20th Birthday, Shanghai style

Wednesday evening, after class, Professor Xie took us out to dinner. Since she didn’t have a bike with her, I gave her a ride to the restaurant on mine. We had a good 15 minute conversation in Chinese. Getting better all the time.

After dinner, we went and got a cake. Since my Chinese zodiac is an ox, we got a cake with a frosting ox on it. We watched the girl make it, it was pretty cool.

After cake, we went out to a place downtown called Zappata’s, where they had free margaritas for the ladies (and therefore anybody that was there with women). Apparently it was also 80s night, so naturally the DJ played songs from the 60s, 70s, and early 90s.

Now for the question of the day: Do you tip a bathroom attendant in China? This question is an absolute puzzle no matter which way I look at it. First, I had only once before been in a bathroom with an attendant, so I don’t even know what the standard is anywhere. It was at a fancy restaurant in Rochester and I was on a date, so I had nobody but the attendant himself to consult on the matter. I knew what his opinion on the matter was, so I didn’t bother asking, and I don’t remember how much I gave him, or if I gave him anything. Now take that unfamiliar situation, and add in the China factor.

In the States, you wouldn’t tip a bathroom attendant more than you would tip a waiter or waitress, would you? After all, it’s not quite as demanding a task to hand somebody towels and soap as it is to remember specific dinner orders for several tables. And besides, it’s a bathroom attendant. Most of the time I’d rather not have somebody stand awkwardly while I take care of my business. So it’s settled that you tip a bathroom attendant less than a server. In China you don’t tip servers.

But then again, this was a bar. At a bar in Shanghai, western culture rules. 90% of the few Chinese people that are in a western bar at any given time are employees, friends or wives of expats, or prostitutes. The rest are all white, and speaking a European language. What determines tipping rules, geography or demographics?

Anyway, I gave the guy the change I had in my pocket, 2 kuai.