We Steal from the Chinese

They say that 1 human year is the equivalent to 7 dog years. Not sure how they came up with this or why the two have to be compared in this way. Isn’t it simpler to just say that dogs don’t live as long as humans? Then we can start using the dog year analogy for other things. For example, 1 year running a business in China is the equivalent to 7 human years. I am sure this might apply to more things then just running a business, but I can speak first hand that it has been 2 years since the Chicago Coffee Company was established and the toil it has taken feels nothing short of an equivalent 14 years of life.

There are ways to keep this kind of wear and tear off the proverbial business tires. Shortcuts. There are shortcuts to be had in any country in the world and even the US of A is certainly not without its share of corruption and injustice. But here shortcuts in this political and economic system are so widely used that they can no longer be considered shortcuts. They are the status quo. Because of this “playing by the rules” and “following the law” are such foreign concepts that in order to do so the government has actually set it up to discourage such behavior. i.e the Fapiao 发票 system (which I hope to touch on in a later post).

One of those shortcuts is the use of 关系 “Guan Xi” or the use of relationships or each person’s social capital to incur favors in order to get something done that otherwise would not be possible. The more guanxi one person or one company has the more favor one can enjoy from other companies, individuals, or government entities.

Another shortcut is less a cultural custom and more of a universal injustice practiced in almost every country in the world. That shortcut is simply the violation of an established minimum wage for workers and/or the violation of basic employee rights in order to save money or time or both. Fast food giants, McDonalds, KFC and Pizza Hut, are notorious minimum wage violators and have been found guilty in some Chinese cities of underpaying its workers.

It is no secret to most that these Fast Food giants have been paying sometimes half the minimum wage or as little as 3 or 4 yuan per hour (43 – 58 cents per hour) despite having lower operating costs and the same prices as their U.S. based counterparts. Instead of just settling for making a hefty profit they have chosen to steal from the Chinese so they can make a killing at every one of their 100’s of locations. And the worst part is its not just mega chains that have taken up this practice but even local foreign owned restaurants and cafes like Silver Spoon* have made this common practice and run on the reputation of abusing Chinese workers simply because its cheaper and easier. I understand that Chinese companies do this as well and they should be called to the same standards as well, but it is disgusting to see foreign businesses doing it without any concern or respect for the Chinese people.

I am not perfect in what I do by any means, and I can’t guarantee that those that work for my company will leave thinking it was the best job they have ever had. But I can guarantee they will be paid a fair wage of at least the minimum wage (nearly double the city average wage) and that they will be shown the respect and concern they deserve as fellow human beings. The Chinese are not just cheap labor and those that treat them as such will surely be held accountable at some point.

* Changes in management have been made recently at Silver Spoon so I am unaware if other changes to their practices have been made as well