Video games or customer service? It's Beijing. We know the answer.

I flew back to Beijing from Dalian today, impressed by the city (which, according to the in-flight map, is actually slightly south of Beijing) and the wonderful people I met there. Never in my travels have I been invited to more meals, hung out with more people, or made more friends in such a short period of time. The whole experience left me somewhat ebullient upon my return.

But alas, even when strongly holding onto a positive attitude, somehow the capital finds a way to wrest it from me.

The scene was the Beijing Saida Airline and Train Ticket Office (No. 11-2 Gongrentiyuchang Beilu - across from Hooters - 6413-2381 or 6413-2382 - email: FanSongLei@hotmail.com). I make frequent visits to this particular ticket outlet, as I often have to catch the train to Tianjin. And before I begin my diatribe, must say that the service has mostly been professional.

Until tonight.

I entered the office around 9pm with my girlfriend. We stood in front of the metal bars and peered down at the two customer service representatives sitting at the two service windows. My girlfriend and I stood there as they intently stared at their respective monitors, with the younger guy on the left continually tapping the spacebar and peering into his colleague's computer screen.

After about 30 seconds went by, I asked them for a ticket to Tianjin, mingzao. "Shao deng yi xia," came the reply. My girlfriend said something was wrong with their computers. So we waited.

Another man walked into the office and stood behind us line. The situation seemed fishy to me and my girlfriend, and we got inklings they were playing video games. The young, slender man on the left cotinued pounding away on his spacebar as we stood silently waiting for service.

"Are you guys playing video games?" asked my girlfriend. "No," they said. Just problems with the computer. I didn't buy it.

I walked down the small corridor and around the corner. I opened the door to their office so I could see their screens. Sure enough, both were playing a shoot-em-up game. They were furious that I had the gall to walk into the office to see for myself.

I walked back to the front counter, where I notified the other customer what they were doing. He sighed and had a mild look of frustration on his face, but continued to just stand and wait (this reaction, in China, could be the subject of a very long psych paper). So did we. There was nothing else we could do.

The customer service reps (and I can't think of a title more unsuitable) continued to play their games, pounding on the space bar and other keys with a look of intense concentration on their faces. They were now openly showing their contempt for us. Three minutes had past, and another customer walked into the store.

Now there were four of us waiting in line to buy train tickets, and the two guys behind the counter couldn't bother stopping, or even pausing, their obviously extremely important game.

The good news is they halted not long after the fourth customer entered the room, and preceded to take his order for tickets first. Then they served the man who was previously standing behind us, clearly punishing us for daring to ask two train ticket sales people to sell us train tickets (and daring to find out they were lying to us when they said they "weren't" playing video games).

They weren't happy when I whipped out my feeble mobile phone camera to snap headshots. Two were sitting at the two windows, while a third man came and went and seemed to spur them into action. All three of their photos are below.

This story doesn't do what we witnessed justice. On our walk home from the sales office, my girlfriend mentioned that we should've had a video done of what occurred, complete with me going into their office to see their screens.

Needless to say, Beijing isn't known for its customer service. There are hundreds - even thousands - of stories just like this one. I don't usually write about these anymore, mainly because they are common and just part of choosing to live in China. But this one seemed to take the contempt and blatant disregard of the public to a much higher degree.

There will be those who link issues like this to the upcoming Olympics. Fortunately, I have a feeling Beijing will be on its best behaviour during those two weeks in August, and people will leave here cooing over how friendly and helpful Beijingers are. And to be truthful and fair, most of them are. But far too many people who work in the customer service industry not only aren't good at their craft, they simply don't care. Bad customer service is one thing, but giving bad customer service and not giving a shit about it, or you, is another.

The fact that an event like this can happen in 2008 in Beijing (or anywhere, for that matter) astonishes me. It shouldn't - I know better. But it still does. And I wonder when I'll finally just get used to it.