Do I need to pay for it?

August 31st, 2005 Filed under English entries, Opinion

@ 2005-08-31 14:05

For a long time, at least 4 years, I haven’t been caught in a rain, but just ten minutes ago when I was eating a delicious 盖浇饭 a heavy rain suddenly began and I was trapt in the snack restaraunt full of Shanghainee. But one thing occured there again intensified the bad image of Shanghainee.It was raining so heavily that no one in the restaraunt dared to leave and one old woman began to worried about, she want to call someone to bring a unbrella but there’s no pay station. Her conversation with a cashier was heard by a yong customer. I was surprised when the yong man lend his cellphone to the old lady, because this kind of worthy deed has never happen during my 4 years in the city, people here are too selfish that etiquette was thrown far away when they rush for a sit on the bus. I thought he is one of those few kind person in the city. The lady thanked him and began to call his friend. When she finished the call and gave the phone back to the yong man she thank him very much. But I was again stunned when she asked him “Do I need to pay for it?”

Yea, these is a typical thing done by a typical middle-aged citizen of Shanghai. I should have thought it was a purely good thing and almost moved untill the old lady’s word echoed. I wondered why those Shanghainee went for every penny? They are just too good at calculation and too clear about benefit. They even want to measure good-will by money!

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