With that Smiling, Overworked

Hangzhou so spread out these days.  I managed to find a hotel not far from the morning’s meeting.  But the ride from the meeting site out to the airport another matter.   The cabbie asked me beforehand if I wanted to ride the highway.  Yeah, sure.  Whatever’s faster.  I had one call, then a second and a third by the time a reached the place so the time didn’t seen so long, but at 275 Yuan, that has to be one of the most expensive metropolitan rides I can remember anywhere in China.  You can take a cab from one city to another and rack up a biggr bill.  But within one metropolis, it’s hard to spend that kind of money.  Cab’s are one of the few things in China that remains reliably cheap.  And its why I always tip here if the service approaches civil.  In Tokyo you could easily drop that kind of money darting around within the Yamanote Line Ring. 

Cathay, I’ve found has cut out beverages.  That’s an interesting one.  I’m on a flight from Hangzhou down to Hong Kong and I dug into my curry chicken with rice and immediately began the airplane routine of debating what to drink.  I didn’t really want any wine.  A soda water would be fine.  But they picked up my plate with that smiling, overworked, Hong Kong efficiency sigh, that is wielded rapier-like at a group of people from the mainland, a determined tricultural superiority that will never yield to my gwaillo mandarin, nor any mainland person’s English.  “Hi.  Yes.  Wait.  Slow down.  Where’s the drink cart?  Don’t you offer beverages on this flight?  “Beverages?”  “Yes. Don’t you offer anything to drink?”  “Ahh, of course.  You just have to ask for it and we’ll get you anything.”  “A soda water, please.”

Service is different on a Cathay flight than one on Air China.  Where as both airlines do an excellent job at air safety, which is only appropriate, it clear that this crew is under great pressure to get things done within certain time limits.  And pressure manifest and necessary and will trend in a smart organization toward efficiencies, there is the flipping point where it all becomes frantic.  The Air China crews have goals, for sure, but they don’t run around nearly so fast with nearly such improbable smiles.  I believe I prefer it.

This plane was supposed to take off at 3:30PM.  Habitually I asked when I checked in if the plane was on time:  “It should leave at 4:00PM.”  Hmm.  Well, not so bad.  I did work over at a Starbucks, and to be safe headed to the gate on time.  As suggested we began boarding just before 4:00PM.  I let the hundred meter-long line slowly exhaust itself and packed my things and sauntered over to gate.  I had music on but as I walked down the aisle to the plane the lady came up to me and said “please hurry.”  She’d gone on to fuss about some other task by the time I’d gotten my headphones off and properly processed this.  I was poised to say that it took a lot of gall to keep us waiting for thirty minutes only to then try to rush me.  I got on and headed straight for the bathroom.   Passengers were milling about in the galley, chatting.

Wednesday, 04/05/17