Chapter 27: Giving Tips Is Tasteful
There is a saying that Shanghai internationalizes the Chinese, while Beijing sinicizes foreigners.
Shanghai is outward-looking and actively embraces the outside world.
Therefore, the high-end hotels in Shanghai are genuine old-fashioned ones. Many old-timers in Shanghai still maintained their dignity even in the most difficult and craziest times. They were so poor that they could only eat coarse food, but as long as they saved enough money, they would dress up and go to a high-end hotel to have a cup of coffee and listen to music.
They were the first white-collar workers to be impacted by Western culture. They had been abroad, seen the world, and yearned for a better life. This is also the foundation of Shanghai culture.
The authentic fried noodles with soybean paste at the entrance of our alley in Hepingjing, which has nothing else, and the shirtless banerye style are two different life philosophies.
There is no high or low, each has its own characteristics.
Jing Xiaoqiang, who studied in Pingjing, experienced the low point of life, and lived in Broadway for 30 years, definitely prefers Shanghai.
What's more, these days, good gyms with complete equipment are only found in foreign-related hotels.
Originally, with Jing Xiaoqiang's identity, he didn't even have the qualifications to enter.
But he is very familiar with this set of regulations.
The closer the hotel is to a five-star hotel, the more likely it is to have a set of necessary standards . A public audio system is standard and an elegant cafe is a must.
How elegant?
Someone has to play the piano.
Almost all five-star hotels are equipped with more than one piano.
The pianist of a symphony orchestra must work part-time in a high-end hotel, but pianists don't like to publicize this.
This is the dilemma faced by those who graduate from domestic art academies when trying to integrate with the market.
I'm a pianist who graduated from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. It's an honor to be in a symphony orchestra. I'm proud of my low salary. I play piano in hotels after get off work to supplement my family income, but I'm not willing to show off.
That's so vulgar.
Jing Xiaoqiang followed this line and pretended to play along twice, which was nothing more than playing canons, serenades and lyric songs over and over again for two hours, and he got 80 yuan.
The key point is that just like at an airline, after getting a card that allows him to come and go freely, he naturally went over and applied for a monthly gym membership.
Three hundred yuan is a discounted price for internal employees.
Have you noticed? This is the characteristic of these days: a dual-track system.
The costs of employees and even pianists are based on domestic price levels, but consumption charges are based on international standards.
This is not the case in Pingjing and the surrounding areas of Shanghai, where most of them double the number .
Shanghai and Shanghai are basically in sync. Either you don’t come, or if you come, you have to agree to this service standard.
Jing Xiaoqiang didn't care at first. He felt that the fitness cost of 300 yuan a month was worth it.
But there are always some familiar faces coming every day.
From being acquaintances to sometimes giving some advice when they are not happy with something they do, especially for strength exercises such as bench press and weighted squats, practicing them blindly is no less than suicide.
There is almost no demand for fitness coaches in China at present, and even internationally, fitness coaches are still in a stage of confusion in concepts and transformation of technical content.
This five-star hotel, which has only been open for two years, claims to be the largest and most comprehensive fitness center in Shanghai. Apart from the waiters and management manager, there is not a single qualified fitness coach.
Why do you need a coach for fitness? Isn’t it just letting a group of guests come in to run and play with dumbbells?
This showed Jing Xiaoqiang's professionalism: "Uncle Cheng, your muscle group is not suitable for training like this. The movements should be broken down into three groups like this. Don't do too many each time..."
"Mr. Tom, slow down, slow down. You need to slow down. Everything you did before was wrong. Your knee must have been damaged. I suggest you do an MRI... Oh, an X-ray. What? Your company has MRI technology? Then... you are from New York State? Um, I'm very familiar with West City. Slow down, slow down..."
"Oh, dear Miss Jessica, please don't learn the yoga in that video. It's a scam. Come, follow me and do some simple exercises..."
I speak Mandarin, English, Italian fluently, and I can speak some French, Russian and German.
With this level of performance, how can it not be popular?
Do you know how China's richest man, Jack Ma, started out? He started out by chatting up people at the entrance of foreign-related hotels to practice his spoken English, and then he made a European and American pen pal and got his first investment.
How did the most charitable man in Pingjing become rich? After retiring from the army, he relied on his handsome looks and went to foreign-related hotels to drink coffee every day. Until he met a Hollywood star, he thought he was his lover in his previous life and gave all his inheritance to him.
And that amazing woman who married an international media tycoon also started out by making international friends in a foreign-related hotel in eastern Guangdong, and then got married abroad and embarked on a domineering and successful life.
Regardless of how true or false these legends are, in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, almost all people who started from scratch wanted to quickly skip the novice village accumulation period, and the Foreign-related Hotel was definitely a key copy for spawning monsters and getting the best items.
Use domestic costs to generate international profits.
Even if you don't meet a noble person, earning some tips as a translator is still a huge benefit.
As a result, Jing Xiaoqiang mastered all the high-level spells required to clear this dungeon.
About a week later, the manager of the fitness center heard the news and came to observe, because the waiter said that a young gym worker was managing all the Chinese and foreign fitness customers!
It's free. Now that you're here, considering your body shape, why not do some aerobic exercise first? What, you don't know anything about aerobic or anaerobic exercise?
Oh, this concept was introduced in the late 1990s and was not promoted in ordinary gyms until the first few years of the new century.
Several old men and women please do aerobics first. You all have a good foundation, but don't be too aggressive. Start with the equipment here step by step, and then increase the intensity after your body is warmed up.
Having someone to guide you and having no one to guide you are two different things.
When it comes to fitness, you will know whether you are professional or not just by trying it. Your body will not lie.
After practicing for ten minutes at a time, I felt that it was completely different from the blind practice before, and I immediately became a believer.
And there is also a biggest bug. Throughout the 1980s, the most popular way of fitness in Europe and the United States, especially in Citibank, was jogging. From the president to the homeless, jogging was popular throughout the Citibank.
This is also the reason why sports brands such as Nike and Adidas launched jogging shoes crazily in those years, boosting their brand share.
The result was that many people completely destroyed their knees at that stage.
Citigroup has an age group with a particularly high rate of knee surgeries and wheelchair use, which is related to this.
As the old saying goes, what is sweet to others may be poison to me. Nothing is universally applicable and each situation must be treated specifically.
The human body is the most complex and amazing organism on the planet .
There are hundreds or thousands of bones, muscles, and meridians, and the differences between people are too great, so we must prescribe the right medicine for the right disease.
This is the meaning of fitness trainers.
In the 1990s, this concept did not even exist in China.
It is not complete internationally.
Foreigners who can live in this kind of hotel and maintain fitness habits are basically big guys with strong personalities and self-disciplined lives. There are many directors of the China region, managers of the Asia headquarters, and directors of the Eastern Business Department.
You can gain trust in just one go, and maybe the next day you will ask other colleagues to move here. There is a very good fitness coach, no language barriers, no cultural barriers, and it’s free... Well, this is not good, very bad.
This is not in line with European and American values, you have to tip.
In particular, the waiter took the initiative to explain that this was not our staff, and if any financial disputes or physical injuries occurred, it had nothing to do with us.
Then you have to tip more...
He was not stingy with small bills of ten or twenty dollars.
Jing Xiaoqiang could earn one hundred dollars a day at the beginning!
This is equivalent to a free hotel stay for 700 or 800 yuan!
It’s still 1990!
For a guy like him who is so socially adept, he can only talk until the foreign guests leave and then suddenly realize, "I'm in China. I thought I was in the gym in Bryant Park in Manhattan."
They are also foreigners who have come from afar for business trips and work, and they also miss their hometown.
You are from California, I know that. I have a girlfriend from there and she taught me to drink some wine before dinner. But the saying that it can soften blood vessels is nonsense. You also have to work out. Your movements are very standard!
Oh, is your hometown Sicily? I also had a girlfriend...
In fact, Jing Xiaoqiang himself can’t say that he traveled around the world, but he has a girlfriend who traveled around the world.
Because the best and most beautiful singers and dancers have to come to Broadway to preach.
No matter how beautiful or fairy-like a girl is, she still has to eat, drink, defecate and urinate on the ground. The more unwilling a girl is to lie on her agent's bed, the easier it is for her to get along with the security guard, the vice president and the special commissioner of the union.
It's easy to feel lonely in a foreign country, and if you feel a little insecure, Robert, please come and keep me company...
Don't have too much of this experience.
Everyone thought he was joking and said, "Robert, you are so funny. Thank you for your company and guidance. I feel much better. This tip is to express my gratitude."
So from seven to nine o'clock, there was a constant stream of fitness guests, and Jing Xiaoqiang was busy all the way, and three hundred dollars was almost the average amount.
A few local Shanghai tycoons felt embarrassed that they came here every day but could not afford to give a tip of five or ten dollars.
This is close to the monthly salary in many regions in the country!
Jing Xiaoqiang happily pulled others to continue practicing, and whispered jokingly, "We are united against the outside world and specialize in making foreign exchange. Thank you uncles for your help. Can we have breakfast and tea together?"
Aren’t people helping him with publicity every day?
He then gave the waiter a ten dollar tip...
When the manager came to find out, and heard that he was a singer in a symphony orchestra and a makeup trainer for an international airline, wouldn't he be in awe?
The management of foreign-related hotels these days is extremely strict. Tips for waiters can indeed be considered extra income, but anyone who dares to touch a customer's shampoo bottle cap will be fired. Even the manager doesn't dare to chase Jing Xiaoqiang away. If these foreign guests complain, he will definitely ask Xiaoqiang to come back and leave.
So Jing Xiaoqiang came up with an idea himself. He took the initiative to apply for an international hotel VISA card, which is still very rare in the mainland, and then checked in at the negotiated price and counted it as the manager's employee task. This is actually the combined discounts of three high-end hotels.
The standard room originally cost 838, and the long-term private room cost 288 per night. No one would question such VIPs interacting with other foreign guests in the gym.
In fact, the manager wanted to invite Jing Xiaoqiang to join the company as a formal coach.
A monthly salary of five hundred and fifty.
It is definitely a high salary in China, and you can get tips with a clear conscience.
But how could Jing Xiaoqiang tie himself up here?
