Every day ever since I came back from China has been a good day! I'm feeling happy and contend, an extension of the vacation.
Today I finally went to that jewelry store called 'Sharif' to pick up my watch which was left there to replace the band two month ago. I accidently broke the mesh band from hitting somewhere hard. They fixed it for me, to my surprise, at no charge! It's only a hundred dollar watch where the band replacement costs 40 bucks on their website, and they did it for free! What a wonderful experience I've been having with this store and I will not hesitate to recommend it to any of my friends. In fact, the sales lady who sold me the ring early this year is always so nice to me, and that makes me feel kind of guilty using all these services without buying more stuff whenever visiting them. I wish it's a clothing store instead of a jewelry one -- how often can I commit a buy in a jewelry store? Still, I kind of indicated an interest in a pair of jade earring..... Who would mind another pair of earring, ladies? :)
There is a major difference in sales people's attitude here vs in China. To be honest, I have not encountered a single occasion during my entire month long trip where service people offered me a pleasant and happy face when being asked for something, if they are not trying to sell me something. Most of them simply dismissed me with a barely-there gesture or voice, without even looking at me in the eye. They do let me know the answer to my question, just in a not-so-caring way. I was not feeling mad but sad when being treated this way each time. It tells me that they don't like their job and were merely doing it out of must-dos.
I figured years ago how to answer the question of "what do you like most about living here in U.S?", and I will tell people that it's the respect you receive from everyday people, in every possible way. I'm appreciated to it.