Voices

Expensive tea left a nasty taste

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-06-14 07:24

Expensive tea left a nasty taste

Well, just like the others, I fell for this scam.

She came up to me to practice her English. I was on my guard. I rattled off that I didn't want to see any art, didn't want a massage or buy anything.

She told me she was in town for the week visiting her friend who was in school. She was a teacher and wanted to practice her English with an American. I should have kept my guard up but we walked and talked for about 20 minutes and slowly I let my guard down.

Then, as we seemed about to part ways, she told me how much she was enjoying our talk and suggested we sit down for a cup of coffee or tea. I went to a teahouse with her and, of course, I was slapped with a huge 5,180-yuan bill.

My first thought was to call the police, but I didn't want to deal with the issue of them not speaking English. Most police I had seen thus far could not speak English when I asked them anything. I agreed to a much lower bill and got out of there.

Rolf Melheim

On some beggars strike a chord with commuters

Human nature can be unfair

I understand this article's sentiment, but as a fellow student of economics, I really don't need to remind you that people are more willing to give to a cause when they can see the effects. Most street musicians aren't that great, but people give because they can see them trying to do "something" to survive. This is like a "charity investment," because you can enjoy the music as you pass the same place every day and the musicians get better with practice. Even if you give thousands of yuan to a severely disabled person, they probably will die soon and though this is unfair, human nature is akin to natural selection.

Blake