In preparation for the 2008 Olympic Games, Beijing is intent on putting on a new face. The city, home to 15.3 million people, is building a 91,000-seat Olympic Stadium and “Water Cube” aquatic center, among other curiosities. It’s promising, at least for now, to give foreign journalists who cover the Games free and unfettered access to visit a China that’s planting trees, scouring streets and buildings and even cleaning up its notoriously bad air quality.
But here’s a strange twist: The municipal government has ordered shopkeepers to undergo a personality makeover. Officials are telling merchants to be a lot more cordial to patrons.
Smile at the people. That’s an order!
Apparently that means no spitting, shouting obscenities or acting rudely. No sarcasm, irony or vague answers to questions. No grabbing customers in an attempt to get them into your store.
The consequences for violating the “be kind” edict have been left, apparently purposefully, vague. But they are rules, not suggestions, and they take effect next month.
Beijing merchants in state-owned stores aren’t strong in the customer service department.
“The ancient capital has produced residents with a reputation for generosity and big gestures, but it’s also fostered a tradition of arrogance in Beijingers reflected in the commercial and service industry,” the China News Service reported with surprising frankness. “Complaints of bad service in Beijing are all over the Internet.”
You wouldn’t want to spend billions of dollars and lure millions of tourists and have them all going away mad.
And so we have another reason to bring the Olympics to Chicago: Midwesterners don’t need a crash course on how to be kind to strangers.
