Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Reps

Back from Shanghai. Hardware show was deader than last year. Shanghai seemed expensiver than previous years, but that's probably because I finally broke down and bought a bunch of bootleg DVD's.* I'm a little ashamed on this point, but the disconnect between what I think and what America thinks is growing by the year. Maybe I can bridge it by watching some of the same shows everyone else has already seen. Maybe that is a lame rationalization to justify an action that I think is wrong. Hard for me to tell.

FACE- At the exhibition, one of my coworkers went to one of the publishing booths to pick up the show issue of a Taiwanese trade magazine. The guy at the booth asked my coworker if she worked for ****-*****, and she said yes. He then said he couldn't give her a magazine. When she asked why, he said "Because you will give it to that tall foreigner who works in your company, and he will sue all my advertisers." Oh hell yeah. Better to be feared than loved, and all that.

NOT SO MUCH FACE- I went to the booth of a Taiwan manufacturer who was displaying some new products. Was asked if I lived in Taiwan, and I said yes, and told them my company. A woman said "Oh, you are the foreigner who speaks good Chinese, but talks like a girl." Oh hell no. That's not even right. I'm going to have to start throwing in a [Ta made] every third word like our GM does.

*The Office 1 - 4, 30 Rock 1, Simpsons movie
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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I used to have girlish mannerisms in my Indonesian (like covering my mouth when I laughed.) That was because I was learning the language/culture almost exclusively from females. (hmmm, sort of a real man's way of doing it, heh.)

Your idea of mimicking a male is a good one. It should help. Also, talk more about beer and hot chicks. The chess and goth fashion talk does not help.

Red A

Chaon said...

I have a bunch of speaking habits that I need to change. Example-

Red A: John McCain 是世界上最偉大的經濟學家

Karl: 亂說! (Stamps foot in anger)

Red A: Ha ha. Fag.

Karl: (Starts to cry.)
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Only a woman would respond with 亂說. I should say 廢話. But I never do.