China Esquire

I had spent about 3 weeks in China, traveling from Beijing to Shanghai, with a number of stops in between. After that, my wife and I headed to Hong Kong and Macau.

After spending this much time in China, Hong Kong reminded me much of the west when it came to one important aspect: customer service. ( Silicon Hutong wrote up something about service in Hong Kong a few months back) Imagine the difference where a waiter actually comes to serve you, as opposed to a restaurant or cafe where you need to call the waiter for anything. (Practice calling “fuyuan” in a loud voice) After finding service even at higher end Beijing and Shanghai establishments to be disappointing, Hong Kong was a breath of fresh air.

What surprised me was the level of customer service in Macau (a.k.a. Vegas in China). I expected the same. I was wrong. I spent some time at the Grand Lisboa, a fairly new hotel and casino run by SJM. I was fairly impressed by the multi-level casino there, as well as the fact that they had a separate Texas Hold ‘Em room. Other casinos only have mostly Bacarrat. (Caveat: I do not gamble at all) It’s very Vegas-like, and they even have Stanley Ho’s large 218 carat diamond on display there. Overall, I thought the place was very nice inside. (The outside reminds me of the Rio in Vegas and leaves something to be desired–the Sands and the Wynn were much more understated and classy)

We were eating a meal at the Noodle House at the Grand Lisboa. And apparently the restaurant has a policy: do not allow customers to keep bottled water on the tables. Even the water bottles that are provided by the Grand Lisboa hotel. Rationale? It doesn’t look nice and they want to keep an upscale image. (I also note that the restaurant isn’t really all that upscale and that it is a complete delusion) So what happened? The staff offered us hot water… or you pay for tea. Everyone opted for hot water except me. I preferred colder water. I was kindly poured a cup of hot water and asked to remove my bottle. Which I refused to do because I would have nothing to drink then.

As the meal came closer to an end and the water in my bottle was slowly diminishing, one of the staff had the bright idea that they could just take the bottle and throw it away. Right in front of me. Even after I glared at her a little for taking it. No apology. Nothing. Just the standard line, “you aren’t allowed to use a water bottle”.

I decided to do the American thing instead of the Chinese thing in response: I asked for the manager instead of allowing them to save face. And I told him that this was unacceptable customer service. He told me that everyone who didn’t want hot water could have opted for cold water. Funny, this wasn’t offered to me. And I let him know that. He said that it was my responsibility to request it. It wasn’t. That was something that should have been offered instead of bottle thievery. Lesson #1: do not blame your customers for poor customer service.

Once I pointed that out, he apologized and blamed the staff. It’s summer and the staff there are a lot of temporary workers–college students looking to earn money. And he attempted to distance himself from their error. I noted that it didn’t matter–this is supposed to be a first rate casino in Macau and that they were responsible for training all employees properly. Lesson #2: do not blame your staff for poor customer service, particularly if you didn’t train them properly.

The manager must’ve known that was a lame excuse. So he laid down what was the bottom line for him: the boss said no water bottles allowed. That’s why it was taken from me. And because the boss said no water bottles allowed, that’s why none were allowed. It didn’t matter that the staff didn’t offer any alternative. (Bill Dodson has done some posts on the lack of Chinese innovation, as well as other blogs–many note that there is a Chinese stubborn adherence to the orders of a superior without any desire to question or improve) He might as well have said, “this is the Chinese way.”

And so I told him, “you tell your supervisor that you either need to train people to offer cold water instead of taking water bottles away or tell him that they need to learn customer service–which is that the customer is always right.” I hope this manager told his boss my comments. I doubt he did.

Overall, I was pretty shocked at the lack of customer service in Macau. I expected this in China, but not in Macau. Sure, it was better than the mainland.  But that’s not saying much frankly.  If Macau wants to attract more foreigners, the casinos better learn to shape up.

Anyways, enough ranting…

I just wanted to write a quick post as I’ve been traveling. We were in Beijing last week, and met with the blogger behind A Modern Lei Feng and Stan Abrams of China Hearsay. I also had the chance to have lunch with a pair of Chinese lawyers from King & Wood, which is so large in Beijing that it needs floors in two office buildings here. I attach a photo of myself and Zhang Yongliang, corporate partner at King & Wood.

Nearly everyone concurred that the legal market in China has slowed to some degree–but for those dealing with foreign clients, their work has slowed considerably. Those dealing with Chinese clients, while slower, still are keeping themselves busy enough. Of course, it’s hard to say whether my sampling is fair considering that I talked with only a few people. Still, it’s something to keep in mind–especially with Kinney Recruiting and Above the Law saying that things are “booming” here in China. Many here on the ground say its not as booming as you would suspect.

One thing I note is the amount of nationalism I’ve seen here so far. None of it is blatantly anti-western. In fact, much of the nationalism is based around the Olympics. I’ve received a fair number of Olympics related souvenirs this past year while in America… and coming to China, I’ve only received more. I now have a 1 and a half feet tall stuffed Jingjing doll (which is cute, I must admit) among other new Olympics related souvenirs. Sometimes I wonder if the Chinese ever buy Olympics gear for themselves.

Another time, I observed nationalism in a dinner with some relatives. We were talking about the Olympics, and many of them noted that there weren’t many foreigners around in town. (Stan Abrams told us the hotel industry is taking a beating right now) And I thought to myself “visas”. What was their reasoning? They were “informed” that many Americans and westerners were boycotting the Olympics over the whole T***t issue. To which I thought, “you’ve got to be kidding me.” Sounds like no one here on the ground even knows that the government has tightened down the visa situation so much that much of summer tourism is griding to a slow halt. If I had a nickel for everytime I read or heard that someone couldn’t get themselves a visa in China, I wouldn’t need to be blogging right now. But that being said, no one here knows. And I think the default Chinese viewpoint is to take a nationalist approach: it must be some boycott or anti-western sentiment against China.

While the necessity of a siege mentality for Chinese is debatable, I see more and more of it happening… and even when the Olympics goes away, I still see the nationalist siege mentality staying a little longer. Let’s just hope that it doesn’t stay too long or things could get ugly.

I will be on vacation for the next 3 weeks, and so want to apologize in advance for not posting.  Plenty of other good blogs on my blogroll to keep you up to date with China law and business — there are many quality China law blogs and China business blogs to choose from.  I can still be reached by email, but will not be doing much with the blog while I am traveling.  Maybe I can post some photos.  I hope you all enjoy your summer!

Happy July 4th to all those celebrating the American Independence Day!  We have a long weekend here in the States, and I think everyone is happier for it.  For more information about the Holiday, check here.  Those in America, enjoy the holiday.  (I know I will be as I enjoy watching fireworks every year)  Those in China and elsewhere, maybe you can have a toast tonight in the name of independence and liberty.

Got another email offer from the MBITA.  This time, its join Alibaba and get some free white papers, which cover the following topics:

1.         How to check your supplier before ordering
2.         Moving goods: the basics of shipment
3.         Resolving payment problems with buyers
4.         Tips for safe trading
5.         Fraud case studies

I figure most everyone here is a member, but if you aren’t, I wanted to let you know about this.  Whether or not you actually use Alibaba is a separate question–before you pull the trigger, do your due diligence very thoroughly first.  I would also consult other sources before relying too heavily on the white papers.  There are many fine resources out there like All Roads Lead to China by Rich Brubaker, China Law Blog, etc.

The Monterey Bay Int’l Trade Association (MBITA) is hosting their first annual Green Trade Network Summit, entitled “ When You Think Greek, You Must Think Global“.  It will be in Santa Cruz, CA, and is an all day event that runs from 8:30am – 5:30pm.  From their website, here is some interesting intro language:

The Green revolution commands a global effort from both business and government. Cleaning the air in China is just as important as it is in California. As all countries are connected through our environment, we also need to collaborate with our Green technologies, products, services and resources to meet the challenge of global warming. This global strategy will grow our companies and at the same time improve our respective economies.

The lunch presentation film also focuses on China:

. . . the Green Dragon Film, will be presented and shown by Max Perelman of Green Dragon. This documentary sheds light on the barriers and opportunities expanding China’s green building movement – one of the biggest untold stories of China’s environmental challenge.

And of course, for the lawyers, the third panel is entitled “License Green Technology in Foreign Markets and Protect Your Intellectual Property”.  Crystal Zarpas of Mann & Zarpas, LLP, will be explaining “the complicated process of protecting your intellectual property through the foreign registration process of your product’s trademark”.  Yes, it’s not earth shattering, but should be a good practice lesson for anyone dealing with China trademarks.

Registration is here.