Wal-Mart and Back To The Print Shop, and the NCAA Tourney!

There's one thing in China that will get to you when your trying to conduct business. It's that there aren't any Staples, Office Depots, Office Max...you can't quick run to Meijer or Wal-Mart. You are looking at an adventure that you just don't know where it will take you.

Today at work I decided we were going to get all the rest of the supplies we needed. We already had to go back to pick up the stuff we had made at the print shop. So I figured we'd kill two birds with one stone. Get all the running around done!

It should have been a simple errand, an easy in and out stop. Something that is done in the States everyday! We had to pick up the printing and find the following: a container to hold used tags (Preferably a pencil cup of decent size), a Calendar book for Jerry, a 3 ring binder....that's it.

I ask Jerry if there is a Office Depot or Staples around, he says, "Huh? What is Staples?"

I describe Staples and He tells me they don't have anything like that. I ask him where he would buy office supplies, he says Wal-Mart. Perfect! That would be great! So we get in a cab and drive to Wal-Mart. It turns out Wal-Mart is next to the "DVD Rental Store". Greg told me this, but I thought he was crazy because you can't see the Wal-Mart above ground.

They have these domes that you walk in to. They look like Uncle Owen and Aunt Ruth's crib in Star Wars on Tatooine. It's just a dome with set of stairs at this protruding front entrance. You walk down a flight, then a set of escalators, then you're in what kind of looks like a Wal-Mart....it's hard to describe. Maybe because there's a million people walking around in it.

So we grab THE LAST shopping cart. As soon as I grab the cart and push, the cart heads sideways. I look down and all four wheels can turn. You can push this cart any direction you want, straight, diagonal, sideways, in a circle...in a square, knock yourself out. It's also short. I ask Jerry why all four wheels can turn? He looks at me crazy (I'm getting use to this look). I explain that the back wheels can't turn on a cart in America....he's flat out amazed!

It's fun to watch people pushing carts in China. They move everywhere. Someone wants to get by a person, they just move the cart sideways. The problem is that they are next to impossible to control if you want to go straight.

So we go to the office supply area. It's just horrible, there isn't anything. Some pens...some paper...not even a decent date book. We couldn't find any pencil cups. It's amazing, Wal-Mart with nothing. They didn't even have a three ring binder. We ended up finding some stuff that would make do. (Except for the pencil cup)

We head to check out. This was the best part. The check out lines are diagonal with four check out cubes stacked on top of each other. Each cube has an area where you can perfectly butt a cart up to. You can't pull the cart through, so I have no idea what happens to it. The area is packed with people! I don't know how to describe it. It was pure chaos. People were bumping into you, pushing, shoving, and yelling. Some people were checking out, some just thought that this area was the perfect place to leave the store....and people just kept coming! It was unreal! Finally we got out of there! I was so happy to leave!

Final description of a Chinese Wal-Mart- somethings were similar, a lot was different. Things were definitely cheap. They had a DVD area which cracked me up. I asked Jerry if anyone bought DVD's there, he said not many. All of this is underground which is funny to. I'll go back to this area and take some pictures.

Then we went to the print shop to pick up our tags and signs that were made. The print shop actually did a great job on the tags! They looked awesome, just like our regular ones, only printed in Mandarin. I'm going to scan one to put on the blog, I think they look sweet. So I look over everything and it's time to pay. The lady said they could take a credit card when we started this whole thing. Jerry does some translated and tells me to follow her....now mind you this store is as big as a bedroom. So I chuckle and say, "Follow her where? I can see her from here."

Jerry then tells me that they use the hotel next doors credit card machine. They don't have one themselves. This surprised me....it shouldn't have though...really. So I follow her into the hotel. The hotel clerk runs my card....it doesn't work, tried another card..won't work!

Side Bar: Here's the weird thing about Dalian. It's 10 years behind Shanghai and Beijing. There are a lot of quirky things here. Everywhere says they take VISA, but it has to be Chinese. They have a special logo on the Visa card. If you're in Shanghai though, you can use your credit card almost anywhere. You'd be hard pressed to find a regular spot you couldn't use it. Also in Dalian the ATM's are different. For some reason it will only let me take 1000RMB out a day (Roughly 150 Dollars). That's it! In Shanghai, I could take out as much as I wanted. It's weird like that.

Back to the story! So I don't have enough cash total between what's in my wallet and what the ATM will let me withdrawal to pay the bill. We walk back to the print shop. I'm explaining to Jerry the money problem as we walk. When we get to the door he says, "I have Chinese VISA, why don't we use that?"

I look at Jerry and say, "Jerry, maybe you could have mentioned that in the hotel as we stood there for 15 minutes trying multiple cards, multiple times?"

"Oh yeah, sorry!"

Last but not least, I started an office pool for the NCAA tourney! Chinese edition!!!! I got a bunch of people in the office to fill out brackets. We also hit up all the engineers. They are all playing for a pack of NBA Basketball cards! I thought this would be a fun way to meet everyone, get Rockwell some more exposure in the plant, and see some crazy picks!

What's funny is that no one here knows what NCAA Basketball. They don't see any games on TV, so they have no idea who the teams are, where they are from...even how it works. I'll post some of the final four picks later! They're great! One guy (Big Boy) picked Akron to win the whole thing, because that's where Goodyear's HQ is located. Good stuff! More to follow!