Lesson 21

                              Why Are They So Unlucky?
             Text A

    I wonder why so many shop-assistants are so foultempered? Inspite of so many "campaigns" to improve the services in the past years, we see no appreciable change so far. If Dad and Mum are to be believed, the services used to be quite good in the fifties. But then, they always say everything used to be good in the fifties. I find the older people grow, the more nostalgic they become.

Now Granny never lets a day go by without remi-niscing on the good old things in the good old days . Once when she saw Xiao Hong and me eating some mooncakes with relish, she said pityingly, "You poor children, you don't know what real mooncakes taste like. The worst in the old tasted much better than the best that rnoney can buy nowadays!" We burst out laughing, not taking her words seriously.

    Now to come back to the bad service in shops and department stores. People often say that when you buy something, you are spending money to buy rudeness and anger. Today I saw a loing exactly that. I was at a department store and I happened to witness a typical quarrel. I was next to a counter selling tea and I saw an elderly man come up and ask a young woman was busy weighing and wrapping tea into standard-sized "packs "Do you have very good green tea?"

    The woman glanced up to size him up. He was ordinarily dressed and spoke with a provincial accent. obviously a man of no consequence. She went on with her work and the man had to repeat his question. After another pause the woman snorted out: "Yes: Twenty-six yuan a liang. " Not believing his ears, the man tried to correct her. "You mean twenty-six yuaw a jin?" Upon this the woman flared up and shouted: "I said twenty-six yuan a LIANG ! Can't you hear straight? If you want a jin, then it's two hundred and sixty yuan. Is that CLEAR?"

    The man seemed to be stunried by her sudden outburst but he kept his temper and asked again. "Do you have some thing under two yuan' a Liang?" Obviously she was makinj things difficult for the old man for she answered as rudely as be fore;"What do you mean under two yuan? Anything from on cent to one yuan ninety-nine cents is under two yuan. " I don't remember what exaetly the man said , but somehow he manage to find out there was a kind costing one yuan ninety-six a liang "Can you show it to me?"

    "Do you want to buy it or not?"
    "Well, I want to look at the leaves and smell the flavoc first. " "You can look , smell , eat , drink or do whatever you like with it at home. Here I only sell tea. If you want to buy it, buy it. If you can't afford it, don't come here to waste people's time Obviously you don't know what is proper in Beijing ! "

    "Look here young lady, it's you who don't know what proper! I have been living in Beijing long before you were born, and I've never seen anyone as rude as you are. Your job is to serve the customers , not to insult them. Now for the last time are you going to show me the tea or not?"
    "And for the last time I am telling it to you. Either buy it or get out of here! I know the likes of you-you want something good, and yet grudge the money you have to spend on it!"

    "This is insufferable 1 Who is in charge here? I want to see your head ! " "My head? It's on my shoulders. Take a good look if you want to. "
    The old man went away fuming. "I've got down your number ber. I'll write to the Evening News. " The threat didn't seem to frighten the girl. At most she'll have to make a self-criticism, which costs her nothing. Even if she should lose a month's bonus, it is only a few yuan. But if she could be sacked, I bet she wouldn't dare to be so rude and aggressive.

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