Bargain!

Phil and I went to play mini-golf a couple of weekends ago at a big department store near our home. When we came out we decided we'd pop down to the basement to grab a few groceries at Carrefour. Carrefour, the French supermarket chain, is a HUGE success in China, and although there is not much "French-ness" left to it now, you can still get a few imported items, making it popular with Chinese and Foreigners alike. As a result of its immense popularity, the shop is always crowded, and on a Saturday afternoon it is packed. Our decision to enter at that time was truly suiciadal. I found myself whistling the "Suicide is Painless" song from M*A*S*H, all the while thinking that Johnny Mandel had no idea what he was talking about when he wrote it, because it was clearly quite painful indeed.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, we survived the kind of mass hysteria that can only be induced by super cheap packs of 24 toilet rolls (2 ply), and escaped to the check-outs.

As soon as we cleared the check-out, we were jumped upon by 4 Chinese young women, shaking a donations box and waving pamphlets in our faces. "We are from the [something something something] China Foundation, can you give a donation?". After years of collecting donations in Australian shopping centers for World Vision, I usually donate a little if I can in these situations, but I seriously had no change.

I turned to Phil, who rummaged in his hand in his pocket and finally pulled out two Chinese jiao- the equivalent of 2 US CENTS. He sheepishly said that he was sorry but it was all the change he had, and the girls said it was fine anyway. He popped it in the box, and before we could walk away the girl insisted on attaching a huge red sticker on my shoulder, indicating that we had donated to their charity. I felt a bit silly- the sticker would have cost more to make than we had even donated, and so I covered it up with my scarf.

We continued up the escalators from the basement to the exit, and as we stepped off we were attacked by not 4 but 7 women from the same charity, again asking for dinations. I pulled back my scarf and uncovered the sticker, and they fell back imediately, bowing and saying "Thank you! Thank you!"

As we walked away in a bit of a daze Phil turned to me in awe and said:

"Maaaan! That was the best 2 jiao I've ever spent!"