Beijing vice-mayor Lu Hao took an inspection tour of shopping centers and restaurants on Tuesday, the evening of the Spring Festival, and he was not entirely please with what he saw. The following quotes have been taken from an article in The Beijing News:

    "Beijing's shopping centers lead the country in terms of physical structure, but on the service front we still need to work on some details to improve the overall level. Store managements must consider the aesthetic appearance of the service staff. Uniforms must fit - they should not be too loose or too tight. These details require the resolve of everyone in Beijing - we can't have people say that we're uncultured.
    "Why do some of the cashiers' uniforms have three buttons and some two?...The staff uniforms do not fit well. Some of them are long-sleeved and some are short-sleeved, and there is no single color scheme. Also, many dressing rooms don't have mirrors in them."

In June of this year a Three-year Plan for the Business and Service Sector to Welcome the Olympics will be launched to improve the details in these areas by the time Beijing hosts the Olympics in 2008. Other details Lu mentioned include muzak and improved parking management. Holiday restaurant reservations will be standardized to insure patrons are neither ripped-off nor denied their right to welcome the New Year with a midnight meal.

And greetings will be getting the Wal-Mart treatment; staff should speak so as to let customers feel that the greeting is heartfelt rather than merely a mechanical recitation.

Related Link: Danwei's recent report of the Beijing mayor's complaints about the city's hygiene.