Touching things in a store

[optical]

Asking this might be tantamount to asking why people sleep in Ikea stores, but regardless I thought I might ask. What is up with people touching everything in the stores here? They will walk down an aisle in the store, and touch 7, 8, or even 10 items, not really looking at them, not wanting to buy them, just touch them, fiddle with them, not even pick it up or even attempt to see what it is. I see this happening constantly in every type of store I go in to. I had some friends from China whom I know in the US and while they are shopping in the US I see them doing this.

Is there any reason why, or is it because of the same reason people sleep in Ikea? (AKA No reason, just a weird thing about China)

[madizi]

Just touching things? I've seen them opening boxes and taking things out of them. But there is a reason for this. You can get broken product even in fancy supermarkets and they are checking if everything is as it should be, ie. not broken. After buying broken light bulbs in a supermarket I also adopted this practice.

Like Forrest Gump said: "... you never know what you're gonna get.":mrgreen:

[FSO]

I think it's even more cultural than madizi suggests; It's what they've seen their parents, and their parents' parents do.

Go and watch Chinese shop for food sometime.

[zozzen]

Being curious in everything isn't really bad or poorly mannered at all, but sleeping in a furniture shop should be very careful now.

Watch out this: (old video)

http://www.koreus.com/video/water-bed.html

[Rincewind]

It's not unique to China. I have observed similar behaviour in the UK. Even my own father. It's particularly pronounced if something is marked as special offer or reduced. It's not connected with actual purchase or merchantable quality, there's something else going on. People will randomly poke and prod bags and boxes. They'll pick up a handful of rice, then pour it back and walk away. And in the UK they'll manhandle apples and tomatoes then not buy any.

[optical]

What surprised me the very most about this is it's not that they are checking for product quality - there is absolutely no interest in buying. It's like, they just touch everything for the sake of touching it, and again, don't even look at it. Like grab it and keep walking and put it back before your arm gets out of reach of it and never even seeing it. When I asked my friend from China while we were in America why he was touching everything in the store he just said, "Oh, I don't know, I didn't really realize I was doing it until you told me just now."

It makes me feel leary to buy anything that is in the front of a shelf, knowing all the thousands of finger prints that cover it and who knows what germs and bacteria.

[Pravit]

I honestly have to say I have never noticed people in China touching things in stores any more than people in the US. I touch things all the time when I shop and I happen to be of Chinese descent; is this another one of those "I noticed Chinese people doing X weird thing. Why are Chinese people weird?" threads? As for why I personally would touch things, it's usually just for fun, like browsing with your fingers as well as your eyes. I like touching random pieces of clothing I have no intention to buy. Sometimes I run my fingers along the spines of books in bookstores. I like picking up fruits and vegetables just to feel them. I have also noticed many non-Chinese people do this in the US, where I live.

Now here's something I've noticed - not to pick on you particularly, but I've noticed some western people who go to China seem to get hypersensitive about unusual behavior and attribute it to Chinese-ness, when in actuality it could just be a few individuals being weird, or entirely normal behavior the person never noticed in other countries.

People sleep in IKEA for the same reason people build colossal towers at the salad bar in Pizza Hut - because they can, and people in developing(and many developed) countries will jump to take advantage of all the free things they can get, simply for the sake of it. It has nothing to do with some unfathomable Chinese mindset.

Also, if you're worried about germs, people touching things in stores is the least of your concerns in China ;)

[Lu]

It makes me feel leary to buy anything that is in the front of a shelf, knowing all the thousands of finger prints that cover it and who knows what germs and bacteria.

Ehm, do you use money? Do you know who had that one yuan note before you, and where it's been?

I don't know why Chinese people touch things, but I know I do it too. Like Pravit says, browsing with your hands. As to the rice, it feels nice to sift it through your fingers.

[shanghaikai]

Freud has answers.

[madizi]

Yep, Lu, money is dirty (in spite of emperor Vespasian's saying that "money doesn't stink"). Not so long ago I read in newspaper that they found traces of cocaine on Euro banknotes. That menas, that you never know when you are "in touch" with this filthy drug.

What concerns me more in China is, that sometimes there is a lot of dust on some products, even on food. That menas, that you have to wipe them up before using and also wash your hands carefully. I even saw one Chinese friend washing apples with cleanser for dishes.

As Pravit said, you cannot generalize habits of some people. Everyone has his own habits and customs, like evrywhere else. There are, of course, some customs that are characteristic for wide comunnity, but it is not advisable to put all strange events in this category.

[Rincewind]

I even saw one Chinese friend washing apples with cleanser for dishes.

Actually you can buy special soap here for washing vegetables. I do this too as usually I buy a double pack of kitchen utensil and vegetable cleansers. The kitchen utensil cleaner is in a orange bottle and the veg cleaner in a green bottle. I you hadn't looked close at the bottle you could be mistaken for thinking I was using same product for both uses.

[gougou]

I you hadn't looked close at the bottle you could be mistaken for thinking I was using same product for both uses.

The one I use (I think it's called Goldfish) has pictograms for both uses. As I mostly eat fruit that needs to be peeled anyway (and don't wash my dishes ) I can't attest to that.

[owshawng]

In the US I've seen people open peanut butter or mayonaise jars, stick their figer in to "sample" a bit. They then found it not satisfying so they put the lid back on and retuned the jar to the shelf. Always make sure you are the first person who has opened a jar or box of food, no matter what country you are in. could be posined, drugged, or has someone's nasty finger or other body part stuck in it.

[cdn_in_bj]

I even saw one Chinese friend washing apples with cleanser for dishes.

Actually, this is done in the west as well (at least in US/Canada), though this practise is not recommend by the health agencies as the detergent can be absorbed into the skin of fruits and vegetables. There are however special "food-safe" detergents, which can be found here as well. That said, given the questionable product safety standards here I'd be very cautious about washing food with any sort of chemicals, even ones that are labelled as being food-safe.

[shanghaikai]

In the US I've seen people open peanut butter or mayonaise jars, stick their figer in to "sample" a bit. They then found it not satisfying so they put the lid back on and retuned the jar to the shelf. Always make sure you are the first person who has opened a jar or box of food, no matter what country you are in. could be posined, drugged, or has someone's nasty finger or other body part stuck in it.

Really? When was this? It's odd because last I recall, such jars usually contained tamper-proof seals that would make it impossible and quite obviously wrong for anyone to poke their finger into the product for a "sample."

[madizi]

Food-safe detergents? No thanks! I wash fruits and vegetable with water and rub them for a long time before puting them in wok. I think that it is still healthier than to use "food-safe" detergents.

[owshawng]

Shanghaikai, I saw a lot of that when I was working in supermarkets That's why I make sure the tamper tamper resistant plastic is in place. Not all jars come with that though, so if the vacuum seal doesn't pop when I open it, I don't eat it. If it doesn't have a plastic wrap and/or a vacuum seal, I don't buy it.

I use the fruit and veg wash from the local organic shop to wash my produce in.

[shanghaikai]

I certainly can't vouch for every brand or every jar, but don't a lot of jars now come with that foil seal under the cap? That pretty clearly says "keep you nosey fingers out...especially if they've been in your nose!"

If you've worked in a supermarket, I'll defer to your intimate experience on this one. But I'm sure you understand what I mean when I say I can't imagine people having the audacity of doing what should be obviously forbidden to do.

For all you guys and your food detergents, I just want to say:

That which does not kill me only makes me stronger!

[gougou]

That which does not kill me only makes me stronger!

Trouble is it does kill you, only very slowly...

[heifeng]

Going back to touching things, I know for clothing,bags, and stuffed animals I may touch each and everyone of them if I feel like it because I want to see what the fabric is like or because I want to see it more clearly...To be honest though I haven't seen Chinese people that much worse than others in clothing and other stores....except when it comes to BOOK STORES. The bookstores here are more like libraries and this has been on the news several times about how many books become unsellable b/c of people (children and adults) just mangling them in the stores...