TheNHBushman.com

I’m pissed. No, I’m effing pissed…..

1. 11/21: Morning, we emailed drawings to a machine shop Boss that has done work for me in the past.
2. 11/21: Afternoon, we call to make sure the shop got the drawings.
   1. They don’t know because they haven’t checked their email for the day.
   2. We call an hour later and confirm that they did receive the email.
3. 11/22: Call to confirm that the machinist can read the drawings.
   1. He can “no problem.”
   2. We ask how long for the quotation. The answer is “about a week.”
4. 11/28: We called the Boss to find out if he finished the quotation.
   1. The Boss is not in his office.
   2. The Boss is not answering his mobile phone.
5. 11/29: We called the Boss to find out if he finished the quotation.
   1. The Boss is not in his office.
   1. The Boss is not answering his mobile phone.
6. 11/30: We called the Boss to find out if he finished the quotation.
   1. The Boss is not in his office.
   1. Finally, the Boss answered his mobile phone:

Us: “Do you have the quotation for us?”

Boss: “No.”

Us: “What is the problem?”

Boss: “The quantity is not high enough for us to bother with. Besides, we can’t read the drawings.”

Us: “Why didn’t you call us sooner and let us know?”

Boss: “Sorry.”

I have written volumes about how people here refuse to communicate. I’m not the only one either. Much has been written about the Westerner’s need for explanations. The above situation is our fault because we weren’t able to successfully deduce the machine shop Boss’ intent on our own. He isn’t required to tell us anything. Why should he? He’s a rich, successful business owner and we can kiss his ass.

I’ve said over and over: “Taiwanese communicate about everything, except important things.” The sheer volume of innocuous communication is staggering. But when it comes to important pieces of information, people are reluctant to give that information out? It doesn’t make sense, but that machine shop boss thought it was “impolite” to tell us that he wasn’t going to produce those parts for us. He knew from the very beginning too, because the quantity of parts we needed him to machine was clearly stated in the email, in Chinese.

I have even had Taiwanese businessmen tell me “I don’t like to talk about money” when trying to get an estimate for their services! You’re laughing. I’m not.

Of course I’m never going to give him another job to quote. Of course he won’t even notice.

Photos by MJ Klein

The weather has been lousy in Taiwan recently. We’ve had a few typhoon near misses and the Montreal Express has pulled into the station (that’s New England slang for “the cold air mass has come down from the north“). It’s definitely colder here than it was even last week. So I thought I should combat those weather blues, with green:

Green Island! This stunningly beautiful island off of Taiwan’s southeast coast is extremely hot in the summertime. It’s well worth a visit to this amazing tropical paradise.

(more…)

Photos by MJ Klein

Just around the corner from the Bird Garden (see the Geotagged Articles Map page to see exactly where) is one of the coolest street markets in the world. There is the famous Ladies’ Market, and also sections for sporting goods, electronics, and as shown above, general merchandise, mostly clothing.

(more…)

Photos by MJ Klein

A few hundred meters from the Flower Market is Hong Kong’s famous Yuen Po Street Bird Garden. You walk around the corner to the left….
(more…)

Photos by MJ Klein

Hui-chen and I love Hong Kong and we’d like to show you around some. This series will take you to several places of interest that we recommend.
(more…)

David tagged me. I’ve been dreading this moment. I’m not sure if anyone is interested in these little/un/known facts about me, but here goes:

1. I have been a subject of a scientific experiment at MIT.
2. My Morse code speed is in excess of 40 wpm.
3. I do not sleep on my face. I have trained myself to sleep on the back of my head only, thereby saving my face from premature wrinkles from sleep.
4. Growing up, in grades 1 though 12, I attended 11 different schools across 3 US states.
5. I have been injured so badly that I couldn’t walk unassisted for more than a year.
6. There is a charcoal portrait of me by Clarence Washington, somewhere in the Boston Museum of Fine Art.
7. In the past 20 years, the number of years that I have been a payroll employee of a company is 4.

I don’t think I’m going to tag anyone.  I did enjoy reading some of these types of facts that were presented by the other bloggers.  Maybe we should be doing interviews instead of fact listing?

Q: Why do speakers of Chinese feel the need to yell everything?

A: “There is no why….”

I cannot tell you how many times I have been sitting at a table with my wife where I couldn’t carry on a conversation with her sitting right beside me, because of people shouting in Chinese at the next table. This isn’t an isolated situation. Several times a week we will be in some place where the noise level is just unbearable. And the noise is coming from people’s mouths. The issue with me is the fact that it is completely unnecessary.

Another thing that I’ve noticed is that often, people will try to hold conversations when the surrounding noise level is clearly too high to sustain an intelligible conversation - but they try anyway. I’m always amazed when the karaoke machine is blasting and some drunken idiot is screaming into the microphone, yet someone will insist on talking over this already too-loud noise. When I am confronted by that, I never answer. I just point to my ears and shrug my shoulders. My reasoning is lost however, and that person will just find someone else to yell at. And its totally innocuous conversation too. Nothing that can’t wait. Nothing that actually needs to be said either.

I have also noticed a direct correlation to the sound pressure level and the number of empty bottles on the table, most noticably Taiwan Beer. The SPL goes up by at least 3dB per bottle.

Just a few days ago, Hui-chen and I had the displeasure of sitting next to some little red-faced shit who yelled every single utterance from his mouth, even though he was the only one talking and the people were at the same table. There was no reason for him to be shouting. Every time he got up out of his chair and went to the beverage cooler, he came back with 5 bottles of Taiwan Beer (the smaller they are, the louder they sound, seems like). HC and I were there for about 30 minutes and he just kept getting louder and louder. Finally we had to leave! Besides the co-workers at his table, we were the only ones there.

In the US and other Western countries, people will ask others to pipe down. Once I did see a guy ask someone at his table to speak quieter because he was embarrassed (must have been in the US before). The drunken yeller just said “mei guan chee” and kept right on making an ass of himself, even saying that no one could stop him from talking. Wanna bet?

I’ve been told that Taiwanese people don’t notice that anything (including themselves) is loud. I believe this to be true. Ever been woken up late at night by people coming home, and talking in full voice? That is one of my personal dislikes! It seems that no one ever taught those people to think about others - but only about themselves. I’ve been in Taiwan hotels numerous times, and have had to step out into the hall to ask people to talk quieter after being woken up. Of course I’m met with blank stares. How could I possibly be disturbed by just talking?

Recently Hui-chen and I went to eat shabbu-shabbu and a couple with a kid came in. This kid was about 4 years old and the minute he got to their table he started on a loud diatribe. He stood on the seat beside his mother so he could command the attention of the whole restaurant, and began a gibberish monologue, which lasted until Hui-chen asked his mother to quiet him down. Of course, the mother gave Hui-chen a “what’s your problem?” look. Of course, he went quiet for 30 seconds and then started right back up with his parents eyes glazed over, obviously oblivious to just how annoying hearing their kid really is. No, we don’t all think your kid is cute. Not when he is disrupting the tranquility of the dining room

That really is the issue. For me, I enjoy peace and quiet when I’m dining. If I am dining alone, the most common question I’m asked is “Are you eating alone?” People here hate to sit or eat alone, and they are genuinely concerned about me being bored while sitting alone. They want the noise and confusion, and the bigger the group, the better. I am used to being on my own and I think this all comes down to the “individual vs: group” cultural difference.

Readers, what are your thoughts? Have you found a polite way to ask people to stop shouting?

Photos by MJ Klein Dishes by Hui-chen

Back by popular demand, even more home-cooked dishes. Our readers love food photos, so here are some more to satisfy your appetite!

This pork and green bean dish was really great. It’s all gone now, I assure you!

(more…)

Today I was checking out stats for our hosted domain and I thought I would share some of the search engine keywords that brought people to our site. Some of them are funny, while others are just strange!

Keyphrases used on search engines:

(more…)