Confessions of a Corporate Shopaholic

I admit I walk fast, and I mean really fast.  I seldom wander around aimlessly on the streets of crowded and densely populated Hong Kong, and walking in the city for me is a mission to get from point A to point B.  Yes I know it sounds robotic and industrious, but to me there’s not much fun rubbing shoulders with thousands of strangers, be stepped on by people behind me, or bumping into people who have no intention looking forward when they walk.  I am rather impatient with people like that and hence walking on the streets for me is like steering myself in a video game: sliding through as many pedestrians as possible while picking the shortest, more direct routes.

It’s exactly the opposite when I am in the countryside.  I want to soak up all the fresh air, scenery and the hard-earned quietness.  I really could sit down on the grass and let my mind ponders, perhaps into absolutely nothing.

Back to the city.  To add to all the craziness, there are plenty of product and restaurant promoters standing in the middle of the most crowded streets holding up large signboards with one hand, and handing out pamphlets that will give you nasty paper cuts if you don’t have your arms and fists protected.   These days, there are also plenty of street donation booths popping up everywhere, usually coupled with supposedly volunteers holding out donation boxes approaching each and every person passing by.  They would sometimes stand guard at all the zebra crossings so that you have nowhere to run whiling waiting to cross the roads.  There are simply obstacles everywhere.

Yes I do have a thing with all the street side donation booths.  Even if you don’t count the possible scams out there, I still do not give out donations on the streets.  When I donate to charities, I will make an informed choice based on reasearch I have done both on the mission as well as to the handling agencies.  I respect those who donate on the streets, but it is just not my thing.  I seriously think it is an invasion of my privacy by anyone trying to stop me for whatever agenda they have.  It is downright harassment.   I will still smile at the volunteers but at the same time shaking my head signalling my unwillingness to slow down.

I don’t mind being approached by innocent tourists asking for directions, because I know how helpless I can get if I am lost in a foreign land.  I get approached in all the weirdest places you can think of, and virtually in every foreign city that I have been.  I don’t know why even when I look nothing like the locals.  Perhaps it’s my hectic pace that convinces people as if I know where I am going?  Though one thing I particularly have a problem with is when they try to grab my attention by patting or even pinching me.  Body contact by strangers creeps me out.  I think it is downright rude and I usually would simply stare right back at them.   What happens with civility these days?

Any don’t get me started on civility.  Countless times have I been stuck in the elevator because people jump right in without waiting for others to get out first.  What’s the rush of 10 seconds?  Same thing with getting on and off the subway and this is witnessed all around the world.   You can see people eating and drinking on the subway and buses all the time.  People are leaning their entire body on railings so that they can free their hands holding up newspapers to read, leaving zero room for others to hold on.  People screaming at the top of their lungs into their mobile phones.   When I see parents praising their kids who literally run pass the line and jump into subway carts grabbing the 4 empty seats for the whole family, I lose all hope in mankind.

I have friends who tell me that I need to contain my rage by avoiding all forms of public transportation and crowded public areas.  They told me driving would be my best alternative.  But seriously, wouldn’t I do a lot more damage with a high-speed motor vehicle?  Who says this city’s driving manners are anything more civilized?