Best Buy Fury

No not from me. I was just there to buy a step down transformer, in hopes that the Bose Companion 5 computer speakers that I just brought back from the States (110v) will work in Shanghai. While waiting for the staff girl to box the transformer, some Chinese guy was throwing a fit at the counter. He was in a total fury – he yelled 15 times at the salesgirl 随便我吗？ (I’m assuming that before I took note of the situation, whatever it was about, the salesgirl had said 随便你.) The irate guy’s girlfriend stood stoic at his side, as did a male Best Buy employee (he was looking on, not intervening or saying anything). The fury man turned around, and upon seeing me, said “damn”, followed by – for good measure of course – “bitch”. The salesgirl disappeared into the back room; 90 seconds later the fury man kicked the counter hard (in his flimsy sandals, ha ha), yelling 人呢 . To my interest, but not surprise, no other Best Buy employee intervened to quell the situation. The salesgirl reemerged with my transformer, and out the door I went.

SHTig’s takeaways — Shanghai is a real pressure cooker, everyone is angry here. And thus, I don’t accept any argument from Chinese friends that the way to handle tough situations is through gentle and retreating words. Chinese people in this city can get harsh in a hurry.