Yes Men

One of the more irritating Chinese habits is their stubborn refusal to acknowledge when they don't understand your request. I encounter this with my secretary periodically. The perfectly acceptable response is, "Could you repeat that? I have no idea what you just said." I fully expect this response since I don't speak Chinese and English is not her first language. Never once has she said it, however. Instead, she said yes and walks out of the room.

Today I ran errands with a friend with a car (must have friends with cars and drivers). I told the driver I wanted to go to XYZ which I remembered being south of our then present location. He was insistent that I was wrong about the location and drove the other direction. I was a bit miffed, but knowing that I have a penchant for being wrong, I didn't put up much of a fight. After a bit of driving in the other direction, my friend the car owner said "Mr. Guo, we are going to XYZ factory, right?" To which Mr. Guo make it perfectly clear he had no idea what XYZ factory is or where it is located. Then where in the hell is he taking us? My friend repeated the question: "Mr. Guo, do you know where XYZ factory is?" "Not open today" was his face saving response. Hum. That would be unusual.

I never did figure out where he was headed and it just burns me that he argued with me when he clearly didn't know either.

My secretary is learning not to argue with me. If I'm wrong, state your case clearly and succinctly. I'm willing to listen. I often have misconceptions about what can and can't be done in China. But "no, you can't do that". Why? "Because they said so", does not cut it. Neither does: "yes, I understand" when you obviously do not. Finally, if you are going to launch into a protracted argument with your boss, make sure you understand what he or she is asking, what the correct answer is and why.