Out of all the stereotypes out there I often find the ones about Asian people to be most entertaining; mostly because they have an extensive record of being precisely on point. Not only are they usually the smartest ones in the room, and with Indians by their side they will probably rule the world one day, but they’re also pretty consistently terrible behind the wheel. Most importantly though, as business owners they tend to be extremely rude and completely lack general customer service skills.
You walk into any Dry Cleaners or a Nail Salon, and all you get is “What you want?” You’re lucky if you even get a hello.
– Um, yes hi, I’d like to get a pedicure please?
– 15 dollar; Sit.
So you walk over to the chair and sit down feeling like you’re some sort of a refuge that’s just entered an unfamiliar territory, as they start doing their thing. The whole time they talk amongst themselves in their language and you can’t help but think that they’re talking shit about your unkempt toes. Some women will even do a pre-pedicure and shave their legs and shit for that very reason; to avoid potential judgement. That doesn’t change anything though, because they always have a conversation going whether it’s about your ugly toes or not. Just hope you have a better physical tolerance for pain than you do emotion because them tiny little Asian ladies are strong as hell.
That’s why they also happen to own and operate a lot of massage parlors. Say, if you’re a dude and you have a lot of tension in your muscles you might occasionally treat yourself to one of these massage parlors. It’s a known fact that a lot of men happen to store their tension below the waist. Luckily, these wonderful little Asian ladies are also known to have the necessary hands-on experience to release that tension. While that’s great and all, believe it or not some men just want to get a good massage of the muscle tissues in their back and shoulders and such because their feeble little girlfriends just don’t have what it takes to apply the right amount of pressure. These men, believe it or not, aren’t the preferred clientele at such massage parlors. A friend of mine literally gets denied service because he won’t shell out the extra buck for a hand job, but just wants a regular massage instead. “No time for you today!” – He hears from the manager the moment he walks in, almost every time.
How about the time I ordered a Manhattan at a sushi restaurant? Keep in mind this is one of those progressive restaurants with a somewhat elaborate signature cocktail selection; not just some hole in a wall where you place your order and wait for your ticket to be called. Still, not finding anything on the list to my liking I opt for a classic cocktail – Manhattan. First of all, the server started naming Scotches when I ask her about the Bourbons they have available. Trusting that the bartender that’s going to be making my cocktail is slightly more experienced, I let it slide. So she brings me my Manhattan and it has very obviously been shaken instead of stirred. Now, I’m not usually one to send a drink back, but something was different that day. It could be the general lack of friendliness from the staff, or the fact that there still was no water on our table while the servers are clearly standing around doing nothing in an empty restaurant on a Sunday afternoon… Perhaps her lack of liquor knowledge was creeping up on me, I dunno. Anyway, I opted not to go through the lessons of bartending with her and just kindly asked her if I could have a glass of wine instead as my drink wasn’t made the way it was supposed to (stirred). She takes it away and as she places the wine in front of me she says “Just so you know, next time you should specify how you want your Manhattan made so the product doesn’t go to waste”. Ha! Just so I know? I need to specify? B*tch how about you learn the spirits that you’re selling for 14 bucks a pop and tell your bartender to learn how to make a classic f*cking cocktail? ‘So the product doesn’t go to waste’.
Is it that they do not know how inappropriate and off-putting their behavior is or is it that they do know and simply do not give a f*ck? I mean it’s not like you’re going to stop going to the nail salon where they don’t say hi to you, but do a decent job on the pedicure. Or take my friend for example; he repeatedly goes back to that massage parlor even though he gets turned away 90 percent of the time. And I certainly have every intention of eating at that restaurant again; the sushi there is fantastic. I’ll just have to stick to wine and beer, that’s all.
So there’s that… Asian business owners will forever continue to be arrogant for a very simple reason; no matter what they do, we keep coming back.
