Anyone else noticed this?

TinyHulk

BANNED

Feb 8, 2009

231

141

• Dec 2, 2009

• #1

I have alot of different experiences with different Chinese wholesalers and dropshippers.

The thing I dislike is that almost anyone calls me Dear Friend. Some people even call me Best Friend. Wholesalers that clearly want to scam me also keep calling me friend.

Another funny thing is they call themselves Sam, Patrick, Mike etc. So everytime when I contact my chinese supplier I start with: Dear Sam. But I know his real name is Liu.

When I first tried out Chinese wholesalers when everyone called me their friend I thought they were all the same person

This is annoying me. What is your opinion about this?

 

onizuka

Regular Member

Nov 20, 2009

278

32

• Dec 4, 2009

• #2

Yep, I think they do it to try to soften you up. I'm like you are not my friend, just sort of a business associate. Its not like we are ever gonna go grab drinks together

 

Quattro

Junior Member

Jul 14, 2008

134

135

• Dec 4, 2009

• #3

LOL. I've noticed that too... but it's just they way they talk 'respectably' with someone.
It's not that uncommon. Have you noticed how a large majority of sales letters start with 'Dear Friend'?

 

C

createrk

Junior Member

Jan 5, 2009

161

17

• Dec 4, 2009

• #4

yeah, many chinese start with Friend. Its really annoying and i just dont like it.

 

Cookiehunter

Registered Member

Nov 8, 2008

80

49

• Dec 4, 2009

• #5

It's the same in indian shops in england, and also in turkey and Tunesia when they want to sell you something - I find it respectless and annoying!

...it always triggers in me the idea of instantly doing something (just anything) really rude or insulting to interupt their "my friend" pattern and maybe make them think before they call the next gringo "my friend".

 

E

elscapo

Registered Member

May 30, 2009

66

10

• Dec 29, 2009

• #6

This happens in Turkey too, it has to do with the language as well which is a lot more personal than English. I am not sure about Chinese.

 

O

onlinepromoter

Junior Member

Dec 12, 2009

150

57

• Jan 3, 2010

• #7

I've had the experience dealing with chinese merchants at a big bootleg market, in Chech republic, everything was always "excuse me friend, hello friend"... the worst part was how touchy they were.

Also, how they would try to rip you off everytime with haggleing... not sure if that happens doing the whole dealings

 

Griffin

Regular Member

Feb 17, 2009

205

51

• Jan 4, 2010

• #8

It's the same as "Dear Sir or Madam" which bugs me a bit. It's just how they were taught to greet -- same reason why some Japanese people say "Howdy."

 

G

gottaloveit

Registered Member

Aug 9, 2009

56

3

• Jan 4, 2010

• #9

Its there culture, not really that big a deal to me, but is ironic when there scamming you

 

D

Deleted member 36594

Guest

• Jan 4, 2010

• #10

well, like what "gottaloveit" says... it's their culture.

Just like Indians... they usually say "Dear Sir" or "Hi Sir".

 

DrJekyll

Senior Member

Aug 2, 2007

831

710

• Jan 4, 2010

• #11

I agree that it is the culture, just like shaking hands vs. bowing when you meet someone.

 

f0rum182

Registered Member

Dec 26, 2009

85

172

• Jan 11, 2010

• #12

at least it makes it easy to spot scammers (in general) when they start the emails with sir, friend, etc... Yeah I agree the names they choose for themselves are... interesting. On a seperate but funny note, when teaching english in china all the kids would choose the most random english names like Emrod, Spoof, and sometimes superheros like Spiderman and Batman...