Sunday, June 10, 2007

 

A Matter of Trust

Lao wai are cheated, conned, scammed, swindled and robbed blind with pathetic frequency in China. It's not often we're able to even the score. Last night, I got that chance.

Tuesday night Laurel and I fell victim to one of the oldest scams in the book. Perhaps "fell victim" is not the correct term since we knew perfectly well at the time we were being taken, but obliged anyway. After finishing Chinese class we set off on foot from our apartment to the nearby grocery store. After leaving the gate, we were immediately stopped by an obviously flustered Chinese man who set in on his version of the classic "stolen wallet" story. For those who don't get out much, this is the one where the con artist launches into a particularly heart wrenching tale of how he is just visiting and has just had his wallet stolen by a . He has no way to get back to and just needs to buy a train ticket home and put this whole nightmarish big-city ordeal behind him.

Our particular guy was requesting 100 yuan to buy a train ticket back to Nanjing after a unruly gang of kids had stolen his wallet. 100 yuan is a pretty steep starting point (well more than a ticket to Nanjing should cost), so we must have looked especially gullible/sympathetic. This guy pulled out all the stops, including showing us his business card - apparently to validate his upstanding character - and of course promising to pay us back by taking us out to dinner his next trip to Shanghai. I've got to give him credit, because he sold the hell out of the whole routine - most importantly appealing to our sense that this could even happen to us, and wouldn't we want to be able to rely on the kindness of a stranger ourselves in that same situation?

Of course I was 99% sure that this guy was full of crap, but that 1% of uncertainty (a very profitable 1% no doubt), along with what must have been a very generous mood on my part, and frankly an appreciation of his performance convinced me to part with 20 yuan to help out a fellow human being in need.

Usually this is where the story ends. Lao wai feels ridiculously naive, yet naively good at the same time. And I was no different. At least until last night, when, while waiting to meet a friend outside the Jing An temple subway station, I was tapped on the shoulder and spun around to a familiar face and familiar voice telling and amazingly familiar story about trying to get back to Nanjing after having his wallet stolen. I don't think the guy recognized me as the same sap from 4 nights earlier at first. After all, Shanghai is a city of 20 million people, and this was in a completely different part of town then before. Besides, he must tell this same story to 100 people a day, so I can forgive him for not making the connection immediately.

At this point, I figured I was more than justified in having a little fun at his expense, so I lamented with him the incredible bad luck of having his wallet stolen AGAIN just 4 days later. Beginning to realize I was mocking him, he swore up and down we had never met before and I must be mistaken. At this point, Laurel walked up and made him out too and he was obviously busted. We both laid into him for a few minutes, chastising him for taking advantage of human kindness and ruining it for the overwhelming majority of honest people out there. Pretentious, yes, but also quite cathartic. Finally, I reminded him that he still owed me 20 kuai from the night before, which he sheepishly fished out of his pocket and handed over. A meager, yet karmic-ly satisfying victory.

Comments:
I LOVE IT! Every bit of this tale is fantastic! How incredible! I love too that he gave you your money back! HA! WOnderful! You made me smile. :):)
 
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