Made in China

To start out, I will say that my living situation here is wonderful. I don't need too many things which aren't provided in my way too big apartment. But, from time to time, I buy this and that to satisfy some needs and wants. In general, when purchasing things here, I tend to think about what factory inspector I met on a train told me. He informed me that his job was to essentially approve the good, fault free batches for export the the U.S. and Europe. And those which don't pass the inspection...they stay at home. This is what I am buying. I am also pretty cheap (though nowhere as cheap as my students) so I think this only causes me to buy even lower value items. The low quality of products isn't a big deal, it is usually almost as humorous as it is frustrating.

The list of problems is varied, but not too long. My first cell phone had a lot of trouble connecting to the SIM card (but it was a Nokia, so I'll blame the Finns). A pair of headphones with an mp3 player lasted the bus ride home before getting very staticky. A peanut shell was inside a Santa hat, which was inside a plastic wrapper (didn't hurt the quality, but very humorous). My second hand bicycle was a total disaster. My brand new bicycle was misaligned, and the chain started sounding pretty rough after a week. It also has exposed screws on the pedals which either catch pants or scrape ankles. The bolts on my bicycle basket lack nuts...this was luckily an easy fix. After leaving my Nalgene at a restaurant when traveling, my first two plastic water bottles cracked when dropped. One drop was pretty high and understandable, the other was about four inches, a glass tumbler might have survived. My third water bottle in as many weeks is durable...but the lid leaks. An ill advised second hand cell phone has been anything but reliable. I will admit poor consumerism on this purchase, but after the poor performance of the Nokia phone purchased from the China Mobile store, I figured that a electronic street vendor was as good a bet as any. I was wrong.

Due to the lack of my phone to keep its clock running, I had a very embarrassing and unprofessional situation occur. I had set the alarm clock, but at some point in the night, my phone had reset its time to 232:16, and stopped. Needless to say that the alarm set for 7 AM didn't go off. So, I apologized profusely, arranged to make up the class, and bought the whole class treats. I also went to the supermarket to buy an alarm clock. Auchan, was the store of choice, a French owned supermarket which is close and a nice, good store. I bought the alarm clock, took it home, and realized it had no instructions. Danthemanstan helped me set it up, his random pressing of buttons being better than mine. All seemed good. There were only two problems, it talked and didn't show the time (the express purpose of a clock). The half hour announcements were only slightly annoying, but I couldn't figure out how to turn them off. On the other hand, the clock would randomly seem to go into a sleep mode, and the display would cut out. I couldn't solve this except by taking the batteries out and resetting it. So, I decided I would try what had maybe never been done before in China: to return it.

I went to return it with three very nice freshmen girls I met at English corner. They were math majors, but very enthusiastic about practicing English. They mentioned they were headed to Auchan, so I tagged along (they were quite glad to have me though). None of them had ever returned something in their lives, as was true with every other Chinese person I asked. They did think that it could be done, but weren't completely sure because of their inexperience. I explained the problem clearly and we headed into the store. They explained to the ladies at the customer service counter. It had been ten days since the purchase, which exceeded the limit of seven days, but they told me I could exchange it for a clock of equal or lesser value. So I found one, which the helpful associate even got batteries for to test. Then, for some reason, I had to go purchase it. So I did and then went back to the customer service counter. The three girls with me had been talking a lot with the lady, trying to get me the difference back (my exchanged clock was cheaper). Well, when we got to the counter, they gave me back the receipt for the first clock, and the full amount. So, I had essentially returned it. I was very confused, to say the least. After talking with the girls for awhile, it seems as if they had convinced the store to let me return the clock. But, the store would only allow this if I bought another clock. This was definitely good, as I got a functioning clock for cheaper than the original one...but I also had already bought a replacement clock for much cheaper back on campus. The girls knew this, but apparently didn't see any need to tell me this (if I knew I just had to buy any new clock to get my money back, I would've chosen the cheapest one on the shelf). Either way, I now have two working alarm clocks, so I shouldn't be missing any more classes. And I learned that apparently (if you are a foreigner or maybe not) the return policy can be easily negotiated. It's things like this that make living here sometimes frustrating, sometimes intriguing, but definitely worth it.