Please Sir…
We were walking on the Bund last night. Across the road, I saw a little girl, pushing her way past people walking in the opposite direction.
She caught my eye because of the pained expression on her face. She wore a deep frown as she negotiated her way past people walking in the opposite direction. She looked like she had a somewhere to go, was late, and was weighed down by some serious philosophical matter at the same time.
The other thing that caught my eye was the bright red flashing devil horns on her head. These are sold by poor people on the Bund. They are battery powered, and if you flick a switch, a little light turns on in each plastic horn.
She kept looking down, with the expression of being troubled deeply by something, her plastic horns bowed. But she eventually scuttled across the road towards Aika and I. What did she want?
As she got closer, she looked up at me. "Money... give me money..." holding out her hands.
I burst out laughing. She had seen a foreigner across the road, and decided to hit him up for a few coins. She had made her way in our direction, trying to look poor and pathetic. She was concentrating so hard on her act, but had forgotten about the two oversized flashing red horns that were sticking out of the top of her head.
I realise that it's not cool to make fun of poor people, but this little girl wasn't dressed shabbily, and obviously had enough money to get oversized novelty devil horns, so I don't think she was honestly poor.
Now that I think of it, I think we were on the exact spot where WoAiZhongGuo took this photo. Or maybe where that guy in the blue shirt with his back to the camera is.
A New Phone
I got a new phone this week. I swapped my Motorola e680i for a new a810 (also made by Motorola). The new one is very similar. It also has a screen to write on, which I find very convenient. But it's a little smaller, a little thinner, has a smaller screen, but a better camera and has a normal headphone socket. Aika's phone broke recently, and I gave her my e680i, as it gave me an excuse to get a new one myself.
Buying a phone is quite simple in China. You take your money to a phone shop, hand it over, and get a new phone. You remove the SIM card (a little card about the size of your thumbnail) and insert it. You're done! No contracts, no ID, easy.
But it's not so easy. Most phone shops won't let you try out one of their products before you buy it. You're expected to look at a plastic model of the phone which is the same size and weight but doesn't have any electronics in it. Instead of trying before they buy, most people just hold these lumps of plastic, weighing them in each hand, pressing the fake buttons, and deciding.
This is totally unreasonable to me. I don't think that there's any product anywhere where one can't try before one buys. Especially with something quite expensive, electronic and as complicated as a phone. And especially since there is so much choice, and ESPECIALLY especially since the average wage in China means that a phone is much more of an investment than in developed countries. Not being able to "try before you buy" is really stupid, even though it's widespread. And I'm not asking to be able to take the phone out and play with it for an hour, I just think being able to turn it on and look at the screen would be reasonable.
This is my gut feeling. But then I think of computer companies like Dell who sell computers (which are of course much more expensive) online. People looking to buy phones have all the resources of the internet, They can research if the phone that they're planning to buy is any good (that's what I ended up doing). So on one hand I think it's ridiculous, and on the other I think it's not so bad.
So anyway, what I'm wondering is:
Did you try your phone before buying it? (And by "try" I mean did you turn it on or see it turned on in the store?)
Would you buy a phone if you weren't allowed to use it before buying it?
Am I just being silly? (With regard to the phone thing, not in general. Hahaha. Maybe I should clarify.)
Is it unreasonable to ask to use or see a product being used before buying it?
And now that I think of it, one might buy clothes if they were cheap, and looked ok, without trying them first. But a piece of clothing is substantially cheaper than a phone... anyway, I think my opinion's pretty clear, I guess it's your turn now.
I've made an mp3 of the youtube video. Download it here. Subscribe to my mp3 feed at http://maxiewawa.libsyn.com/rss . Please. Seriously, since I'm not playing piano much any more, I'm not sure why I'm paying for the space for that audio, so download it, whack it in your iPod and enjoy me on the go!