Hmmm… I have a totally different approach. I can’t speak Chinese to save my life, by the way, so a lot of other options are out.
If someone suddenly approaches a counter while I am being served (or should be the next to be served), I make sure to catch the assistant’s eye, then give them a look like I’m gonna kill them if they serve that customer first. Every single time, they have told the customer to wait till I was served.
On the train or MRT I use a “boxing out” technique from basketball. If someone is rudely cutting through the line I interpose myself between them and the door and get them “on my hip” the way I would someone competing with me for a rebound. They don’t get around me. I then let other people off the train first, keep a seal on the line-cutter, and then let a few exta people on before I get on myself.
I also make it a point if I’m the first person getting off a train to make a big “splash” into the gathering people who didn’t plan to let people off the train before getting on. They tend to get out of my way and the next person trying to get off doesn’t have such a hard time of it.
I just disallow it…period.
If someone cuts in I unashamedly cut right back in front of them and in English say ‘excuse me, i was here first’ firmly.
If someone interrupts me at a counter, I pause for a moment to glance unapprovingly at the offender, then continue with my transaction with my arms spread across the counter to block them out.
Only once have I evoked an open reaction. Pig headed business man decides to not only interrupt me mid order, but he places his money on the counter and tries to brush me aside with his arm. I was hungover and not in the mood so I looked at the bewildered clerk then moved the pricks money and him aside with my arm. The clerk was smiling so I guess he approved. Fat business guy loses face then in that stupid mumbling voice that low class locals have, whilst I continue with my order. Says something like “mumble mumble waiguoren bu hao mumble” etc. Meanwhile, he procees to the next counter and does the same to a taiwanese woman, who saw my episode. She didn’t need to say anything , as the clek told him to ‘pai dui, xie xie’. He left without ordering, total loss of face… Almost everyone in line was smiling. PRICELESS
Usually the offenders anticipate getting away with it here in Taiwan, but once you stand your ground they usually back off.
As for the MRT, I have learned how to stand absolutely rigid when people push and shove. Make them go around unlewss they excuse themselves.
And gangsters, I have garnered more respect from them by politely calling it how it is. They aren’t all bin lang chewing rednecks with baseball bats and bad attitudes. Just have to judge the situation and go with your gut.
Interestingly, I have found that it is mostly older Taiwanese (post 40) that try this shit. The younger ones I have met have a few more manners and understand courtesy. Not all, but most.
i just pick up the stuff that is placed on the counter by the cutter, and put it aside while saying “i don’t want to buy this”. or as others say, use size as an advantage.
things are getting better and better in this regard though. 7-11 clerks wouldn’t serve a barger yesterday until she got in line. they were appreciative of the kind words given as well …
Ever heard of a black ski mask? 
Why do people call them “Gangsters” here?
They’re just criminals like you would get back home. Call it how it is 
Actually, most of these ‘gangsters’ are not members of gangs in most cases, the real ones are a lot more discreet. Sure a lot of them may be associates but lots are just common wannabe thugs.
Feck 'em I say!
A friend told this story over drinks but I believe him. He was at a 7-11 in Banciao, waiting in line, a guy tried to cut in front of him and “R” my friend cut him off. The guy squared off and “R” decked him. He left with much verbal abuse but no fisticuffs. “R” was worried about an assault charge, knowing that it was all on tape. He apologised to the clerk and asked about the tape. The clerk smiled and told him “no tape”. Clerks hate this shit as much as we do.
[quote=“The Specialist”]Actually, most of these ‘gangsters’ are not members of gangs in most cases, the real ones are a lot more discreet. Sure a lot of them may be associates but lots are just common wannabe thugs.
Feck 'em I say![/quote]Anyone you might have to worry about is not going to be causing a problem while shopping at 7-11.
They might be sending their flunky in to pick-up their cig’s; but they are not goung to be causing trouble over a damn line at a cash box.
If the wannabe’s are causing a scene, the OG’s are going to frown on this unwanted attention.
Very true, indeed. The post 40 generation has received more courtesy than they deserve imo. Just ride a bus during the daytime. You see them get on, go right for the priority seats, and just claim them. I’ve seen one “senior” citizen drive away a female student from a priority seat because he thought he had the right to it, just waved her off like a fly without even saying a word. You’re supposed to surrender a priority seat out of your goodwill of your own accord, not to be rudely driven off of one. And when the bus is crowded, the post 40 geners are especailly dexterous with their elbows as they fight their way through the crowd like teenagers. And in the MRT stations, who are those who stand there blocking the left moving lane on an escalator? Yup, the post 40 geners. :fume:
Yep, see it happen almost every time I take the MRT at peak times.
Asshole sits in a priority seat, pregnant woman or oldy gets on, asshole just sits there and pretends not to notice. I usually cant help myself when this happens and have to say something. Screw them, it’s just downright bad manners and has nothing to do with culture. Most of them know they are doing it and need to be made aware of it.
Having said that, I am seeing many more people give up seats for old or pregnant folk.
But why don’t you just pretend your asleep like everybody else?
HG
That’s when the accidental toe step manouvre works a treat! Crunch. ‘OOps, duibuqi!’ Snicker snicker.
This is a good point. A big part of why people can get away with it is because the clerk is too spineless to do anything about it … most of the time. I’ve found it pretty successful to just ignore the line jumper and start conducting my transaction even if they’re trying to squeeze in front, whether this means squeezing my purchases in front of the clerk or speaking up with my order before the other one can. The clerk will almost always go with the person who waited in line when it comes to a choice like that.
I have had two experiences where the clerk has had the backbone to shut down a line jumper though:
Once I was in the middle of a transaction at the bank when someone came up and started asking the teller something. He didn’t get two words out before the teller sternly told him to take a number and then continued to help me.
Another time I was second in line at a store when someone tried to sidle up to the counter sideways. I was all ready to quickly swing my basket down on the counter as soon as the previous customer moved out of the way. However as soon as the clerk was done ringing up that customer she leaned way over the counter, grabbed the top item out of my basket and started ringing up my purchases before anyone had time to move.
If more businesses trained their staff to gave priority to those who waited their turns, this problem would go away.
Hong Kong Airport boasts a fine array of professional queue jumpers. Almost every time I go through there I have a ‘situation’ where some git cuts in. Usually they try and start a conversation with someone further up the line and stay there, preteending as if they were friends that were holding the spot for them.
What to do?
Push in front of them and tell them to go to the back. Total face loss for them, but who cares.
Dont let them get away with it.
[quote=“Highway Star”]Total face loss for them, but who cares.
Dont let them get away with it.[/quote]
I said it before and i’ll say it again. I don’t understand why in a society that is so concerned about face that people time and time again put themselves into a position where they could lose it.
It’s a shame that face doesn’t work that way. Taiwan would be a much better place if it did.
Give me a few queue jumpers, a couple of zig zag dawdlers, some betel juice on a shoe and a scooter trying to push past me on a sidewalk, and I’m a prime candidate for this in Taiwan :
I always looked squarely at the teller and told her/him in no uncertain terms that I was first. I refuse to look at or acknowledge the intruder and squarely take my place at the counter. I continue looking at the teller until they understand that I am not going anywhere and they’d better serve me first. Works every time.
I had another foreigner do it to me a few years back in a KFC. I was patiently waiting in my line, while he was jumping in and out of lines all up and down the counter. When it got to my turn, he jumped in front of me and loudly told the counter girl in Chinese that he was first. Poor manners exist can exist in any country.
I treated him like I would anyone else, by informing the counter girl that I was there first, and then stepping in front of him, but had the added luxury of being able to tell him in English to get in a friggin’ line and stay there! I think he was suffering from “LookatmeIamspecialbecauseIspeakChinese” syndrome, and was happy to provide the smackdown he needed.
Same thing happened to me at a Family Mart, dangerousapple. Foreigner had a Taiwanese accent too, and was kinda loud and obnoxious. I just told him to get the hell out of my way and he did.
On the topic of MRT line-pushing; there was this guy who cut in line about 3 people in front of me last week. The few people in front of me didn’t really make way for him, and pushed their way onto the MRT. It was packed, so he didn’t fit… but it didn’t stop him from standing right in the door way. Took the funny man with the glowing stick to pull him out for him to get the point. Then I was at the front of the line, and he tried to stand in front of me, but the funny-stick-holding-man told him to move back behind the line. I pushed my hand to the small of his back so he couldn’t walk backwards into me, so he moved beside me. So I stared at him for about 30 seconds 'til he got the point and walked to the back of the line… which by that point was bloody long. No use in getting mad at these people, just make their lives inconvenient.