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Q: Why do people think it is acceptable to act this way?
My landlady showed up at my apartment at 11pm demanding an extra month's rent. Why? The best I can tell is that she thinks that those from waiguo are too stupid to count on their fingers. So, now, I have to go to my rental agency and argue that one plus one plus one is three, not four (with a person who has tried to make me pay two deposits). I have other things to do today...like my job.
Has anyone ever lived in a place where this kind of behavior was just considered so acceptable? I just can't get over how unembarrassed these two individuals are by their loathsome behavior. Do they act this way with other Chinese people, or do they just think foreigners are this dumb? I am really exhausted of dealing with parasites like her. I feel like I am always just stuck between bloodsucking ticks who tryto get out of paying me, and bloodsucking ticks who pull nonstop stunts to scam me.
I ran into a few bad landlords. One demanded we pay for a shitty door that broke when I opened it. I literally JUST opened it and it fell apart... I told her that this is wear and tear and should not come out of my pocket. If it does, then I won't give her the electricity and gas card for the apartment. She said we would have to pay and tried to take the cards.
I took my wife and said... "We are going." The women grabbed my wife's arm and said she couldn't go. I got in the women's face immediately like I would strike her and she backed off. She then called the police and said I beat her, it was in a business building so I told security she is liar and to just check the security cameras. She lost even more face.
There is ABSOLUTELY no reason why you guys should put up with their crap. There are so many empty apartments for rent that they should know better. On top of that, foreigners generally keep better care of the apartment than Chinese that try to stuff like 10-20 people in there and have no regard for it.
If they start playing that game, just tell them straight... "Fine, I will just leave. You can find your next tenant who will most likely be 5-10 Chinese people staying in the one apartment, never pay on time, make messes and whine about broken things (which they will break more than foreigners) and then wish you had me back as a tenant! Good luck!"
laowaigentleman:
I've heard about how in Singapore they place adverts for apartments and write "no Indians or PRCs"
From my experience, Chinese do have more people in their apartments, but whenever I visit their ones, they're like mum clean, whereas mine is just vacuumed and mopped with a few clothes, books and stationery lying about.
I had some dick try to charge me 1400 for a box without a washing machine and the crappiest TV I've ever seen.
I've never visited a building with cameras inside of it. My complex has them in the rec rooms and around the grounds and the entranceways to buildings but not on each floor. This seems more common to me.
I had to fix my door too. It only cost 150 yuan so I just paid for it. My current landlords who I'm about to leave are actually quite decent folks.
I see Chinese always 'negotiating' for anything in our interactions, or they try to convince me, I should pay this or that.
I'm usually looking for 'logic', and then I get translator to explain it to me.
Chinese will use their low English ability at 'negotiating', and when they're proven wrong, they blame their 'not fluent English' for 'misunderstanding'.
In Xinjiang, Principal sent Grade 3 Chinese English teacher with written bill in Chinese, to ask me for my signature.
I asked: 'What is that?', and Chinese teacher couldn't explain to me, what is bill all about. I could only read '600' or so and 'Rmb' character.
I refused to sign, and showed bill to my Chinese friend, who told me, it's yearly garbage disposal fee, which I should pay.
By Contract, school was responsible for all apartment fees. Contract was bilingual, so I assumed School understood that.
Reply from the School was ('add-it': after they got call from Gov.): 'Translation of the Contract in Chinese doesn't match English version.'
I understood: 'We tried to make you pay a bill (....we didn't succeed....), because our translation of the Contract doesn't match English version!'
RachelDiD:
Interesting observation. I don't know what ticks me off more...the brazen lying and cheating itself, or the simple thinking that I am this stupid. April, May, and June are four months...what does this bitch think I am going to say? 'Durp, sure! 300 extra bucks for you, because you are SO CLEVER!'
icnif77:
We're bound in China by predisposition 'you're rich', and we get swindled by million different ways.
However, I'm convinced meaning of our (English) 'honesty' is different than Chinese.
They use word 'negotiating'
instead.
RachelDiD:
So, when my Chinese friend says 'negotiate', does she actually mean 'tell this idiot off?'
icnif77:
Landlord is swindling you. If you agree to pay extra, that is sorted into 'negotiating', as 'I sold/rent something more expensive than agreed'. We call the same 'cheating'.
It is the same with disrespecting the Contract. Schedule few hours more per week/month, don't ask if FT agrees to increase, and don't pay any extras.
It's not your landlord doesn't understand how 'rents and deposits' work. She try to get more money out of you, or ''she's 'negotiating' with you''. If you pay, it's all good. 'I (she) negotiate well!'
you need a Chinese person you can trust, to help you negotiate against these bullies. since you haven't been spotted with a local 'protector', they see you as a free-for-all. wherever i go in my neighbourhood, i hear people who know me talking about my Chinese wife - an excellent deterrent.
male expats either get a wife/GF they trust enough to swat these midgies for them, or get scammed and leave unhappy. i can't imagine if it wouldbe worth the hassle for a female, though. you'd have to be objectified by some arrogant, unappealing loser who trots you around for face, constantly complains that you don't dress arousingly enough, and wants to treat you like a stupid child.
RachelDiD:
That, in a nutshell, is why it pisses me off when people say that women leave China 'because we can't get laid.' It's so sexist. Women leave China because we have to put up with the extra bullshit that comes with the not having a Chinese girlfriend around to keep these idiots at bay. We also tend to be angrier, because we can't go for fifteen minutes without one of these...whereas, Chinese girlfriends definitely have a deterrent factor.
Robk:
@coin - I agree.
It takes a special kind of women to stay in China longer than a few years. Usually the only women that stay past three years are:
- in a couple with another foreign male
- dating Chinese guys (then the Chinese male starts treating them weird, some good guys here but the chances of a foreign female finding them WITHOUT speaking Chinese is like 0.00000001%
- have an extremely good job
- mentally insane
I never see women last here longer than three to five years tops that doesn't fit into one of those categories.
laowaigentleman:
I'm dying to know this, man.
What's a midgie? Are you from OZ?
I've heard the expression and I don't know what they are. Not mossies are they?
coineineagh:
in Scotland, midgies are swarms of tiny countryside mosquitoes that appear in, eh, i'm not sure about the season. haven't been to scotland for ages. summer i think. they're nasty: as soon as you exit the car, you'll be flapping your arms about wildly. mosquitoes that swarm… guaranteed to not only ruin you picnic, but make even attempting it impossible.
Had landlady try that crap with me and wife as the
place came with stove and clothes washer - neither worked , tried to stiff us for changing them .
in my clearest english i said " go fuck your self! " translate for me honey !
we get along great with landlady now since she knows she can't push us around , like she did all the other filthy pigs that lived in this place before us. Am still fighting cockroaches and spiders here.
not my nature to be aggressive with people, I spent most of my life in "customer service" but unfortunately here seems you have no choice at times.
RachelDiD:
Yeah, I waited tables through university, so I try to be nice to people as much as I can. People take my smiley disposition to mean that I will just bend over for them, I suppose.I actually hate the fact that China makes me so strident--but how else would I make it through the day with my shirt still intact?
If it makes you feel better : it's not just foreigners, people here push bullshit of that kind on each other too. I see it routinely. It's the way of life here.The idea of "acceptable" imply that there is something above yourself : law, civil consciousness, your fellow humans as a whole, etc. In Middle Kingdom, every one is the middle ^^ Of course, this makes the life harder for everybody. Courage, don't buckle.
RachelDiD:
Eh, it does make me feel better when other Chinese people go to bat for me. It sort of reminds me that people here are like anywhere else--some suck, and some are pretty awesome. Of course--the ones who suck suck more than other places I've been, and I can't stop bumping into them.
One my previous landlord tried to kick me out a month after I moved in because his brother needed the apartment, of course he expected me to not argue and let him the second month rent paid ahead of time (move in, pay the two first months, that's the law) and the deposit that's one more month so he tried to get away with 2 months rent.
I said no problem I can move somewhere else but I won't leave until I get my deposit back, and if the new month begins by even 1 day I still wanted full refund of it otherwise I would stay until the end of that month.
I contacted the agency managing the garden and the police, both basically useless, so I changed the lock (before he did) and didn't provide anyone else with the key.
At the end after almost two weeks of arguing I got everything back including the second month's rent and packed out the next day.
There are so many empty apartments in China so It could be so easy to find a new place and move away but greedy fuckers make it complicated.
RachelDiD:
Yup, the agent is a greedy worm who is probably in cahoots with her (Why do I say this? After the woman became tired of arguing with me that 1+1+1 is not 4 and that June is not 2 months, she beamed at me and said, "If you have troubles, talk to the agent"). He tried to con me out of deposit money during the subleasing meeting, in that shamelessly obvious Chinese way. After I paid the guy who's lease I was taking 2 month's rent--one for the remaining month left on his tab, and one for the deposit, the agent just grinned and said, 'Ok, now pay me a month for deposit!' I'm flipping this country the bird in 4 months, so I don't feel like ponying up another agency fee...but people like these are just a drain.
My last landlord arranged for some workers to come and install new windows, or put security bars on them or something.I never did find out exactly what the work was.
I think there was some kind of deal where everyone in the community got a really cheap price if they did it at that time and if you didn't you missed out. Most people took advantage of it.
That would have been fine but she never thought to tell me, so the workers showed up and of course I wasn't there to let them in.The first I knew of it was when she showed up at my work screaming abuse at the office staff. When we explained that there was no way I could have waited for them if she never told me she seemed to accept that and said she would have them come again and let me know when.
I waited at the agreed time and they never showed, or they did but several days later at a different time to what was arranged. Again this was obviously my fault in her mind and she tried to demand the money she had lost - turns out even though the workers didn't show when they were supposed to the money was still non- refundable.
I moved out a few months later and course didn't get any of my security deposit back.
RachelDiD:
I had a landlady in Beijing who thought it was her right to appear in the 3 bedroom I shared, sans any warning, at all. Naturally, this caused problems. One time, during Spring Festival, both my roommates were out traveling. I felt uncomfortable living in a large apartment in Beijing by myself--so I doubled up and used the inside lock. No big deal--none of my roommates needed in, and it just made me feel safer. Says, a rational person. Apparently, she wanted to show someone a room that one of my two roommates was about to vacate, but couldn't get past the inside lock with just her key (for the record, I seriously doubt that this woman told my roommate that she had plans to parade people around her room). She showed up the next day to scream at me about how 'selfish' I was for 'thinking that the whole apartment belonged to me,' as I was showering to go to my job. China is like an abusive family--eventually, the crazy shit just rolls off you, because it is your normal.
I actually think a lot of the parasite types here know what they're doing isn't acceptable, it's just that they don't care.
miss_selina:
And because they don't care, it really seems like they *do* think it is acceptable. I'm sure some of them really don't even know it's NOT. :/
I ran into a few bad landlords. One demanded we pay for a shitty door that broke when I opened it. I literally JUST opened it and it fell apart... I told her that this is wear and tear and should not come out of my pocket. If it does, then I won't give her the electricity and gas card for the apartment. She said we would have to pay and tried to take the cards.
I took my wife and said... "We are going." The women grabbed my wife's arm and said she couldn't go. I got in the women's face immediately like I would strike her and she backed off. She then called the police and said I beat her, it was in a business building so I told security she is liar and to just check the security cameras. She lost even more face.
There is ABSOLUTELY no reason why you guys should put up with their crap. There are so many empty apartments for rent that they should know better. On top of that, foreigners generally keep better care of the apartment than Chinese that try to stuff like 10-20 people in there and have no regard for it.
If they start playing that game, just tell them straight... "Fine, I will just leave. You can find your next tenant who will most likely be 5-10 Chinese people staying in the one apartment, never pay on time, make messes and whine about broken things (which they will break more than foreigners) and then wish you had me back as a tenant! Good luck!"
laowaigentleman:
I've heard about how in Singapore they place adverts for apartments and write "no Indians or PRCs"
From my experience, Chinese do have more people in their apartments, but whenever I visit their ones, they're like mum clean, whereas mine is just vacuumed and mopped with a few clothes, books and stationery lying about.
I had some dick try to charge me 1400 for a box without a washing machine and the crappiest TV I've ever seen.
I've never visited a building with cameras inside of it. My complex has them in the rec rooms and around the grounds and the entranceways to buildings but not on each floor. This seems more common to me.
I had to fix my door too. It only cost 150 yuan so I just paid for it. My current landlords who I'm about to leave are actually quite decent folks.
I had a few bad ones too. One joker didn't want to give my deposit back even though I kept the place far cleaner than it had been when I first moved into it. I grabbed the guys keys to his car and house and started heading out the door. Keep in mind this was pre Olympics Beijing and people were afraid foreigners would them in a bad light. So we gave him a good push and walked out the door his keys In my hands. My husband is very tall and he was afraid of him. Finally the he pulled out the money which he had in his pocket the whole time and paid us.
Another cow tried to get extra months rent. I laughed at her and her poor math skills and told her she couldn't count. She was very embarrassed and never tried it again. Usually getting the deposit back was could be problematic. Stand your ground and say they have to pay you then and there withhold a key and trash the place.
RachelDiD:
Oh, I expect to not get the deposit back. This pig is so cheap that the place has been in general shit quality. I already have her furniture on the local expat site--if she screws me, I have no problems selling it.
Thankfully I do not have to deal with such nonsense. As a teacher, I always insist on the school or the company I am working for pay for the apartment. I never put my name to a lease. I know past landlords have gotten extra money fromt he schools/company. That is fine with me. It is not coming out of my pocket. I could never see myself renting an apartment here in China. American slumlords are bad enough.
I'm also a member of the Screwed Tenant Club. Our place was 2000/mth until contract signing time when it had suddenly and surprisingly became 2500/mth. As the place was extremely handy for us, and we'd made our arrangements, we had a choice to make. And so we agreed to sign at the new rip-off price. But not without a we know and you know we know, you arsehole, conversation.
A year later the landlord has given us no grief at all, and we've just handed over another 12 months worth. So, swings and roundabouts.
RachelDiD:
Eh, I have no plans to give the bitch the extra cash. I think we will have that conversation when I check out and she tries to screw me on the deposit (I say 'tries', because I have lived in China long enough to know how to pre-empitively screw someone over. I'm selling her shitty furniture, and then cutting the cord off her refrigerator so that she won't find the damage until after I am long gone. And, no, I won't feel guilty if she actually gives me part of the deposit back because she hasn't seen the damage to her fridge. This twat has picked the wrong freaking laowai).
I'm not going to say a lot, cos my landlady here is great! She's an English teacher at the same university I worked at. She's also spent time in Canada. She knows that if you've got a fairly good tenant, keep them (even with the occasional issue that I bring up 
). I've been here more than 3 years - and no rent increases!!
Rachel - take your lease (which no doubt has your name, the dates, the amount of monthly rent, and HER name and ID number on it - as well as her signature) to the the local taxation office, and dob her in for unpaid tax on her additional income 
(this should be 20-25%... no doubt much more than the extra 1 month - AND the deposit you paid!)
