’t help getting aggravated every once in awhile. Everyone I met that day reacted in the same way. This fact is illustrated by the title of my post. All it takes is a simple question. It doesn’t need to be made into a big deal.
I know how it feels to be intimidated when you think you might not be understood or you don’t know how to deal with something in a foreign language, but I don’t run away from the problem or talk about others right in front of them.
I agree with your last point wholeheartedly. Most days people will go out of their way to help me just because I’m white.
Craig,
HA! I’m guilty of this one, especially when men leer at me. Every Wednesday and Friday afternoon I walk by two young vegetable vendors who catcall really loudly across the street at me. I’ve never answered them in English. At first I used to curse myself everytime they yelled at me because my first instinct is to look when someone calls out to me. Now I pay no attention.
My first year in ?hina used to drive me nuts. ?verytime i went out, people would yell, “wai guo ren lai le!” or they’d point and scream, “wai guo ren!” It used to piss me off so much ?’d turn right around and scream, “zhong guo ren!”
That always stopped them in their tracks. People in Taiwan seem to be better mannered. I don’t notice it much or maybe I’m oblivious to it now. Can you imagine if that happened in North America? I’d get the crap beat out of me.
This is a great post Carrie and I love reading everyones response to it. I personally find that woman shop attendants will be very unhelpful towards me and male clerks will be too helpful. I also dislike receiving a mark up in price if I’m not careful. Unfortunately, I can only buy my fruit at the grocery store as every fruit vendor in my neighborhood ends up trying to screw me.
I seem to remember that camera store incident I had last year which frightfully annoyed me.
Then again, I’m not too crazy about certain aspects about Taiwan. I’m not in love with Taiwan and I don’t plan on living the rest of my life here.
My wife and I find that some foreigners who stay here for a while become Taiwanese and act the same condescending and passive aggressive way as some locals do. Some foreigner bosses come to mind.
To reciprocate, I’m just rude. If a local is bitchy or rude, I just reciprocate. It’s my way of dealing with their bullshit and it’s satisfying. Then again, I’m not a world class shopper and spend a lot of time at home.
To reiterate, most of my dealings with the locals are great. I’ve got no problems with vendors, and I have a great relationship with my scooter shop who does all of my repairs. The people at the park where I walk my dog all know me by sight as well as my Frenchie.
Simple:
I speak Icelandic. (in Chinese, I’m too lazy to look up the proper pinyin.)
Works every time.
I hate shopping.
next time i go back to the US, i’m going to walk up to anyone who even looks slightly Asian, and i’m going to bug the crap out of them in Chinese, asking where they are from, how long they’ve been there, etc. then i’ll put the video up on You Tube and we can all have a great laugh!
Carrie, several suggestions have sort of hinted at putting it back off onto that person. that is what i come right out and say to do. you’ve been to my neighborhood. so the typical situation is remarkably similar day after day:
The Announcement “A Foreigner is here!”
my response is simple, but direct:
“oh, this is your first time here.” notice that this isn’t a question – it is one of those condescending statements that we frequently get.
after that, you can maintain the upper hand if you keep your wits about you.
“Where are you from?”
“You don’t know because this is your first time here, but I’m this neighborhood’s da ga“
you have to keep thinking in that condescending way – this i know, is not characteristic of you. i found that people ask questions for the sake of asking – not to get answers. in Thailand every person i ever meet asks me where i’m going. i never tell them where i’m going. it’s like “have you eaten yet?” – that isn’t meant to be answered. so i normally treat each and every question as totally optional. it helps if you roll your eyes and say things like “so inconvenient” or “crazy” as those things get the point across more than trying to actually answer dumb questions. i’ve had situations where bystanders stepped in and asked a dumbass to stop bothering “our foreign friend” after a few Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions.
by all means post a followup! this was very nearly a Sound Off!
MJ,
I’m still laughing. I’m getting a picture in my mind of how you handle these types of situations. We need to hang out more so I can witness it first hand.
Will do on the Sound Off. I don’t have many days like this one, so I guess I have to deal with it every once in awhile.
I went back on Monday and everyone was sweet as pie.
Cheers and Happy New Year!
they probably read your blog over the weekend!
just this evening i saw a guy approaching me, and i just knew it was coming…. sandals, baggy pants, carrying a stick of all things, he stopped beside me and gave me the “heil hitler” salute (where did people in Asia learn that from and why do they think it’s friendly?) and a big “thank you!” in English.
Me: why’d you thank me?
Him: (pointing to the bottle of coke on the table) that will give you cancer! (probably because he exhausted his English vocabulary on the first salvo).
Me: huh?
Him: yes, that stuff will give you colon cancer.
Me: you’re an expert?
Him: yes
Me: yes, i can see it – you’re an expert.
Him “thank you! (English).
Me: (rolling eyes) “crazy”