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Q: Why do store clerks follow you everywhere you go?
Sometimes I just wanna browse around in a store without looking over my shoulder and finding a clerk breathing down on me,.. does this happen often?!?
Yes it happens all the time to me...depending on the type of store.
I think this happens for a few reasons..one being labour is dirt cheap here so the stores can afford to hire 10 times the people they need to work there at any given time...the second being that shoplifting is rampant in China and the more people you have around to watch the less likley it is people will steal.
Thirdly businesses get massive tax breaks if they employ a certain amount of people...kind of a make work tax break system.
981977405:
Interesting points here, particularly about tax break. Thanks.
I don't really know the answer but I figured it was about the same as thedude said. Chinese stores have so many workers in them and they all seem incomptent. They stand around chatting to each other even when there is work to be done. Sometimes they follow me and shout hello hello at me. i hate this and always glare then leave.
how to say? it is base on what kind of store you are in. i am a store clerk, i do not wanna follow my customers.but if i do not do that , i will be fired. cause in china, people think they are desolated if no clerk follow them.
i guess they just want to be helpful,esp if u r a foreigner,they wanna make sure that u find whatever u r looking for.Though i doubt how they will figure out whatever u r looking for esp if they dont speak/understand english...coz try to see if they r following chinese..most of the time,they r after foreigners.Guess it is their way of providing "customer care services".
They have nothing to do I guess. I usually see way too many staff in the clothing shops so to avoid killing themselves from total boredom they follow the foreigner so they have a story or two to bring home to the dorms.
The conversation probably goes something like this:
A : Ni hao, did you eat?
B : Yes, thanks. Guess what happened today?
A : I can't, you know I could never guess what happened today.
B : Oh, that's true. I saw a foreigner today. A boy.
A : Really? Wow, you are the lucky one. What did he do?
B : He walked into the store and looked at something. It was really interesting. hehehehe
A : Oh! You have a colorful life! hehehehe
