Typhoon Matsa
August 6th, 2005 by ktula
It’s a good thing i decided not to go to Suzhou this morning. I was feeling really lazy and didn’t want to go to the train station to be surrounded by tons of people again. Shanghai has been pounded by heavy rain and strong wind since last evening. I had wanted to go to one area well-known for fake goods but the weather prevented me from leaving my hotel. I could not even go out for lunch. I went to the 20th floor of the hotel after finding out that a well-known hotpot chain is located there. I was seated next to the window and i could see the glass window moving back and forth - i was wondering if the window was going to hold up ! The hotpot was the best i have ever had. The soup, the dipping sauce and the ingredients were all excellent.
As usual, i engaged in conversation with my serviing waitress. She was from jiang-xi (江西) and was working in the restaurant during the summer break from school. She told me she was making only RMB 800 a month. My god. That is only about USD 100. I probably spent about RMB 800 in a matter of few days during my 2-week trip here. Because of the typhoon, i was the only customer in the restaurant. Out of the corner of my eyes, i caught a group of waiter and waitresses assembled in the far corner of the restaurant. They were standing at attention, like in the military. I was wondering what the hell was going on. Finally, another waitress explained to me that this is kind of a weekly meeting or assembly among the employees. During this meeting, the supervisor will explain to the them what they did wrong that week and also toward the end, they will play some games and sing, i guess, the company song. It seemed really unusual to me. I left a big tip to be split by the two watiresses who were serving me.
In the evening, i wanted to go out for dinner, but i realized i couldn’t when i went downstairs. The rain and wind were just as bad as in the morning. In the end, i ordered room service.
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