We also finally had our artwork hung on the walls, after 4 months of it all sitting on the floor against the walls in approximate intended locations. You see, we weren't allowed to hang them ourselves. Mostly because the walls are only about 1/4" drywall-type material and then solid concrete, so the workers have to use a cement drill and put in the screws.
The saying "if you want something done right, do it yourself" very appropriately applies in this case. The workers can't be bothered with precision such as centering or leveling the items they are hanging; it's kind of a "ballpark" method. So we have things unevenly spaced, too high or too low, and otherwise not precisely where we want them -- but we can't move them, so we're stuck.
Our housekeeper's weak performance, the apartment workers' sloppiness, and observations on the shoddy construction of things both inside the apartment and out in the city have all led me to conclude that the Chinese do not take pride in their work. I can't really talk big at the moment, being unemployed and all, but when I do work on something I want the final result to reflect quality. I don't want a product (or service) associated with my name to be, well, crappy. That doesn't seem to matter to people here, though that seems to be a paradox when you consider the Eastern concepts of honor and saving face, et cetera.
I originally took this photo to share the "Sewer Mushroom" (a 5-foot tall hollow mushroom mounted on a manhole cover, presumably designed to funnel the odors from below up to nose level) that has appeared outside the embassy, but in front of the 'shroom you can see another example of what I'm talking about: the crazy/scary tangle of wires dangling down onto the sidewalk.
This kind of stuff is all over around here. I could go on and on, but I think I've said enough for now.
1 comment:
No, you haven't said nearly enough. More pictures of Chinese man-traps, please.
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