Eccentricity in Venice I
by jenmercury
I kept on hoping I would eventually continue (and finish) writing about my Europe trip more than a year ago. Overly ambitious, I thought I could write what happened every single day of the three weeks. There were a few memories in particular I’ve been waiting to write… but I have come to see I should just jump right into it.
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2009.06.19
Janette and I arrived at Venice rather late so we were eager to find the motel. Accommodation was expensive when we got around booking rooms and stuff in Venice, so there weren’t a lot of choices left that were within our budget. Luck for us there were road signs for hotels/motels all around, so it wasn’t difficult to find our way. Interestingly just below the names of these signs were stars, which I deduced indicated the hotel ratings. Ours was a “one” so we were starting to fret.
When we found our motel, there was already a Chinese couple at the counter. The staff, an old man probably in his mid-sixties with an American accent, didn’t acknowledge our presence so we just sat by meekly and waited for them to finish. From their conversation, I understood they were a couple of newlyweds and the Chinese man was asking the old staff something about their rooms. The old man gave no signs of trying to be pleasant, so pretty soon the Chinese guy was fed up with the service he paid for, and demanded his money back. Naturally the man at the counter had to be sarcastic.
“Of Course I will give you a refund.” he said and resumed to whatever he was busy with originally. The Chinese guy waited for awhile.
“Would you give us the money first?” he tentatively asked.
“I’m not giving you any money.” replied the old man as he continued writing without looking up.
“You just said you would!” The Chinese exclaimed.
“I’m not giving you any money.”
The Chinese paused. “I’m not staying here after all this.”
“Feel free to leave.”
The Chinese turned to look at wife, who was tired and clearly upset by this exchange. He eyed on their luggage. “Give us our keys to our room.”
“Why? You said you were leaving.”
“It’s late and I cannot find another place to stay. Give us our keys.”
“I’m not going to service someone that is this impolite.”
The Chinese paused, obviously couldn’t believe what he was hearing, but ultimately had to admit defeat. “May you please give us the keys to our room?”
The old man, still not looking up. “I’m now busy. After I’m done I’ll give you the keys.”
(you see how I can remember all this vividly)
Being a fellow Chinese, to witness how the Chinese man was being somehow bullied was particularly painful. It also reminded me how I’ve never got why people expect obviously non-native speakers to be able to speak or understand colloquial English flawlessly. I was indignant and thought if that man thinks he can do that to us, he better think twice.
It’s so easy to be bold inside your head.
After the couple went upstairs (perhaps kicking themselves for not paying more money for better hospitality), I went to face the man at the counter. As I always do with people or situations that slowly pisses me off, I get extra polite.
“Hi, I’ve booked a room and this is the confirmation and our passports.” I said pleasantly as I handed the documents to him.
“Hallo.” he greeted amiably as he stood up. He was tall and tan, and was wearing a casual shirt. “I’m sorry you had to see all that; I have nothing against Chinese but I just don’t understand how someone can be so impolite.” Don’t comment Jennifer.
“I think it was just a big misunderstanding.” I said noncommittally but still pleasant. He scrutinized our passwords through his glasses. He held out mine.
“This is an American passport.” he said with a raised eyebrow.
“Yes it is” I agreed.
“You’re Chinese.” He stated.
“Yea, I was born there.” I said with a nod.
“Jennifer is not a Chinese name.” He again stated.
“I think my parents wanted me to have both a English and Chinese name.”
I guess some people might find the questions obnoxious somehow but I guess he could do more worse and I felt it was more like a test. Anyway, after a few more odd questions, he gave us our key and a few instructions and advice around Venice. He was being quite nice to us and courteous, so I guess I had somehow hm, passed.
