Observation – Page 9 – Vinko’s Thoughts On…

January 29, 2004

Real Estate Agent Game

In Hong Kong whenever a real estate developer sets up a showroom for a new residential property, real estate agents from various agencies would hover around to ask every passerby if they would be interested to look at the property. This in itself is a very annoying thing for the passersby.

While walking in a mall in Hong Kong I saw something that one would only see in Hong Kong.

As you can see, like I described previously, there is a bunch of real estate agents hovering around a property showroom.

One thing even I haven’t seen before are the boundary lines laid across the floor to mark the area where real estate agents must stay behind.

This is just like a sports court where lines mark areas that are out of bounds. Funny… eh?

January 28, 2004

Fashion Police

I guess people’s tastes are sometimes hard to understand as demonstrated in the photo below.

January 27, 2004

Where is My Seat?

I don’t know whether you’ve been to a Chinese restaurant during the busy hours. If you have you will know what I am about to describe.

The most congested place at a Chinese restaurant is at the hostess’ podium. People usually crowd around the podium waiting for a table, as you can see from the photo below.

People do not just wait around quietly for their number to be called. For some reason they seem to have the need to constantly hover over the hostess to find out exactly, minute by the minute, how many people are ahead of them on the wait list.

It is not as if the hostess does not announce the current number. The people who wait have a constant need to look over the hostess’ shoulder to find out their place on the wait list.

What is the reasoning behind this phenomenon? Your guess is as good as mine.

January 26, 2004

Speeding Stop

Consider the question:

Why do drivers in Hong Kong speed up to a red traffic light?

Having driven in Hong Kong for over a year, I have seen so many drivers speed up and then slam on their brakes towards a “red light”.

Drivers who exhibit this habit the most are taxi and mini-bus drivers. You would think that of all people, taxi drivers would have the most to gain if they approached a red light progressively. It would save them gas and lessen the wear on the brakes of their cars.

So, is this just another phenomenon of Hong Kong’s bustling life style?

January 19, 2004

Courtesy

We can be much more courteous to others.

This became much more apparent to me while living in Hong Kong. In general, people in Hong Kong are not too courteous (as mentioned in a previous post “Manners of Hong Kong”).

By making a point of saying “thank you” to every driver who is courteous to me. I hope to be the catalyst of change to improve the driving etiquette of Hong Kong drivers.

January 18, 2004

Traffic Solution

Traffic congestion in Hong Kong is a big problem. This is especially so, for the areas around the “Central Harbour Tunnel”, on both the Hong Kong island and Kowloon sides. This congestion had been a problem for many years, and for almost every hour in the day, 365 days a year.

Recently the Hong Kong government wants to levitate the congestion by increasing land reclamation on the Hong Kong island shore front so to build more roads.

In the mean time there are 2 other tunnels; “Eastern Harbour Tunnel” and “Western Harbour Tunnel”, neither of which are used by many Hong Kong drivers. This is mainly due to economics. There are truck drivers who would drive many kilometers more just to take the Central Harbour Tunnel rather than taking the more direct route of the Western Harbour Tunnel.

I believe there is a much simpler and more economical solution. Just increase the toll of the Central Harbour Tunnel so that it is much (approximately HKD10) more than the other two tunnels.

While at the same time decrease the toll of the Western Harbour Tunnel, which is capable of accommodating a much larger volume of traffic.

November 10, 2003

Pilots

Today I had my first war game with a bunch of “local trained” Cathay Pacific pilots.

It is obvious why they are the cream of the crop. They are a group of very competitive individuals, that are very intelligent and adaptive to challenges. Unfortunately, working as a team is one of these challenges, which their competitiveness gets in the way.

I now feel even safer knowing that at the front of Cathay’s planes are individuals like them who command the aircraft.

November 9, 2003

Different Working Styles

It has now been more than 5 and a half years since I’ve moved back to Hong Kong.

At first I was quite lucky and was sheltered from most of the typical working style of Hong Kong businesses. I worked for large corporations like “Hongkong Telecom”, “Arthur Andersen” and most recently “Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd.”.

My immediate reports for the past 5 years had always been North Americans. To be specific, North Americans who had been working away from North America for a short while (less than 10 years). Also, they have worked in North America for many years prior to coming to Hong Kong or Asia.

You may ask, what is the difference between North American style and Asian style? Well, from my short experience here, I would say it is the objective or driving force behind a task or goal that the employees are trying to achieve.

What do I mean?

In a North American business, when it comes down to getting things done, achieving an objective, one would rarely say that they have to accomplish an objective because of so and so. It is always because it benefits the organization (company) that they are currently employed at.

Where as in Asia (at least in Hong Kong), employees frequently refer to an individual, who is higher up in the echelon, as the reason to achieve an objective.

Which is the better way to success for a company? Well that depends on the individual high up in the echelon who is making all the demands.

To further consider this question; just think of the most successful companies in the world and the cultures they come from.

I have come to my own conclusion, but I will leave it to you to find your own.

November 8, 2003

Long Time No Talk

Many of you have pointed out to me that my Blog is out date.

Well I have no excuse for that. I do apologize to all those who check my Blog regularly.

On the subject of talk. When someone say, “let’s have a talk”, usually that means something no good is about to happen. Especially if it comes from someone who normally does not find time to talk to you out of the blue.

Very few people come right out and tell you that something bad is about to happen. Those who do, will say something like, “we need to discuss this sitting down” or “I have to tell you something important”. These messages give you enough warning so that you can psychologically prepare yourself for what is about to happen.

I think people need to be more brave and be more direct. Let’s stop talking “in between lines”. Just come right out and say it, of course you will need to be tactful while doing so.

October 8, 2003

Scare Tactics

Is this what is has come to?

I found this picture on the street of San Francisco in front of a cross walk.

For those of you who cannot see the picture clearly, it is the chalk outline of a victim with the statistics of fatalities caused by jaywalkers.