Snooty service in Taipei?

Hi everyone -

Do you feel that people in shops and other places of service treat you differently depending on how you’re dressed?

One of the things I love most about NZ is that you get the same service whether you’re barefoot in jeans or dolled out in a designer dress and killer heels…I really like that lack of “hsien-shi” (there isn’t an equivalent in English - like calculating cynical materialsm, I guess - or snobbery, even) - you don’t have to worry about your image here or about conveying status, just to get decent service and be treated with respect.

I grew up in Dubai where it was the exact opposite - shop keepers literally looked you up and down when you walked in a shop and if you were’t dripping in jewels and designer labels, they were very snooty and rude to you. Especially if you weren’t white.

I’ve only been back to Taiwan on short family holidays when younger so didn’t get much chance to experience everyday life - so now that I’m going to be living there, I was wondering: do you guys find a difference in service based on how you present yourself? Do you feel the pressure to look a certain way to get a certain service?

My mother is always telling me off to dress in a certain way or wear certain things (like jewellery, which I hate!) because she says otherwise people won’t respect me…but she’s completely Taiwanese materialistic and living in Dubai all these years has only made her “status-consciousness” worse…so I don’t really trust her judgement.

Would be curious to hear what your experiences were…although I know things will probably be different for a white foreigner compared to a Chinese looking person (even though I’m westernised inside…)

Thanks!
H’sin-'Yi :slight_smile:

[quote=“bighoneydog”]Would be curious to hear what your experiences were…although I know things will probably be different for a white foreigner compared to a Chinese looking person (even though I’m westernised inside…)[/quote]People here are mostly pretty easy going. Having said that, it can make a bit of a difference in some places if you dress up a bit. I notice a little difference when I’m wearing a shirt and tie from when I’m in shorts and a T-shirt.

You’re probably right about things being a bit different for white foreigners, especially males. Here, there does seem to be a bit of an expectation that girls in city jobs should wear makeup. And you might get some snooty looks if you walk into Chanel/Gucci/Dior/Fendi/LV etc. in very casual or obviously inexpensive clothes.

I haven’t had such an experience here, and I usually wear jeans/shorts and a t-shirt. But then it’s not my habit to go into shops like Prada or Dior, having a preference for hole-in-the-wall shops where the boss wears a wife-beater and flip flops.

[quote=“joesax”]
And you might get some snooty looks if you walk into Chanel/Gucci/Dior/Fendi/LV etc. in very casual or obviously inexpensive clothes.[/quote]

Oh, that’s OK, then! I’m definitely not planning to go into any shops like that!! :slight_smile:

Do as I do. Walk into a designer boutique lock & loaded and u’d get their R-E-S-P-E-C-T. :smiley:

if i see you i ain’t treating you with respect

I am a pretty casual dresser, jeans, T-shirt and sports shoes everyday, I don’t look like a big spender by far. I kind of get annoyed by the service in Taiwan as sometimes I just want to stroll around a shop looking at things, but what I mostly find is that I will have someone shadowing me and as soon as I go to pick something up they will rush over and pick it up for me and display it for me. And then if I am not interested, they will rush to find somethig similar, like they are desperately trying to get my money. Sometimes it really bugs me, but then again sometimes it works good, just like with the last backpack I bought, I really needed a new one so I was in Hsimenting and I picked one out, but then put it down and the girl in the shop grabbed a different one and said, how about this one, it looked OK so I asked her if she had other colors and she showed me a blue one, so I bought it. I was in the shop for less than 5 mins…

The only times I haven’t had good service was when there have been some young people in the shop and they have been to scared to go talk to a foreigner. You culd hear them saying to each other in Chinese, you go talk to him, so then I have gone over and asked them a question in Chinese and you could see their face muscles relax immediately…

It’s a funny old place…

Some non white foreigners live in Taiwan ya know. I did. (Although I now don’t live their now). White inside? Heh heh. :beatnik:

TaipeiSean

Same here and I am black. Never saw the snooty attitude because of your dress in Taiwan, but lots of other examples. Then again if you do go in to a designer shop dressed in flip flops and a shirt, yeah I could see it. USA isn’t that much different in that respect.

Hah! Most of the designer shops I know of in the UK keep their doors locked and will size you up before unlocking and deigning to let your in to browse.

Worked in one. Paid almost entirely on commission. No time for tourists.

The OP is Asian, so it does might make a difference.

There was a time that Taiwanese upscale ladies were opened the door at first sight when shopping, but that is gone.

Each tramp from a Binlang store now carries a 500 NTD copy Gucci bag and plastic CK shoes, so the retailer does not care anymore.

Style, it is all about style - nothing more. And when you wave with a wallet in your hand being dresses “normal” - you ALWAYS get a good service.

Oh, I’m so sorry - I didn’t mean to suggest any negative things about non-white foreigners!! :blush:

I just meant that I sort of expect the Taiwanese to treat foreigners (as in “wai gwo ren” - non-Asian looking people) differently and with respect/awe - so it probably wouldn’t matter what they were dressed in. I certainly notice this myself sometimes - even here, with some Asians, if I arrive in a shop first, they look me up & down and talk in a certain way…then my husband arrives 5 mins later with his posh British accent and suddenly, they’re all “butter wouldn’t melt”…really annoys me sometimes. It used to happen to us a lot back in the UK but at least there, you could put it down to racism as it came from the British shop keepers but here, it tends to come from Asian staff and you can hardly call that racist?!

So I’m guessing that as an Asian myself, the Taiwanese would probably treat me more like the locals - in which case, I just wondered if there would be any discrimination based on image…not that I’m proposing to go out in my pyjamas with uncombed hair and bare feet!! :laughing: But generally, it’s nice to be able to dress casually and - for example, here I often have to pop into shops in town on the way back home from doing the daily dog walk so I’m usually wearing trackpants & old coat, covered in muddy paw prints, no or minimal make-up…and I never feel that the Kiwi shop assistants treat me differently just because I am not all groomed and decked out in designer labels. That’s what I love so much about NZ - everyone is helpful and friendly, regardless of your status. But these aren’t “posh” shops, of course - I do understand that those kind of designer stores are always snooty, wherever they are around the world - I was talking more about “normal” shops.

By contrast, when I used to live in Dubai (and even now when I go home to see my parents) - I would never go out with full make-up, jewellery, decent shoes and decent clothes…I just know that I’ll get terrible treatment everywhere if I don’t. It’s sad but true…

By the way, I know exactly what you mean about Asian shop assistants harassing you! I hate that too! I’m so used to the westernised way of shopping where you’re allowed to “just browse” and even (heaven forbid!) leave the shop without buying anything :wink: - whereas I hate the way they breathe down your neck in Asia and then act like it’s a personal offence if you leave the shop without making a purchase!!

Bighoneydog -

You have nothing to worry about. Just be yourself, cheerful, and if they ask if they can help, just say, “Kan4 kan4 er2 yi3, xie4 xie4.” (Just looking, thank you.)

Know which kind of Asians Taiwanese clerks don’t like to deal with? The ones who can speak Mandarin but talk and act like they don’t. You know, the ones that cry they’re ABC, CBC, BBC, XYZ at the first opportunity they can to anyone within earshot. The ones who talk loudly in English on their phones in public.

Funny, I’ve met a few in Taibei and once I start making chit chat with them, their grammar stinks, their backgrounds are anything but ABC, CBC, etc., and their Chinese is actually pretty good!

I think you’ll be just fine!

Why not? Racism can exist among people of the same race you know.

As far as snooty service goes, your senses are correct. I did experience a similar phenomenon in Taipei, though it certainly was not a universal thing. In addition to the clerks who avoided me because they were uncomfortable, there was another kind that was clearly image conscious and they weren’t necessarily in a “Gucci.” Generally they seemed to be “striving” types who felt status came from mistreating people they felt were beneath them. They can be real obnoxious sometimes, but if I were you I wouldn’t be concerned with them. I’d say I ran into that behavior about 5% of the time, and only in Taipei. People in the high end stores actually treated me rather well; maybe they thought I was a basketball player or rap star?

I find Taiwanese salespeople to be more uncaring and uninterested in providing good sales than lacking respect to customers. I think they would rather not put in effort than kiss/not kiss your arse.

In the US, they say “thank you for coming” even at Chanel and Gucci when they know you are in the store just to avoid the rain. In Tw, they won’t even bother.

I’m not a fan of the VIP, points or credit building system they have in almost all department store brands. That means after you buy, they would take your info and if you are a repeated customer, they would shower you with promotions, gifts, or whatever in the future. That ensures great service everytime you buy more of their products. It seems nice if you are a loyal customer but it really just promotes lazy salesmanship and not putting out an effort to all customers.

Without a decent base for good service, I don’t see how tourism and int’l relations could improve in Taiwan.

Maybe a little off topic about shops, but still about service…
My ex-wife, when she was still my wife told me about her experience applying for a US visa down at the AIT. I didn’t go down there with her as us aussies can enter without a visa, and besides I have seen the daily mile long lines outside. She said they were impolite and giving her a hard time until they asked her if she was married and when she said she was married to an Australian, they then said Ok interview over and gave her a multi-entry visa valid for 5 years…

ZOMG! The visa people were giving her a hard time! shocker! Try going thru the visa/immigration rigamarole here in Taiwan or in Thailand or in…etc.

That’s their job. Do you think the US needs 22 million Taiwanese hiding in Idaho working in their cousins’ chinese restaurant?

It was in Taiwan, down on HsinYi Rd…
As it has been pointed out to me when I have retaliate to people who push me, cut me off or whatever ignorant things everyone does to everyone here in Taiwan and I have described the situation here on various threads on Forumosa,
“You don’t have to be rude to people.”
Just making a point about the service and how the tone changed and visa granted so quickly once it was discovered she was married to an Australian…

Just like bighoneydog said,[quote]I certainly notice this myself sometimes - even here, with some Asians, if I arrive in a shop first, they look me up & down and talk in a certain way…then my husband arrives 5 mins later with his posh British accent and suddenly, they’re all “butter wouldn’t melt”…really annoys me sometimes.[/quote]
But maybe now it is OK to be rude, depending who is reading my posts…
And not everyone wants to go to America…
So :raspberry:

[quote=“914”]Bighoneydog -

You have nothing to worry about. Just be yourself, cheerful, and if they ask if they can help, just say, “Kan4 kan4 er2 yi3, xie4 xie4.” (Just looking, thank you.)

Know which kind of Asians Taiwanese clerks don’t like to deal with? The ones who can speak Mandarin but talk and act like they don’t. You know, the ones that cry they’re ABC, CBC, BBC, XYZ at the first opportunity they can to anyone within earshot. The ones who talk loudly in English on their phones in public.

Funny, I’ve met a few in Taibei and once I start making chit chat with them, their grammar stinks, their backgrounds are anything but ABC, CBC, etc., and their Chinese is actually pretty good!

I think you’ll be just fine![/quote]

Oh no, I certainly wouldn’t speak English in Taipei if I can manage in Mandarin! That would be really rude and arrogant on my part and I can see how that would piss the locals off. Actually, unlike a lot of westernised Asians who have grown up/lived overseas, I don’t have a “foreign accent” when I speak Mandarin - which actually makes matters more confusing! :slight_smile: Because I sound perfectly normal until someone says something like (in Chinese) “Be careful of the ladder” and I go “What is ‘ladder’?” …

I have very poor vocabulary so am always getting stuck and either not understanding chunks of sentences being said to me - or getting stuck myself when I talk and having to insert English words into the sentences because I can’t think of the Mandarin equivalent. It’s very frustrating as half the time, people just end up looking at me blankly. I try not to use the English word but sometimes, I really can’t think what else to say! I remember once having a conversation when I was back in Taipei on holiday and trying to remember what “squirrel” was in Mandarin - (now I know - it’s “song1 su3” isn’t it?) - and just couldn’t, for the life of me - I also tried describing the animal in Mandarin, going on about trees and big tails but nobody could get what I was going on about… :laughing:

Anyway, one of the things I’m hoping with my year in Taipei is to improve my vocabulary (not to mention try - for the 100th time - to learn and remember some characters, so that I’m not totally illiterate!! :slight_smile: )

Thanks, everyone, for your posts - it’s good to hear the different opinions and experiences.

H’sin-'Yi

I always make sure I dress nicely whenever I fly because in my experience one receive better service from the check-in counter staff and the flight attendants. So, no matter whether I’m off to England for business or Thailand for a week on the islands, I always wear long pants, socks, shoes, and a shirt with a collar.

Just my opinion.