The Musings Of An Opinionated Sod [Help Me Grow!]

To be honest, it’s not just me – ask anyone who has lived in Shanghai [OK, any expat who has lived in Shanghai] and I’m pretty sure they’d agree.

Apart from the fact the food is bloody amazing, the service levels are impeccable.

As much as people like to heap shit on the standards of cleanliness and service you get in this part of the World, Din Tai Fung [as well as pretty much every major hotel] literally piss all over the global competition.

I have been to this restaurant literally hundreds of times.

Hell, I once went there 6 times in one week.

SIX.

Yet despite that, they still continually give me a ‘satisfaction form’ to fill in on every visit.

To be honest, having filled so many in, I can now do it with my eyes closed, however just recently I realised that there may be more reasons behind them doing this than simply ensuring perfect product and service.

To explain what I mean, here is the form they give you …

Pretty standard eh?

They ask you a question and then invite you to tick good, fair or poor.

But look at those options, good … fair and poor.

Putting aside the fact that even Gordon bloody Ramsey couldn’t give them a ‘poor’ rating on any aspect of their brand experience, I find it interesting they only let you tick up to ‘good’.

When I’ve been given these sorts of forms from other companies – mainly Western companies – there always seems to be an additional option of ‘excellent’, but not here.

The reality is I’d be ticking that ‘excellent’ box every single time if it was there, which got me thinking …

+ Is it because it ensures no one in the company can get complacent about their standards?

+ Is it because I’m a planner who thinks way too much about this sort of thing?

Whatever the reason, it’s evil ‘social manipulation’ genius.

Well, unless it’s the last option, then it’s just plain evil.

Last thing, Din Tai Fung is a chain and they’re in quite a few cities around the World – so if there is one near you, you have to go.

I promise that you will not regret it, especially as the food and service standards are more consistent than errrrm, something really good that’s also really consistent. Like Queen and Birkenstocks for example. Ahem.

Any good?

No, I thought not.

Well, to help you feel even more depressed about your life, here’s an interview with an astronaut … not just any astronaut, but the charismatic bugger who decided to record Bowie’s ‘Space Oddity’ aboard the international space station.

I have to admit, I have a bit of a man-crush on Chris Hadfield – the astronaut in question.

Apart from single-handedly proving not all Canadians are beige [though Toronto Mayor, Rob Ford, is also doing a good job at that], he is intelligent, charming and yet down to earth.

I’ll be posting a few things about him in the next few weeks, but I’d like to start off with this – an interview he gave to Classic Rock Magazine [yes, I buy it, deal with it] which is a gentle introduction into his wonderfulness, especially when he explains how he came to record the Bowie hit in the first place.

Try not to feel too sad after you’ve read it … when you look up and realise you are sitting in a beige cubicle, inside a faceless office where you make ads no one watches for a living.

I think I could have a second career as a councillor, what do you reckon?

So it’s 2014.

TWENTY FOURTEEN.

How amazing is that!

A new year.

A new start.

A new dawn of possibilities and potential.

Where will you go?

What will you see?

What will you discover and experience?

Given you’re here – reading the same rubbish I have written for the past EIGHT YEARS – it seems the reality is you’re in for the same 12 months of disappointment as you’ve just had.

Which means England are definitely NOT going to win the World Cup.