Cultural Experience

I had a nice cultural experience last week when I had a 2 million card order going to Thailand. It was very stressful, frustrating, but a learning experience nevertheless

The customer sent me an order for the cards, but it wrong price so I emailed them to give me the correct price for the sea freighted shipment with a new order form. They gave me a new one but it was still wrong so I tell them to revise again. They told me they were pretty sure they had the right one. Okay, so this is a problem and now I have to sort this out. I check with my coworker who sent the quote and get the email from him since this is the way to find proof of this thing and come to a conclusion (this is what we Westerners do).

I then email the quote to all the people it concerned to show the correct price, standard fare I thought. Well the customer got mad since apparently I am not supposed to send price information to multiple people, fair enough (my bad here since this made them lose face).

Then it got real interesting with cultural stuff. I guess I am not supposed to “prove” the price to them (again they lose face by being told they are wrong). Even though they had previously agreed to the price and saw that we had proof of that, in Thailand this thing is still something that can be negotiated.

Well they refuse to agree to our price and say they want their boss and my boss to talk it over the next day when they meet at night. But they also want the shipment on time and it has to leave in the early morning, and it cannot leave without an invoice showing the price. This means I have to sort this thing out now! Well I end up calling my boss and we just give the customer the damn price and then let them negotiate the next day. Looking back it doesn't sound too stressful but the back and forth with my boss, coworkers, and the customer was a colossal pain in the ass.

Oh well, live and learn. I'll chalk this one up to experience.

Take That AARP!

So the other day I did something my parents would always tell me not to do (kind of like the time I wrote a letter to the local paper to tell them an editorial they ran was stupid). Well this time I chose to call the AARP a bunch of asshats. They do some good things, like fighting for better health care in America and sticking up for seniors. But if you are under 35, they are asking you to bend over since you will end up paying for whatever happens to Social Security. Below is my email and the response I got from them (it is largely a form letter that skips the major points I tried to sarcastically raise in my letter).

To Whom It May Concern:

I want to say thank you. In the middle of a subprime mortgage crisis you, as you have been for many years now, continue to mortgage my future. So I want to thank you for your disregard for me, as well as the many thousands like me. As a young person, I clearly do not deserve the benefit of a brighter future.

You see there are three main ways to address the costs of Social Security and Medicare. We can (1) cut benefits (2) raise the eligibility age for benefits or (3) increase the costs of copayments/premiums/etc. The AARP opposes all of these three measures. The result is there is only one option left in the bag. Of course, that option is to raise (payroll) taxes on those who are still working. With the upcoming tidal wave of Baby Boomer retirements, the current problems with Social Security solvency are only going to be exacerbated.

This means there are lots of new taxes coming to support Social Security and Medicare (if you cannot rule out the three options above then this is all that is left on the table). And we all know who is going to get stuck with those rising taxes to fund these entitlements, American workers, especially those new workers just joining the job market.

So as a recent college graduate, I want to thank you for your unwillingness to compromise and work out some sort of deal on Social Security and Medicare that does not place the entire burden of supporting entitlements on young people. Let’s not mince words, this is my future on the line. When the time comes that I have trouble buying a car, a house, or a basic middle-class life, I will remember how you thought my future was so unimportant as to stick me with your entire bill. After all, it is only my future, it is not like I really deserve it. So thank you for working so hard to keep it from me.

Best,

ME

P.S. I vote


Dear ME:

Thank you for contacting us to express concern that when AARP vigorously represents older Americans, it might possibly be at the expense of younger Americans.

The vision of AARP today is broad-to improve the quality of life for all people as we age. As an organization of people who are 50 and older, it's true that many of our programs and legislative initiatives serve the needs of the current older population.

Adequate income security and health care programs do help prolong the independence of older Americans, no doubt. However, it is important to remember that when the independence of older people is maintained,the burden of responsibility carried by other family members is lighter, and family resources are freed to better assist the young. Social Security and Medicare have dramatically improved the quality of life for today's retirees. AARP continues to work to protect and enhance these programs not only for current beneficiaries, but to strengthen them for today's young people who will need to depend on them in the future.

For most people, financial security depends on a lifetime of working and saving. AARP serves all working people by fighting against age discrimination in the work place, advocating for expanded pension sand other retirement savings opportunities, and working for safe,affordable and high-quality utility services, to name a few examples.

As we participate in the policy making process in Washington and the state capitals, we recognize that many of the troubled medical and financial circumstances in which people find themselves late in life result from childhood problems such as poor education and poor health care. Therefore, AARP works with the Children's Defense Fund,Generations United, and other inter generational organizations to support measures that improve services to children, improve educational opportunities and our schools, or provide health coverage for uninsured children. Legislative strategies that pit one deserving group against another are not tolerated by AARP.

We are also concerned with the federal budget deficit and the fiscal burden that may be inherited by younger Americans. We have supported budget discipline measure, such as congressional "PAYGO" rules for tax cuts and entitlement changes. In addition, we constantly look for ways to address waste and unnecessary spending in public programs, especially in health care. We look at expenditures from revenues within the tax code as well as at direct-spending programs for opportunities to save taxpayer funds. In the long run,investments in human capital, biomedical research, and physical infrastructure will support a stronger economy and the growing numbers of older Americans.

We know that, like you, most AARP members are very concerned about the shape of the future for their children and grandchildren. Our priorities carefully reflect those concerns. As we work to improve the quality of life for today's older Americans, we work for future generations as well.

Thank you again for taking time to get in touch. I hope this information is reassuring. It is always a pleasure to respond to a member's concerns.

Sincerely,

SOME LADY
Member Communications

Night out on the Town

I have always thought dancing is something that should be only done under the following conditions: during heavy drinking, after heavy drinking, in a dark place, and in a dark place packed full of people. On top of that, I am an atrocious dancer.

So I was more than a little hesitant when I was at a lounge style bar this weekend to take the offer from this girl to go dance in an open room. Lounge bars are big here in Taiwan, they basically play music while you sit at big sofas or seats and just hang out. I was invited this weekend by a dude that I know here.

Back to the story, this girl's nickname translated means "doll" and she had to be just a little over 5 foot and was a smoker. No way that could turn out poorly for me. Well she eventually got me to dance for a brief moment. After which, I kept up my drinking. All's well that ends well.

Stickin' It to The MAN

So what do you get when you give a couple thousand Taiwanese from the South an evening in Taipei with tons of signs, mini-floats, and airhorns? An anti-government rally of course. They were protesting to support Taiwanese independence from China and opposition to the pro-China policies of the current President Ma Ying-jiu and accusing him of allowing in tainted Chinese products. Since his surname, Ma, sounds like a lot like the Chinese f-word there were a lot of creative signs. Most of the people there were Taiwanese, as evidenced by the speakers exclusively using the Taiwanese language and not Chinese

I actually saw the march/rally on tv while I was working on the LSAT in a coffee shop. So I decided to take the subway down to see it. I got there and walked around with this huge rally, which was fun. They were peaceful and pretty well organized with cheers and communal airhorn blows. The Taiwanese are huge on banners, so naturally, there were tons of little flags and banners. Of course, I was one of the few white people there. The rally was held by the opposition DPP (Democratic Progressive Party) so a bunch of their leaders spoke in front of the president’s residence and there was a huge made-for-tv spectacle with lights, cheers, banners, small floats, balloons, songs, and a huge beach ball modeled after the Taiwanese flag.

Most at the rally were from the south were the DPP has its strongest hold due to the large number of native Taiwanese there. These people want nothing to do with China and the recent tainted milk from China has only reinforced these feelings. It made for a fun rally to watch.

One got away one stayed

So after I came back from China it was time to hit up all you can drink night. I went back to Babe18, the name sucks but the place is a pretty cool all you can drink night for $15. The downside is that the bar is like walking into a cig. Everyone there seems to smoke.

Well as the booze started to flow I started making some friends. I ended up chilling with these two guys and one of the guy's sister, all of whom I had met before. Eventually, I end up dancing with this one girl and I get a number out of it before she has to take her drunk friend home. She told me to call her the next day, not a problem at all. Of course, when I tried to call her I found I apparently put in an incorrect number. Shit. Well, Renee, if you're out there and happen to read this send me your digits.

But the night wasn't a total waste. I happened to get a number of another girl there and so in between basketball games with my neighbor during the day I set up an evening coffee. I was pleasantly surprised that she was mildly cool. We'll see how that goes.

Xiamen and Jinmen

The operation in China is still in its infancy, so there wasn't much for me to do. The plus side was that I met the staff there, which is good since I end up dealing with a lot of their orders. I also met the Chinese partners as well as the president of the Korean company that we are partners with in China. It's good I know a little about politics and recent Korean history since it always impresses Korean people that Western people actually know it and much less care.

I impressed myself since just by hearing her speak I could tell one of the ladies in the office was from near Beijing and I could tell by his face that another guy was from Manchuria.

I also had tons of comments about how well I use my chopsticks, I think that's really strange that using chopsticks impresses people so much. If I was not able to use them I don't know how I could eat a lot of time. Then again for white people in Asia the bar is low...they think you don't like the food, you can't eat spicy stuff, you cant use chopsticks, and you can't speak the language...I do all of those with relative ease.

The picture below is the street behind my boss's house. I didn't have many pictures from China.

I had a lot of business dinners. However, my favorite meal was late at night. I had came back from dinner and I was walking around the area where my boss rents his house and I walked by a street side diner (squat tables set up on the street). There were 4 girls sitting there and one said in Chinese, not realizing I understood, "Hey, look there's a handsome foreigner"and they all turned around. Being me I laughed really hard and told them in Chinese "I can understand what you say" and kept moving.

But I passed by on my way back and they invited me to sit down and eat and have some warm beer. I had a good conversation with them. One of them asked me if I dislike black people, I said I have no problem with people of any race and America is much less overtly racist than 50 years ago. To try and make that clear, I told her I voted for Obama. Then they told me they hated Japanese people, oh China. After that they asked if I thought Taiwan was independent, this was a landmine so I did my best not to answer. The conversation got even better when I found out that 2 of the 4 girls were lesbians. I can't make this kind of stuff up. I ok with everything since one of the non-lesbians was really pretty.

My impression of China this fourth time around: I actually like it still despite the lower standard of living. I forgot how fun it is to have people stop and stare at you. It just has an energy to it and you can literally see it modernizing. But more than that it makes me think. I saw a Hummer there in Xiamen. I always think what happens when all of these people here want to consume things and drive cars like Americans do? What does that do to the environment? The globe? What do the poor people in the countryside see when they are seemingly shut out of the progress and how do they express that?

On the way back, I got to ride in the cockpit of the ferry to Jinmen (Taiwanese territory) Island. I had lunch with my boss then rented a bike for 2 hours and rode around a bit and took pictures. I swear there are more temples on that island than any place I've ever been. The people there don't see many white people so nearly every kid yelled "hello!" to me. One kid asked me in Chinese "Are you a foreigner" I told him in Chinese "No I'm from China." He stopped for a bit and got a confused look so I laughed and told him I am indeed an foreigner. Then I grabbed a flight back on my own and now I'm back in Taiwan.

The home stretch, how McCain could win

Lets get one thing clear, both are good candidates. In 2000 I said that McCain was the only Republican I would ever vote for. Although it's been said many times, the McCain of today is not the same as the McCain of 2000.

I voted for Obama because I believe he is the better on issues I care about (environment, alternative energy, new direction to U.S. foreign policy, but to be fair I question his lack of support for free trade). I'll let Fareed Zakaria put forth a much better case than I can in making the case: http://fareedzakaria.com/articles/articles.html. I agree with Zakaria wholeheartedly that McCain is out of step with the times on the financial crisis. He is stuck in the thinking of the 80's put forth by Reagan, and that era is over.

So I was thinking the other day, is there any way that McCain can win short of besides coordinated blizzard in all areas that lean Democratic? For one the Ayers story is too late and wrongheaded, if he hammered it 3 months ago it may have stuck but trying it when the economy is in the toilet won't work.

Well the thing that he has to do is what he has failed to do so far in his campaign. He needs to come across with a clear message and stick to it. He got a gift from "Joe the plumber" the other day. I think he needs to make taxes and fiscal responsibility his theme. Say, "For too long we have spent ourselves into the ground, if I'm elected we will cut spending in all areas. It will be painful. But we have to do it and in the end it will help us escape this crisis." He needs to then convene a huge meeting of influential economic minds to look at the crisis and name which ones would be in his cabinet.

Next he needs to do something bold that breaks from the Republican party (and stick to it). For example, say let's have the government take more responsibility for health care or join Obama and say let's talk to Iran. If he did those things, and made his campaign about them by answering every question with a reference to those things while having surrogates hammer these points I think he could improve his position.

The problem is that by doing this and changing his positions it will only feed more into the "erratic" label that he has been stuck with. But at this point there is no choice.

The biggest problem is McCain has been unable to settle on a consistent message and stick to it. He had a few months when Obama and Clinton were duking it out to raise money, get a lead, and get a consistent message. He couldn't do it. For that, and a lack of a unified campaign team, he's paying the price. I can only imagine the result if someone who cannot organize a campaign team was elected to run the country.