06.08.07
Posted in Barbershop at 1:46 pm by Benjamin Ross
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After a long month at the barbershop, I have finally ended my tenure as a 学徒. I say “long” out of habit, because in actuality the month went quite fast. When I first began this project I was viewing the month-long tenure as somewhat of a test. I would never have admitted this on the blog, but I was not 100% sure I could make it all the way. Neither were my co-workers, who I could tell for the first week were all thinking “Well, he’s here today, but I will give it a 50/50 chance he shows up tomorrow.”
Truth be told, on my last day I did not want to leave. Granted, I had only worked for a month, and I was reminded several times by co-workers that had I stayed for a year, I would have certainly hated my job. But in the end, I ended up enjoying my coworkers and lifestyle more than I ever could have imagined. With each passing day the eleven hours came and went faster and faster. Making new friends, and enjoying my work day were not reasons I decided to do this project, but they were nice, unexpected, bonuses.
When I first began this project, one of my goals was to understand what the life of a Chinese worker is like. As much as I enjoyed my month at the barber shop, I wish I could say the same for my coworkers. As Westerners, we are often shocked and appalled when we hear of the long hours Chinese workers work and the low salaries which they are paid. However, most Chinese service workers come from the countryside. Their families have been living agrarian lifestyles for centuries, the long hours and low salary of a city job are actually an improvement on their previous lifestyles.
What I found the most discouraging from a humanistic perspective was that with the possible exception of Jiang who gets creative pleasure out of designing hairstyles, I can honestly say that nobody in the barber shop likes their job. Even Mr. Zheng, if presented with the right opportunity, would leave the industry if he could. There is an overwhelming sense of lack of self-actualization, and many of my coworkers view their job as pointless, literally.
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| A final picture with Mr. Zheng and the masters: front row left ro right: Cheng Qing, me, Jiang. back row left to right: Guang Tou, Mr. Zheng, Xiao Wang, Adamum |
Throughout high school and college I worked many mundane part-time jobs which would be comparable to working in a barber shop in China. When talking to the full time employees (mostly adults who did not go to college) I never remember feeling the sense of disparity towards their jobs that the workers do in my barber shop in China.
So why do they stay? A quick answer would be that the hair industry is the best they can do. None of my colleagues have a college education. To my knowledge, only two of them have high school certificates. The rest only finished middle school. China has very few continued education opportunities. The only way to go to college is to pass the entrance exam at the end of high school. There are no night classes, no correspondence courses, and no DeVry. Failure to pass the college entrance exam (or the high school entrance exam for that matter) will almost certainly lead to a life in the working class.
Every single worker in the barber shop comes from the countryside. Most of them came to Fuzhou around the time they would have been graduating high school. They begin work as a little brother or little sister with hope of one day becoming a master, and after that possibly opening their own store. They do not have the capital nor the time to work on ventures outside the industry. Even a move within the same industry is difficult. Two of the masters at my shop had previously opened their own shops, but both failed, and after a considerable loss of capital, they had to return to working for somebody else.
Mr. Zheng is one of the rare success stories. On my last day in the barbershop, he told me he wanted to take me on a bike ride. As we rode through busy Fuzhou streets dodging motorcycles and buses Mr. Zheng turned to me and said, “You know Ben, I am trying to move away from cutting hair. Right now I am not taking any new customers, and the only people whose hair I cut are those whom I have cut for a long time.”
“So are you thinking about doing something else?” I asked.
“Well sort of. Eventually I want nothing to do with hair cuts anymore. I want to focus less on hair, and more on management. I want to take you somewhere so you can have a look,” he said.
After a dash through downtown, we ended up at another barber shop. This, I correctly assumed, was Mr. Zheng’s other shop that I had heard about from my coworkers, one in which he was only a shareholder, and did no manual work. As I walked in the new shop I was impressed. A month ago, I had barely been able to tell the difference between Chinese barber shops, but now I could decipher that this new shop had made vast improvements over our own, and all the services were priced the same as ours. The interior design was red and white with a modern theme, the barber chairs were newer and more comfortable, and all of the hair washing beds were located in a back room (no, not that kind of back room!) providing a darker, quieter, and more relaxing hair washing atmosphere than that of our shop. They also had a small break room where employees could store their belongings and grab a quick bowl of instant noodles. As Mr. Zheng showed me the break room, one of the shop’s little sisters brought us each glasses of lemonade, a much needed upgrade from the hot water in plastic cups at our shop. But what impressed me more than anything was the waiting area. In our shop, the waiting area consists of two tables placed in the middle of the shop. In the new shop, the waiting area was a slightly elevated area located off to one of the corners. It was surrounded by stones and live plants, and included cushy sitting chairs. The was also a computer, where customers (or idle employees) could play games, check their e-mail, or QQ all throughout the day.
“What do you think?” Mr. Zheng finally asked.
I did not know how to respond. This shop was clearly a big step up from ours. I did not want to sound as if I thought this store was so much better than our own, since Mr. Zheng’s only role was as an investor, whereas our shop he has built from the ground up.
“It’s really nice. I like the computer and the break room,” I told him.
“Yeah,” Mr. Zheng nodded. I could see he thought the same things about the shop in comparison to his as I did. It was an awkward moment, as the look on his face was not that of one who has just recently achieved a proud accomplishment.
We sat in the cushy chairs as Mr. Zheng introduced me to the managers and masters at the new shop. We chatted, ate peaches and drank lemonade for a few minutes, and then Mr. Zheng told me it was time to go.
On the bike ride back I asked about the business in his new shop.
“Is the new shop making money?” I asked.
“No, not at all.” Mr. Zheng said shaking his head.
“What is the problem?” I inquired.
“Not enough customers around here.”
From his body language, I could tell he had said enough. The frustration rang clear. Mr. Zheng is one of the hardest working managers I have ever worked under. He is intelligent, has excellent people skills, and knows more about hair than anybody I have ever met in my life. Yet even for him, it may be nearly impossible to realize his dream of not cutting hair. He has only a middle school education, and has been working in salons since he was 18. He has reached now the pinnacle of the barber shop world by becoming the boss of his own shop, but is now finding it difficult to achieve the ultimate goal of a service worker—leave the service industry. If the new store ultimately fails, chances are Mr. Zheng will just continue his life as the boss of our shop, working as both a manager and as a master. With the difficulties Mr. Zheng is having moving up and out of the working class, one can only imagine how difficult it must be for the workers who are not as driven as he is.
As several commenters have pointed out, the biggest difference between me and the other workers is that at the end of the month I will leave and have the option of choosing a completely different career path. For the my coworkers, their choices are simple. They can either try to keep moving up the barbershop ladder, with hopes of if not changing careers, at least increasing their incomes. They can switch industries and start back over from the beginning. Or they could return back to their hometowns and work barber shop jobs with even less pay and opportunity.
While I would be lying if I claimed I had truly experienced the life of a Chinese worker, I can honestly say that I feel more in tuned with the hardships and joys that they face on a daily basis. As the hours ticked down, I began to get a bit nostalgic about my life for the past month. I knew I would remain friends with my coworkers, but it would not be the same as spending 11 hours with them every day. After cleanup, we all went out to play pool and then sing karaoke. I topped off the sleeping in the dorm for an evening. The next morning I woke up and I was no longer an employee of the barber shop.
For the past two days, I missed the barber shop. I have gone into the barbershop both days to visit, and share some pictures I had taken with my coworkers. It was admittedly a little weird to be wearing shorts, and not be wearing my work apron, and to see hair on the floor and not rush to sweep it up. As I was sitting one of the tables with Cheng Qing and Adam when a customer came in. In instinctively shouted out “huang yin guang lin” before I could remind myself I was no longer an employee. I guess some things are hard to change.
A lot of readers are probably wondering what will happen of this blog now that my month as a xiao di is over. One of the biggest limitations of this blog the past month was that I only had a couple hours every day to write about my thoughts at the barber shop. Therefore there have been many happenings and ideas which have yet to be blogged in their entirety. I plan to use the next few weeks as sort of “clean-up” time to share some of these thoughts, and hopefully spark some more discussion. My parents will be coming to China for their first time from June 12 – June 26, so during that time my blog will be on a bit of a hiatus of sorts, although I do plan to make updates when I can. After that I hope to have a better idea of where I will be for the next few months, and if my time schedule and work commitments will allow any further projects like the barbershop experience. I want to thank everybody who has been keeping up with this blog for the past month, those who have given support, and those who have offered constructive criticism. But most of all, to Mr. Zheng and the other employees for giving me this chance to begin with. This is by no means the end of line, so keep on reading in the coming weeks for more barber shop banter, but for now just in case you missed it the first time….
欢迎下次光临请慢走!
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06.05.07
Posted in Barbershop at 3:04 am by Benjamin Ross
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About a week ago I realized I was approaching crunch time to finish my training. The training period takes between 2 weeks and 2 months depending on the how fast the trainee learns and it was my hope to at very least get it done within 1 month. So for the past week, I have been pushing up my training schedule. The trouble is that training is done on coworkers, and there are only so many heads that can be washed. When you add to the equation that the little brothers and sisters are not allowed to receive complimentary hair washes when they are on the clock, and that the workers strictly adhere to the “one wash every other day” provision, it leaves me with only three or four heads to wash per day, tops. My massage training, on the other hand, does not suffer from such limitations, and thus has progressed much faster than my hair washing.
The Chinese word for “hair wash” is actually “head wash” and the further I get in my training, the more this terminology makes sense. Going to a Chinese barbershop for a hair wash often leaves the customers with much more than a clean scalp, as our services also include a head massage, neck massage, back tweak, and a face wash.
The hair wash all takes place lying down on a bed with the head resting in a sink. First the hair is rinsed, washed with shampoo, rinsed, washed a second time, and then rinsed again. The most critical aspect of the washing is the hand technique which in Chinese is called 抓 (zhua1) meaning “grasp” or “grab.” The 抓ing must all be done following a strict pattern which ensures that every part of the scalp is properly scratched. As a side note I now find myself 抓ing my own hair every night in the shower.
After the hair is washed twice, we add conditioner. Rather than 抓 the hair once more, we do a scalp massage with the conditioner intact. Following the scalp massage, we massage the forehead and the temples. I was a little uncomfortable doing this on other males at first, but after a few days overcame my reserves. Once the forehead is completely massaged, we move on to the neck massage, done while the customer is still lying down, and then the back tweak which requires us to reach down under the customer’s shirt and push upward along their spine propping them a few inches off of the bed. After the back tweak we apply facial ointment, and then use the water jets to funnel a stream of water over the customer’s face. Next the customer’s hair is wrapped up into a little towel turban, and they are shuttled over to a barber chair for the back massage.
The back massage consists of several motions, which can be altered based on the preference of the little brother or the customer. After the massage, the customer is led over to a master who dries and styles their hair. The whole service takes 35 minutes. All this for the low cost of 12 RMB (about $1.50 US)….article continues below
Up until today I had only given head washes to fellow employees and few massages to customers on a request-only basis. However today I hit a major milestone as I did my first full service on a paying customer, when a woman specifically requested the foreigner for her wash/massage. Although I was a little nervous, I was able to complete the full head wash and massage without any major screw ups. Afterwards, Mr. Zheng insisted on paying me the 4 RMB (50 cents) I was owed as my take performing the service. (The normal rate is 2.5, but you earn an extra 1.5 if you are specifically requested).
As you might imagine, seeing a 6 foot white guy wearing an apron and working as a little brother is a hot conversation piece among customers at the shop. Generally speaking, the customers think I have a few loose screws when they first hear what I am doing, but a good 5 minute conversation with either myself or another employee can usually convince them of my sanity. Once this done, their responses have been overwhelmingly positive and supportive of my endeavor. There are those, however, which remain skeptical. My second day on the job, I had one woman try to convince me that I was wasting my time in a barbershop. “It is silly for you to work here. You could easily find a job in a coffee house or an upscale Western style restaurant. That would be a much better experience for you.”
Then there is the financial aspect. Although this does not apply to everybody, there certainly is a sizable percentage of the Fuzhou population who simply cannot comprehend why a guy like me would work a job for one month without pay when I could be making so much more money teaching English. “There are so many options for a foreigner like you in Fuzhou. You could work for a foreign company, teach English classes, make lots of money. Working in a barbershop will not get you anywhere.” I have heard several comments like this, and they all end with “working in a barbershop…” as if I have decided to take this up as a future career path. This of course after I have already explained my reason for doing this by using my catch phrase 我想体验生活 (I just want to experience the life).
Finally there are the opportunist customers who simply look at me as an omniscient representative of the United States, available to teach their children English, or answer any questions pertaining to immigration, learning English, or obtaining an American green card. I had one woman who detained me for an hour asking me question after question about American insurance companies and the social security system.
With my month almost finished, I at least know that I will be able to finish my tenure as a legitimate little brother. Hopefully I will have a few more chances to wash heads tomorrow, but that depends on Mr. Zheng, who maintains he will still keep me on a request only basis. By the way, my ever evolving hair style had a new development today, as one of the little brothers busted out the straightening iron and some wax. This may be a new look for me. Enjoy.
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06.04.07
Posted in Announcements, Barbershop at 1:17 am by Benjamin Ross
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I have received several e-mails and comments the past two days wondering if my stint at the barber shop is over. This probably needs a little bit of explanation. I originally started working on May 2. After two days I had an unexpected personal situation that needed tending to, requiring me to take three days off, hence the break in the blog around that same time. When I went back to work I wanted to ensure I would work a full month, so I decided to elongate my tenure to June 5. I was a little concerned that this might in some ways devaluate my little experiment. Interestingly enough, when I talked to Mr. Zheng about this, he informed me that there is a special allotment of time for these kinds of unexpected situations called 事假 (shi4 jia1), and that under normal circumstances I would not have been fired. Nonetheless, I still wanted to make sure I worked an even 28 days (3 days are for vacation time), hence June 5 will be my last day.
When I first began this project I thought it would be a relief to finally be finished. I anticipated learning a lot from this endeavor, but I knew at the end I would be ready to leave. After 26 days on the job, I can honestly say that I am beginning to dread that final day. For much of this, I have my coworkers to thank. It is amazing how well you can get to know people when you are stuck in the same room as them 11 hours a day for a month, and I look forward to continuing my friendships with them long after this project is over.
In terms of my life, I have found my self surprisingly acclimated to this lifestyle. With each passing day, the 11 hours go faster and faster. Today I took my final half day of vacation time, arriving at 5 pm. Before I knew it, it was clean up time, and I was on my way home. That all being said, I still have not worked in the barbershop long enough for the boredom factor to truly kick in. As I have been told by several coworkers “You are having fun now, but if you worked here for a year, you would hate it.” This is probably true.
There is still a lot more to write about, so after the 5th, I plan to continue blogging about the barber shop, and hopefully going into more depth on some of the topics which were discussed earlier. Thanks to everybody who has been following along, and wish me luck for my last two days.
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06.03.07
Posted in Barbershop at 2:37 pm by Benjamin Ross
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This past month I have discussed many serious topics on this blog. Unfortunately one topic has been carelessly left out of the discussion and that is “Which of the little brothers has the best hair?” I have narrowed it down to six finalists, and I will let you, the readers, decide.
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Xiao Fang
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Xiao Lei
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Xiao Long
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Johnny
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Carrottop
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Ben
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[poll=2]
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Posted in Barbershop at 12:43 pm by Benjamin Ross
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The dormitory in which most of the barbershop employees live is located in a residential community just a block away from the shop. The community has small mom and pop, restaurants, and a playground for children. They also have one of those ‘other’ barbershops…the kind which has the red light, and the pretty girls standing by the door, and where they don’t actually cut any hair.
Every day when we walk to the dormitory for dinner I pass this other barbershop. These kinds of establishments are quite commonplace in China, but what I found more interesting are the billboard advertisements strategically placed directly in front of the barbershop door.
You probably wouldn’t guess it by looking at the woman in this picture, but this is a sign for a “pain-free abortion.” The cost is 300 RMB (approx $40 USD). Maybe it is just me, but the message I get from this sign is “Yippeee!!! Abortion can be fun!!!”
You don’t need to read Chinese to figure out the meaning of this one. It’s Fuzhou’s latest 3000 kuai boob job. My Chinese friends often reafirm to me that “China is not as open sexually as the United States.” While this blanket statement certainly has some truth to it, one would be hard pressed to find such advertisements (not to mention the “barber shops” ) in American residential areas where the inhabitants are primarily families with small children. China sure has progressed from the old days of Socialism.…now they’re even selectively marketing to prostitutes!
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06.02.07
Posted in Barbershop at 11:30 am by Benjamin Ross
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After another eleven hour workday last night, it was finally time for my big debut as a Chinese motivational speaker. At around 10:30 all of the employees who had worked the early shift and had already gone home returned to the shop. When the final customer left, we set up chairs in the middle of the room, closed the doors, and cranked the AC. It was time for our month-end wrap up meeting. Being that this was my first month in the shop, it was the first of these meetings I had attended, but the third meeting in total so far this month.
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| Shhh…the meeting is about to begin. Johnny (right) is already asleep. |
The masters, managers, and all of us little brothers and sisters sat facing the front of the shop, with Mr. Zheng across from us. For the first order of business, Mr. Zheng went through the financial information of the shop, how many hair cuts given, how many heads washed, how many products sold, etc.
“This month has been bad, very bad, worse than average. We need to improve, or else…you know.” he said. I’m not sure if it really was that bad, or if this is Mr. Zheng’s motivational technique…I’m leaning towards the latter.
After detailing the store’s performance, he went on to discuss the track records of the little brothers and sisters. “Each of you has performance goals. Some of you have reached them, while others have not…Xiao Long, Xiao Lei, Xiao Xia, Xiao Fang, and Carrottop, come up front. You all owe me 30 push ups. Xiao Fang, you owe me 50. I don’t need to go into detail why you owe more, everybody already knows.” The three little brothers and one little sister got down on the ground, and to the amusement of the rest of the staff, finished their push ups. As Xiao Fang struggled to reach 50, Mr. Zheng got down on the ground as well, to give him a few motivational push ups of his own.
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| Mr. Zheng looks on as the little brothers complete their obligatory month end push-ups. |
The next order of business was to address what we call 坐班 (zuo4 ban1). Because little brothers and sisters are paid on a per-job basis, a queue is set up by which they attend to incoming customers. Whoever is next in line has to sit in a chair next to the door, or 坐班, and wait for the next customer arrive.
“When you 坐班, you need to stand up straight, not like this, this, or this.” Mr. Zheng said demonstrating exaggerated versions of various slouching positions. “And starting tomorrow, there will be a new rule. If I catch anybody playing with their cell phone while doing 坐班 they will be fined…5 RMB for the first infraction, 10 RMB for the second infraction. You have all this time to play games and send messages, but I do ask that while you 坐班 the cell phone stays in your pocket
Next on the agenda was the issue of sleeping. “I notice many of you come into work tired. You need to make sure you get enough sleep every night,” Mr. Zheng proclaimed with authority. “I do not want to see any more of you sleeping in the barber chairs. If you want to take a nap, go behind the washing beds. That is ok, but the barber chairs are public space, all the customers can see you. What kind of impression does this give? One more thing, if you want to sleep, you need to limit your nap to 30 minutes, and from tomorrow on, you need to let one of the managers know first…and only one nap per day.” It is interesting to note that this is the first job I have ever worked where sleeping, albeit with some restrictions, is sanctioned on the job.
“Next we would like to invite a special guest to speak with us. Our American friend has been working with us for almost a month now. He sees with his own eyes what happens every day in this shop. I want him to talk to you about his own opinions on our service.”
The day before, Mr. Zheng had asked me to prepare a twenty minute speech about service in American barber shops, and how our service can be improved in our shop. I had been nervously preparing my speech all day. I wasn’t sure exactly what Mr. Zheng wanted me to talk about, and when I had asked him for more details his response was 我说越多你越糊涂, in other words, “The more I tell you, the more you will get confused.”
The speech was bad. I’m not a terrible public speaker, but anybody who’s seen me speak in public probably knows why I like writing so much. Add to this that the speech was in Chinese, hastily prepared, and on a topic which I am less familiar than the people to whom I am speaking, and, well you get the idea.
I focused my speech around the neighborhood atmosphere in American barbershops, using my barber Marlon as an example. Here are some excerpts.
“Every time I see Marlon, he asks about me, my job, and my brothers. He makes me feel like he really cares. Maybe he really likes me. Maybe he hates me. But I would never know because he always makes me feel like his friend.” I figured that would be analytical enough.
I continued on, “When you talk to customers, you need to be natural. In a perfect situation you will be happy everyday and will like every customer, but we know this is impossible. Even if you are not feeling well, or you do not like the customer, you need to make the customer feel like you are happy to see them. After all you should be happy to see them. If they were not there you would not be making any money.”
My diatribe went on, “Finally, you need to really know your customer, and remember details. The past three years I have been in China. Every summer I go back home and get a haircut from Marlon. He always remembers me, and recalls what I was doing last time I came for a cut. ‘How is China?’ ‘Are you still teaching at the university?’ ‘Do you still like the food?’ This makes me feel like I am seeing an old friend, rather than just the guy who is cutting my hair.”
My speech continued for several more awkward minutes, much to the amusement of my colleagues, who had been unaware I was going to be the guest lecturer. I didn’t time it, but I would imagine my 20 minute speech clocked in at just under 7 minutes. I don’t think it made any lasting impressions on anyone, but at least now I can add “Chinese motivational barbershop speaker” to my ever growing resume.
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06.01.07
Posted in Barbershop at 11:41 am by Benjamin Ross
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In terms of abilities and knowledge as it relates to hair, I am at the very bottom of the barber shop employee food chain. One area however in which my knowledge is frequently consulted is facial hair. Other than Adamum who is abnormally hairy for a Chinese guy, I am the only worker who can grow a substantial beard. Because of this, Adamum, and several of the other barbers with less facial hair have been consulting me on various styles of goatees and moustaches to go with their funky haircuts. Being that I am the latest experimental guinea pig in the shop, it was also decided it would be in the best interests of all if I were to dye my goatee. Originally, the plan was to dye it blonde to match my highlights, but it ended up coming out a shade of bright orange. I’ll let the pictures do the rest of the talking.
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| The chief architect behind my goatee coloration was Guang Tou (fake name), one of our barbers who proudly sports the shop’s only soul patch. |
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| Here’s the “before” shot. I thought the Elvis/Elmer Fud lip slant technique would accentuate my spikey highlights. |
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| The “during” shot…There aren’t many sensations in life stranger than having hair dye applied to your chin. |
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| and the finished product…enough to make even a Chinese mother proud. |
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05.31.07
Posted in Barbershop at 2:06 am by Benjamin Ross
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Two weeks ago I had my first chance to attend a Chinese motivational work meeting. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I would get the chance to speak at one.
Last night before clean up time, Mr. Zheng asked me to step outside the shop with him.
“Ben, we are going to have our end of the month meeting tomorrow evening. I want you to give a speech,” he told me with a smile. “Remember what I asked you to observe when you first came here?”
My second day on the job, Mr. Zheng had asked me to pay attention to the service standards in our shop, and keep a running mental comparison to barber shops in the United States. Mr. Zheng had heard that service standards were much higher in the US than they were in China, and wanted to make the service in his shop more like that in the US.
“I want you to talk to all the employees, for about twenty minutes and compare our service to that of barber shops in your country. I want you to mention the good aspects and bad aspects of our service…but emphasize the bad aspects.” Mr. Zheng said.
I had to ponder for a moment. Generally speaking, standards of service in China are considerably lower than what I would expect in the US. This is especially applicable in restaurants, hotels, and banks. Ironically, I have noticed that the service given to customers in our barber shop is every bit as good, if not better than the barber shop I go to in the US. When customers walk in the door they are greeted by a sonorous “huan ying guang lin” and then a little brother or sister directs them into the store and begins the hair washing process. Every customer, whether receiving service or just waiting for a friend, is brought a glass of hot water, and I have never once seen the apathetic “How dare you disturb me from my newspaper!” from employees attitude that is prevalent in many other service industries in China.
I told Mr. Zheng, “I agree with what you say about the service industry in the US as a whole, but frankly speaking, and I’m not just saying this because you’re the boss and I’m your employee, but I can’t really think of an area where our shop’s service is worse than that of the US.”
“You have worked here for three weeks now, and you see what goes on every day. I want you to help me motivate the employees. Yes, they give good service, but too often they give service because of the rules, or because me, the boss. I want them to give good service because they really want to give good service, make it more natural,” he said.
This is the same kind of bovine scatology I remember being told when I was working service industry jobs in high school…as if I am somehow going to sleep better at night knowing that Pizza Hut is providing customers with best customer care in the industry. However, I will say that this form of motivation is more applicable in our shop. Since employees’ incomes are all based on how much work they do, improving the store’s business will not only thicken Mr. Zheng’s pocket, but should benefit the employees as well. Thus, it would seem logical for employees to truly want to provide better service, and not just do it because it’s the rule.
I was a little skeptical, and admittedly nervous to take on this kind of endeavor in front of my fellow employees. Mr. Zheng continued, “I think you can do it. Just think of some more ways we can improve our service. You only need to talk for 20 minutes.”
Yeah, sure, I’m not even sure I could talk for 10 minutes about this topic…in English, let alone 20 minutes in Chinese.
“I’m not sure I can do it for 20 minutes,” I told Mr. Zheng.
“OK, you need more time? How about 30 minutes?” he said.
“No that’s ok, I think 20 will be fine.” I replied.
“Great, we can talk about it more tomorrow during work. Just try to think about it tonight,” Mr. Zheng said. We returned to the shop, and I finished my cleaning duties.
I should interject that I absolutely respect what Mr. Zheng is trying to do. Often times I have experienced Chinese people (usually men) attempt to overly-exert their intellectual might, and insist on refusing advice or information from those who obviously are more knowledgeable about a specific topic. Mr. Zheng knows I am from a country which has a more developed service industry than that of his country, and wants to use my “expertise” as a way to improve his own business. The only problem is that the individual he is dealing with is a complete moron when it comes to the inner workings upscale American salons.
When I’m in the US, I get my hair cut from a bald guy in his 40’s named Marlon. I walk into the shop, read Guns and Ammo Magazine for about 5 minutes, sit in the barber chair, answer questions about my parents and brothers, talk about the stock market, discuss local sports teams, and then 15 minutes later my hair looks great. Marlon doesn’t really do much but cut my hair and chat with me about topics that barbers and old men like to chat about. Every time, I leave relaxed and satisfied, but I can not think of anything more Marlon could possibly do to enhance my overall haircut experience. So I am at a bit of a loss. I am not really sure what a Chinese barber shop could do to be more like an American one.
The talk is Thursday evening. If anybody has any suggestions for how Mr. Zheng can improve his shop, the lines to the comments section are wide open. I will try to check in throughout the day if I have the chance, and will be sure to provide an in-depth report on the meeting in the next couple days.
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05.30.07
Posted in Barbershop at 11:33 am by Benjamin Ross
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No sooner do I write a column about the lack of conflict in the barber shop, when the first visible conflict emerges. The incident happened yesterday, and it involved two of the more interesting characters in my daily life. The first of which is Adam.
Adam is one of the most forwardly verbal Chinese people I have ever met. He’s the one who during my first ever conversation with him, indicated proudly that his dream was to illegally immigrate to the United States. Adam’s candidness stretches further than his future plans however. He suffers from a bit of a macho tough guy complex and thus is very open about his sexual conquests which he frequently discusses with the other employees. Last week he asked me a string of personal questions requesting to know the size of a particular part of my body as well as how long it takes me to complete a particular activity which requires the use of that particular part of the body. I would not have found these questions nearly as invasive had they not been asked in front of four of my other coworkers, who were all quite embarrassed by the situation as well. I responded with overly exaggerated sarcastic replies, and with Adam sensing he was not going to receive the information requested, the situation calmly dispelled. I also find Adam likes to pick on other people, mostly in a joking fashion, but I could see how it could potentially bother an overly-sensitive individual. He is the only employee who mocks my Chinese mistakes. Rather than get defensive, I usually just throw it back in his face by over-emphasizing the mistake in future conversations.
Despite all of Adam’s quirkiness, he is authentically interested in improving his English, which when I first met him was practically nil. When I gave him the name Adam on my first day, his pronunciation was so bad that he could only pronounce it “Adamum.” Even the other employees could pronounce it properly. Sensing the opportunity to give Adam a little taste of his own medicine, the other employees now jokingly call him “Adamum” as well.
For the past week, Adamum and I have been doing a language exchange of sorts. I have been teaching him English, and he has been teaching me the Fuzhou dialect. Our lessons have been going well and are a nice break from the usual probing sex questions and macho talk.
The other character involved is Johnny, who has now become officially the most annoying person I have ever encountered in China. Johnny is young, only seventeen, but he is immature (even for his age) and I am finding more and more he is lacking of many social skills. When I first began working in the barber shop, he was one of my favorite employees, because he would talk to me the most. Now I am finding the reason he talks to me so much is because he is ostracized from the rest of the group. I now understand why.
All day, Johnny follows me around the shop. If I sit down at one table, he will be there within five minutes. If I get up and move to the next table, he will inevitably follow me there. Whether I am reading the newspaper, talking to somebody else, working, or staring off into space, he always starts spouting inane comments at me. The problem is that what he says never has any content to it. After an entire day of being bombarded with his comments, I honestly cannot remember a single thing he says. It is that bad. He also finishes every sentence with a goofy laugh as if somehow what he has just said is funny or cleaver…it isn’t.
But more than anything else, Johnny’s tendency to butt himself into situations where he is not needed is absolutely driving me crazy. For example, during my hair wash training, I usually wash one of the master’s hair, and have a little brother by my side to coach me, usually Xiao Fang or Carrottop, who have both been working in the shop for several years. Johnny is easily the most worthless employee in the shop, not to mention he has less than a month more experience than me. When Carrottop and/or Xiao Fang are training me, Johnny always shows up by my side, giving me suggestions which usually run counter to what the others are trying to teach me.
In an even more blaring example, during my Fuzhou dialect lessons from Adamum, Johnny frequently sits next to us to listen. Now, if he only wanted to listen, I wouldn’t have a problem, but the issue is that he insists on helping Adamum teach me. This would only be a minor problem if Johnny actually spoke the Fuzhou dialect. The problem is he is from Sanming, which is on the other side of the province where they speak a completely different dialect. Since there is no system of Romanization for the Fuzhou dialect, most of our sessions consist of Adamum repeating a word, and me copying his pronunciation. As Adamum is doing this, Johnny always pipes in with his own attempt to pronounce the word, as if somehow it is necessary for me to listen to two people pronounce it at once, one of them who doesn’t even speak the damn language he is teaching! To put it in perspective, imagine you are studying Chinese with a native Chinese speaker. Whenever your Chinese friend pronounces the word, a Korean sitting next to you who has taken one semester of Chinese pronounces it for you again, insisting that his pronunciation is better than the Chinese guy.
I have come to assume that the reason Johnny annoys me so much is because that the others don’t like him either, but I had yet to see any outward displays of this. That was until two days ago when Adamum was giving Johnny a haircut. I know I mentioned this before, but Johnny’s most striking feature is that he looks like a girl, and most people he meets think he is one before they hear his voice. Apparently he doesn’t mind much, because his hairstyle only accentuates this fact. It goes down to his shoulders in back, and in the front, the bangs slant down from one side to the other covering up his left eye, and leaving the right eye revealed. Johnny has always been proud of his unique hairstyle and one time he explained to me to me that, “This is a personality hairstyle. It fits my personality.”
As Adamum was cutting Johnny’s hair, he “accidentally” cut the bangs in a straight line, thus revealing Johnny’s left eye. This changed the entire look of Johnny’s hairstyle, as his mysterious face was now visible to all. As soon as his precious bangs dropped to the floor, Johnny rumpled up his hair, ripped off the barber cape and ran to the back of the shop sulking. Adamum perceived to giggle about the situation he had “accidentally” caused.
Up until this point I had been afraid that I was the only person who Johnny truly bothered. The following day when I was sitting at a table with Adamum, Cheng Qing, and Johnny, Cheng Qing asked if I wanted to play pool with him after work. For the past two weeks Johnny has been inviting me to play pool with him as well, and every night I tell him I am too busy. Partially, this is true, but the main reason is that he is simply so annoying that I cannot stand to spend any more time with him than the eleven hours per day we spend working together. I did not want to hurt Johnny’s feelings, so I politely declined Cheng Qing’s request at first. Five minutes later, I asked Cheng Qing to step outside for a cigarette. As we headed out the door I told him.
“Listen, I have something I want to tell you, just don’t repeat it to any of the other employees. Actually, I do want to go play pool tonight with you, but I just didn’t want to say so in front of Johnny, because he asks me to play with him every night and I always refuse him. You know he is kind of…well, immature, and….”
“I don’t like him either, and neither do any of the other employees,” Cheng Qing interrupted (the word he used was 讨厌 which is somewhere between “dislike” and “hate.”) His words came with the tone that what he was saying was so obvious and definite that what he was saying should have been known to all. “He is annoying, and he doesn’t listen to orders. I know what you are thinking. Don’t worry, I won’t mention anything.”
What I find interesting is that I now had conclusive evidence that Johnny was not only driving me crazy, but the rest of the staff as well. Yet until this point, I had yet to see anybody respond to it, other than Adamum who is a little quirky himself. Had I been working a regular job in the United States, and not purposely been trying not to rock the boat (as I am doing now) I would have told Johnny directly to leave me alone a long time ago. Had he not left me alone, the conflict would likely have escalated as I would have probably been much less civilized about dealing with a person like Johnny. Yet, Adamum’s “mistake” was the first instance in which I had seen of any other employees outwardly revealing their dislike for him as well, and as I mentioned earlier, Adam’s actions are often very far from what one might consider “typical Chinese behavior.”
In other news, my goatee is now orange…pics coming soon.
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05.28.07
Posted in Barbershop at 4:45 pm by Benjamin Ross
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My freshman year in college I shared a dorm room with an old friend of mine from Hebrew school, Derek Gale. We had known each other since we had been old enough to walk, but had never spent much time in the same social circle. Our mutual friends all thought we would end up killing each other on account of Derek being extremely neat and tidy, and me falling more towards the messy end of the spectrum. However, we both agreed it would be better to live together rather than sharing freshman year with a random roommate. Through some miracle, we got along great, and today Derek is one of my best friends. Many of the other residents on our floor were not as lucky.
Across the hall from us was another room shared by two girls (let’s call them Jenni and Anne). For the first two weeks, all four of us got along well. The girls would come to our room for movies or microwave nachos, and we would often spend evenings chatting or making late-night runs to the 24 hour Taco Bell drive thru. As the semester wore on, Derek and I began to see the girls together less and less. One evening we heard yelling and screaming across the hall. The next morning on my way back from the bathroom, I saw Anne just outside her door. She looked flustered.
“What was going on last night?” I asked.
“Jenni got pissed off because I told her that I did not like all the posters of naked muscle men that she puts up in the room. I don’t want my friends to come over and have to look at naked guys all the time,” she told me.
Later that night I was having dinner in the cafeteria with Derek when Jenni sat down next to us. She was noticeably agitated as well.
“I have told Anne so many times not to smoke in our room. I’m allergic to smoke. Sometimes she can be such a dumb b****.”
“We do live on a smoking floor you know,” Derek mentioned.
“Yeah, but the first day, we made a deal that nobody would smoke in the room. And it’s not just that. I usually go to bed at 10 o’clock and she plays her music until midnight. I don’t think I can live like this anymore.”
Over the next few months, the situation worsened, with Derek and me finding ourselves trapped in the middle. When only one of them was around, they would constantly complain to us about the other. As finals drew near, the complaints about living habits gradually became replaced by metaphorical references to various barnyard animals. Derek and I did our best to stay out of the carnage.
At the beginning of the second semester Jenni moved out, opting to pay the extra fee for the single room. Anne was left with a single as well. To my knowledge, they never spoke again.
My Chinese co-workers find themselves in a similar situation—cohabitating with others who were not of their own choosing. The barber shop offers free housing for all employees, consisting of a three bedroom unfinished apartment, which we call the “dormitory.” The floors are cement and the walls are covered by scratched white paint. Each bedroom is packed in with 3 bunk beds without mattresses, and the living room functions primarily as a dining room, with a circular table and 10 chairs taking up most of the space. There is only one bathroom. 7 little brothers, the 2 managers, and one of the masters currently live in the dormitory. (Due to their higher incomes, the other 4 masters have opted to pay for their own accommodations, and 2 little sisters and 1 little brother live with family members).
Knowing what I do about Americans (this probably applies to most other Westerners as well) I do not think I would be out of line in asserting that these living conditions would not fly in the US. Forcing 10 non-related Americans to share a 3-bedroom, 1-bathroom apartment, would not work. We are just not capable of such intimate living. We would kill each other.
My 18 coworkers all spend between 50 and 70 (the 50 accounts for the shift differences) hours per week working side-by-side with the same people. Imagine working those hours, with the same people, but then also living together, and eating all of your meals together as well, all in the same 3-bedroom apartment with one bathroom.
When I first heard about this arrangement, I assumed that this environment would inevitably breed conflict, as personal problems are difficult to dissipate when you are with the same people literally 24 hours a day. Ironically, other than Johnny getting on other people nerves, I have seen virtually no conflict at all between the staff. Everybody either likes one another, or if differences do exist, they have been reconciled to the point that they do not interfere with the work day. Part of me is saying that it is impossible for there to be no major conflict, and it’s more likely that the conflict just hasn’t been exposed to me, but at the same time, I have been spending eleven hours a day with this group of people, and it is hard to imagine that if problems existed, they could be completely masked for so long.
So why is it that young Chinese people can live so seamlessly with 10 people cramped into one apartment, when Americans of the same age often find it so difficult to share their dorm room with one other person, not to mention share a single bathroom with 10 others?
Surely economics play some role. Every employee in the barber shop (Mr. Zheng included) comes from a rural area. They all grew up in predominantly poor families, in which their economic situation limited them to living in close quarters with other family members. Most of them probably grew up sharing their bedroom (and possibly their bed too) with a sibling or two as well as a grandparent. My guess is that if you were to take 10 eighteen-year-olds from wealthy Shanghai families and put them in a 3-bedroom apartment together, the results would not be nearly as pretty.
However…I would still wager that the 10 Shanghai kids would fare much better off than 10 American kids placed into similar living conditions.
Chinese people often talk of the dichotomy between 集体主义 (collectivism) and 个人主义 (individualism) when discussing differences between “us” and “them.” The conventional wisdom is that while Westerners tend to look out for themselves, the Chinese think more with the group in mind. While this paradigm has the tendency to breed over-generalizations, in many instances it is quite applicable. The overwhelming sense of belonging to a group is often more valued in China than it is in the West where we tend to view group membership as another obligation which impedes our individualist pursuits. In the case of Anne and Jennie, their respective opposing desires to smoke and decorate their dorm room with pictures of naked men were ultimately more important to them than was maintaining the cohesion of the group. My guess is had a situation arisen like this in our dormitory, both parties would have backed down from the conflict, seeing the threat to group stability as a greater loss than their own personal pursuits. Then again, some nude photos of Brad Pitt and Nicholas Cage could really do wonders to spice up those ugly white walls.
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