Shanghai China Snippets Observations about living in Shanghai and China in general

People who are seldom well served don’t know how to serve other people.
This statement was made by my girlfriend after we discussed service in
China. She told me how she had helped a friend getting his laptop cable
back he forgot in his hotel. The guy had called the hotel and they
confirmed they found the cable. To make a long story short. My
girlfriend needed to go there three times before she had a cable which
is likely to be the right one. First time she was on her way up and
down the Hotel. All staff ducked any responsibility, pretended to be
deaf and told her to ask somewhere else. The second time she got
closer. She was shown three plastic bags with cables. “Tell me which
one it is”. She didn’t bring her mobilephone but had the owners number
and asked them to give him a call to find out the exact brand. “Sorry,
we cannot make long distance calls” . Third time she knew the brand,
waded through the bag with cables and is likely to have found the right
one. “Please show me your ID Card”, was the question. Might I add, this
was the third time she went there and they never asked before. She got
angry, not like her at all, and this was the moment they gave her the
cable right way. She noticed that getting angry worked. It gives staff
apparently the feeling they are dealing with a boss-like person, which
can constitute trouble if they don’t act. Staying friendly gives them
the chance of not doing anything. Doing something means having the
option of making a mistake, which also means trouble.

One of the perks of living in [tag]Shanghai[/tag] instead of [tag]Kunming[/tag] is that there are more Western Supermarkets. Naturally they are more expensive than the local one’s. [tag]Dutch cheese[/tag] for instance is still not made in China.

I tend to go the [tag]City Supermarket[/tag] that resides in the compound of the [tag]Portman Ritz Carlton[/tag] Hotel. It’s nice, it has more choices of cereals than even Dutch [tag]supermarkets[/tag] have (I actually just look at them to envision myself in a [tag]US Supermarket[/tag]) and until today I even felt they were managed in a normal way.

Here comes the bread from the title. I never realized that the bakery in the supermarket is actually not part of the supermarket. I mean, until now I paid once at the checkout so why bother worrying about it.

Paying my things I checked the bill (A good [tag]Chinese[/tag] custom) and was surprised the price of my [tag]ciabatta[/tag] bread had increased 25%.

I felt there might be a mistake and asked the cashier. No, she was not responsible for the prices of the bakery, she also didn’t want to know. I should ask the girl from the bakery. The [tag]English[/tag] speaking Manager told me the same.

“We just receive the money, the bakery girls
are part of [tag]Portman[/tag].”

So I strolled back to the bakery sections and asked why my ciabatta was now 15 Kuai instead of 12.

“The price changed”, she said.

When? “Today.”

So why where there price tags before with 12 kuai and no new price tags?

“The manager is still working on that.”

Which manager? The manager of the bakery section, the section which is not a part of the supermarket but nevertheless I still have to pay the supermarket.

I read about inflation in [tag]China[/tag] but 25% seems a bit steep. Let’s hope the rest of the supermarket doesn’t become a part of the [tag]Shanghai Portman[/tag].