People have told me several times recently that I'm very lucky. I'm starting to believe it.
Yesterday morning I went to put my guitar in its new case--purchased last Friday--and discovered a problem. Although I had checked the case out using a guitar that looked just like mine and cost the same as mine, it was not in fact the same. The lower body of my guitar was actually around an inch or half an inch wider than the one I used in the store. The store guitar fit into the case perfectly. My guitar would not fit. And the store hadn't given me a receipt.
I spent a lot of time praying that day.
I asked a couple of advanced Chinese-speaking teachers from my department if they could help me out in the morning, going down to the store with me to back up my beginner's Chinese. Unfortunately, they all had Chinese class when I was free. One of them said she could help me after our faculty meeting in the afternoon, but when the meeting was over, she said that she had something else she needed to do right away. I asked another teacher, and she said she could help me.
As I was explaining the situation, someone said that in China, the rule is "buyer beware." He didn't think that I'd be able to exchange the case, and he said that there was no way I would ever get my money back. The girl who was going to help me said that I might be able to exchange it, but to forget about my money. Frankly, the money didn't bother me because I want/need a case!
It took a while before she was ready to go. We didn't leave for downtown until 4:45. I wasn't sure when the store would close, so I paid for a taxi. I took the case and my guitar with me so that the store could see that I wasn't just being stupid or fussy: the two guitars really did look the same.
The store was still open when we got downtown at 5:10. I actually did all the talking, though I couldn't understand what they were saying to me. The lady who had helped me was there, so she knew that I bought it on Friday. The boss was there, too, and he came over to help. He told us that a bigger case should be coming in three or four days, and then he offered to give me my money back! He asked how much I had paid. I told him 180 yuan, and then he went and got my money--no fuss, no arguing; I didn't even have to ask to exchange or get a refund! Talk about thankful. I'm planning on going back down on Friday of this week to check out the bigger cases.
No oof my friends here seem to know the saying, but with my train and Beijing adventures and guitar-related escapades, "God watches over innocents and fools" sure rings true in my life.
Posted by at May 25, 2004 7:34 AM