No smoking please
Written By: Due-East on June 23, 2011
2 Comments
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| I love life here in China. I’ve met a lot of really great people since coming here, and there’s a whole lot to love about this country. Unfortunately, the concept of face just gets in the way far too much for my comfort (and health) sometimes. Let me explain… |
| One of the things I’ve always appreciated about McDonald’s here in China is that it’s one of the cleaner establishments, which is quite ironic if you live in the West. The air is clean and fresh, just like in the US, and the surfaces are cleaned with some semblance of regularity as well (not so much like the US). There are 禁止吸烟 signs up, and they’ve always been well-respected by the typically upper-class customers. The other day, however, things were different. As I was sitting around eating my Big Mac (as I often do when I’m too lazy to buy groceries and go home to cook something worth eating), a man and his girlfriend/wife came in. In the man’s left hand was a lit cigarette. Normally, I let that kind of thing go, assuming that the person just doesn’t realize it’s a non-smoking establishment. But the way this guy was holding it, sort of palmed in his left hand and always either below the counter or behind his back, it was quite obvious that he was fully aware of the “no smoking” policy and had decided to completely ignore it. The fact that I’ve been to McDonald’s probably 50 times since moving here and have never once smelled cigarette smoke reinforces my belief that people know you can’t smoke there. |
| To most Americans, a “no smoking” sign means just that: NO SMOKING. As a culture, Americans generally respect that kind of sign because they know that if they don’t, they’ll be told to leave, or at the very least, they’ll be bothered enough by the other patrons that it would be in their best interests to abide by the regulation. And because of our “oh-no-you-di’int!” culture, we’ve gotten used to clean air. So the very presence of a lit cigarette somewhere with a clearly posted “no smoking” sign is enough to make most non-smokers in America at least a little perturbed. |
| China is not that way, however, and even strict laws are often completely ignored here. And nobody does anything about it when laws are broken. They just ignore it and pretend it’s not happening. Knowing that this is the case, and not particularly feeling like making a scene, I was fully prepared to just finish my hamburger and leave, in spite of the smell. But then the man flicked his ashes on the otherwise clean floor. “That does it!” I thought. “This is not an ashtray!” Then I became the stereotypical loud American, yelling out from behind him in Chinese, “HEY!!! CAN YOU PLEASE NOT SMOKE HERE?!?!” Everybody in the restaurant stiffened up. The employee who had taken my order became red in the face and looked very embarrassed. The manager’s eyebrows furrowed, and she looked very angry. I couldn’t tell if she was angry at him for actually bringing a lit cigarette in or angry at me for loudly calling him out on something instead of just letting it go like everybody else always does. Either way, she asked him to put it out, and he quickly obliged by going outside to throw the cigarette on the ground. One of the Chinese customers in line smiled at me, apparently glad I had called him out. All in all, I considered it a victory. |
| Later on, when I went to work, I was explaining to my boss what had happened and how I responded. She said, “Oh, Chinese people would never do that!” I told her that I realize that, and that’s exactly why people don’t respect laws or each other here. I explained to her that if everybody who was displeased with behavior like that actually spoke up, people would quickly get the hint that that kind of behavior is simply socially unacceptable, and they’d start changing the way they act. From the blank look on her face, my reasoning seemed to fall on deaf ears. But I’m gonna keep calling people out like that. Sooner or later, people will learn… |
Tags: china, Culture Clash, Expat story
Good for you. I’ve done the same thing on several instances and I know exactly what you mean about how ashing on the floor pushed you over the edge. To become a civilized society, China needs people to stray from the status quo and exert effort to make it a better place.
I agree with you wholeheartedly. And while I don’t see it happening extremely quickly, I think little examples like ours will help in the long run…Thanks for reading!