It never ceases to amaze me what people can get away with in China in terms of service levels and more specifically for the purpose of this post standards of contruction. I remember when I used to teach in Yantai arriving to my freshly painted classroom to find I couldn’t pug in my laptop let alone turn on the lights because the idiots had painted over, yes over, every switch and plug socket in the room. Or the class room where rather than fix a leak problem they had found “clever” solution of funneling the offending liquid out of the window using a length of garden hose. Never mind what water would do to the ceiling cavity of the building.
It was then not surprise to me to notice this amazing piece of handy work in my new apartments bathroom at Chateau Regency in Suzhou Industrial Park.
Shower: “Good”, Basin: “Good” .. so what’s the probem?
The cleaver idiots decided that in order to fit both a shower and a basin in the same bathroom, they would need to prevent the shower door from opening more than about 25cm thus preventing anybody over 50kg from using it. (If you are like me, living in China and living on a diet of chinese food, junk western food and beer has done nothing for your waist line).
It doesn’t only surprise me that anybody would design or install it this way, it surprises me that my landlord would accept it installed this way. It is this sort of complacency stemming ultimately from planned economy that is rampant in China’s service industry.
Expect more from me on this one..
Comments 1
Fantastic design. I haven’t had anything quite this bad (I’ve been careful). Of course, my entire apartment is falling apart due to cheap construction. Worst I ever saw was one apartment with a child-sized toilet in a bathroom so small that I wouldn’t be able to close the door while sitting on the can. There was also the apartment with a washing machine under the shower because it was the only place it would work.
Posted 17 Mar 2008 at 10:31 am ¶Post a Comment