Power Down- Behind the Scenes Pt 2

2:00 PM January 16^th- the Police

I think I only need 2 more punches on my VIP police card to get a free sandwich.

Seriously I have called 110 (911) so many times this week for good reason that I literally had a cop car out front of the coffee shop so they could keep a closer eye on me. I had money stolen from my company this week and the police just laughed at me. But when I was accused of taken $2 worth of junk from the new management company I had 8 officers there in a heartbeat ready to arrest me if I didn’t cooperate. The difference? The guy accusing me is a guy with power and money. He has relationships with the police. I don’t. The same policemen that laughed at me a few days before were back and demanding action over some junk. Welcome to the dichotomy of China. For people with power and money anything can be done in a heartbeat. For everyone else that makes us 99% of the country, good luck. Even if that wasn’t enough, the new management company guy threatened me even with the police standing right there and the police didn’t even blink. It could not have been more obvious and direct.

6:00 PM January 17^th - the Police return

After finally getting to the bottom of the power situation, I returned with my manager to the old management company to discuss where everyone’s money for the electricity bills had gone. The power company said that the old management company wouldn’t even take their calls to work this problem out. Granted it was Sunday night but in light of this situation I expected the workers in the office to at least call the people in charge to answer a few questions. When they ignored me and told me to come back sometime next week, I told them it was really crucial to talk to someone tonight. Well they didn’t even look up from their TV show when I asked them the second time. Maybe I lit too big of a fire to the situation but I wasn’t in the mood to be disrespected and ignored when the stakes where so high and I spent so long being lied to by both of the management companies. So I unplugged the monitor that they were watching. Well that got them up on their feet and ready to take action. Unfortunately not the action I was looking for. They went to guns blazing in a half a second and were in our face yelling and threatening a beat down. So we called the police.

Busy signal.

Perfect, nothing like being in an emergency and the emergency line being busy. 4 or 5 minutes later the police did finally arrive to try to get a hold of the situation. You will never believe what side these police immediately took. The other people. Yes I did aggravate those old management company guys and I probably deserved the reaction I got but we certainly weren’t the ones that were threaten to beat someone up when the police arrived. From the management guy’s suggestion the police accused us of coming here to steal from them despite the fact that the office is no longer operational and completely barren of anything of value. I begged the police to file a report last week when I was stolen from but they said no way. This time they were filling a report without even being asked. I think I may have set a record for a foreigner and police reports in a 3 day span without actually doing anything illegal.

Everything seemed to be fine despite the uproar until the management guys got up in my manager’s face swearing at her and calling her names despite the presence of 7 cops in the room.

The police did nothing.

They simply watched.

So I did what any crazy person would do and stepped in front of my manager and put some distance between her and these two guys. When they pushed forward to get at her again I pushed them back against the wall with some force. That’s when one of them punched me in the throat and only let go when I was able to push him back off again.

The police just watched.

No attempt to help.

And when things settled down again their only recollection was that the foreigner tried to hit the Chinese men and they didn’t see the Chinese men do anything! You have got to be kidding! What does it take to get some justice here. I refuse to let Chinese thugs threaten people and especially women without any recourse. If it means I am the one that has to pay the consequences then so be it. I am willing to accept the consequences for my actions.

Power Down- Behind the Scenes Pt 1

I think after blogging about some day last week being a perfect storm of problems, I think it only made sense to have the weekend that I had. I have always said that my now 3 years plus of doing business here in China will make a great book when and if I go home all in one piece. But this power situation in THINK UK may just be a book all unto itself.

I thought long and hard about whether to share some of the experiences I had on this blog and I decided to because I have always been completely honest and open here regardless of how it makes me look. If you haven't read much about what happened here then take a look back at the last dozen or so blog posts to get an idea of the craziness of the whole thing and then come back and read about some of the behind the scenes stuff that I saw, created, or witnessed over the last 5 or 6 days.

3pm January 15th - the Mayor's Office

After being without power for 6 hours and receiving little or no answers to what caused the problem or how long the problem would last, I started making phone calls to see if we could force the issue. One of those calls was to the Mayor's Office.

(Most of my experiences here were greatly helped by the work of my excellent company manager, Teresa. Without her hard work a lot of the work we did to help get this problem alleviated would not have been possible. She did not have to put her self in harm's way but she did anyways. Some of these experiences are partly hers but I will tell them in first person for clarity)

I explained the growing situation that was upon us here in THINK UK. We asked for help as these apartment complex's problems led to a lot of anger and violence over the last few months and as recently as that morning. We implored the Mayor to take action before things got worst. After I stated the situation, I realized quickly that help would not be provided. Just the opposite. The Mayor's representative began accusing me of causing problems and stirring up the masses and encouraging violence. I was told to stop standing up for these things and that if I didn't back off I would be risking heavy consequences. Maybe I should have backed off, but as the next few days progressed backing off was clearly not something I do naturally.

Power protection for the future

Finally, a decision that makes sense. Think Uk'ers can now apply at the new management company for direct deposit for electric bills. Take a copy of your landlords ID and a copy of your rental contrat to the new management to apply. I guess this is better 5 months late than never at all.


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Power Up!

I am still holding my breath but a resolution may have been reached. The new management company finally came through this morning and paid their unpaid bills. So for the time being the power company has backed off. The old management still has not paid their bills and are still hoarding all of our money but hopefully that won't lead to any more power outages.

For now enjoy the electricity as I know we all have a new found fondness for it.

Power Down Update 1/17 9:00 PM

All last ditch efforts have failed. After 3 hours in power company lobby I was finally allowed to talk to the highest leader involved in the power situation. Here is the absolute nuts and bolts of the situation. The power company is owed money. The two management companies both old and new owe a ton of money and refuse to talk or negotiate with the power company thus making the situation what it is. The power company will turn off the power from 9am-6pm every day starting Monday and honestly I see no end in sight. None of the 3 companies involved care at all what happens to the THINK UK residents so I don't see how that will ever change. They simply don't care and have nothing to lose. So don't believe anything that either management company says. They lie. Just today the new management company said they paid their entire amount owed so they were off the hook. The head boss at the power company said no such thing happened. So the management companies keep accumulating our money and who knows where it is going.

But Chicago Coffee will do our best to be open during this power outage. We have a generator coming tomorrow so if you need a place to hang out feel free to join us and swap stories. I have some good ones from the last few days.

Most of all. Stay safe. There are some crazy people out there and there is no telling what some people are willing to do.

Power Trip

Hello think Uk fellow residents. I have decided to peacefully sit in the power company office 二环西路高新科技广场398号 until someone comes to begin negotiating our power situation. The news is coming soon so I hope that I can at least raise awareness of the problem and get some real information.


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Power Down- ACT NOW!

THINK UK’s Power will be turned off again tomorrow, Monday, and it will be off indefinitely until the remainder of the unpaid power bills are paid. Please call the power company at 95598 and strongly encourage them to only turn off the power of those residents and businesses that have not paid. The more people that call the more chance we have of avoiding this terrible problem.

Power Down Update 1/16 11:00 PM

Perhaps a slimmer of hope. A notice has been made that THINK UK residents may be able to apply for bank cards to pay for everyone's electrical bill on their own. Its unknown whether this will keep the power company from cutting the electricity on Monday but its better than nothing. More details tomorrow.

Power Down Update 1/16 6:00 PM

Little progress to report on the power down situation in THINK UK. The new management company finally has a real store front to house their office instead of the carnival tent that they were residing in before. Unfortunately the clownish activities that usually happen inside are still a main feature of this management company. After my suggestion of leaning harder on the 600 residents that have not paid their electric bill was rejected, I decided to obtain the full list of these 600 residents and give them each a "friendly" reminder that their bill needs to be paid immediately. So we manually cut power to 200 of the 600 residents in hope to spur some action before Black Monday is upon us.

Side Note: I apologize to anyone that is falsely accused of bad behavior. Most outraged residents are looking for me "the foreigner who is turning people's power off."

Even after the steady flow of residents went to pay their unpaid bills the new management company was still upset that I would dare do something that was their job. I explained that if they were doing their job then I wouldn't feel the need to do it for them.

All in all, after much prodding the new management company supposedly began negotiating with the power company to only turn off the power to those residents that have unpaid bills. Something I wished would have been done before cutting the power off to everyone. So I will check again tomorrow and hopefully there will be some hope that Black Monday can be avoided. Until then I am off to use as much electricity as I can before its too late.

Here is the full list of all 600 unpaid residents. If you know anyone on this list please encourage them to pay!

Power Down Update 1/16 11:00 AM

Power in THINK UK is still expected to go offline line starting Monday the 18th. I have acquired the list of all 600 residents that need to pay their electric bill before this problem can be resolved. The new management company is still sitting on their hands and hoping that the problem resolves itself. I am hoping for a positive update today but I am very weary of the consequences if we dont.

Power Down #2

Hour 5 of the Think Uk standoff. As the story unfolds it turns out that the new management company is the one to blame for a possible permanent power down of the entire complex. The new management collected money for the last 3 months of electric bills and decided not to pass that money onto the power company. The power company in return will shut the power down again to the whole complex on Monday and keep it that way until a bill of 700,000 Rmb is paid. I have cotacted the police, the mayor's office, and the foreign affairs bureau and nobody wants to help. Helpless and powerless. Welcome to China. Where help is only given to those with money or power.

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Power down

The troubles at Think Uk continued today. Between the fools at the old management company, the new management company, and the electric company decided that it would be a good idea to turn off power to the entire complex today at 9 am without warning because of the continued despute over who owes what money. Turning off power to over 8000 residents and over a 100 businesses is never a good idea as rioting filled the streets shortly after the power down.


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