Before landed in China to start exploring the mystical Far East, I worked with people from numerous locations including Asia, Middle East, Europe and USA.. The skeptical assurance of "No Problem, Sir !" that I hear from our suppliers always makes me extra cautious as in fact it later translates into a "problem"...

From the very beginning of my China venture, I started hearing "cha bu duo ba!" (almost the same) or a phrase used to claim that the product or service is same as required in order to save a substandard product or service and underestimate customer`s requirement, especially in a labour- intensive production environment where there is a huge gap between customer expectation and supplier`s mentality while consistency remains as a great challenge. It has already been -on the ground- five years in China struggling to change "cha bu duo ba" mentality and open the minds to take another look for changes to make it better... And, ideally implement the motto of "preventing is less expensive than curing" in order to save time, money, as well as to save "face" as it is known to be one of the key elements of the Chinese culture both in business and social life.

Yesterday, I had an encouraging incident in fixing -cha bu duo ba- mentality when I was enjoying my long time favorite Japanese Ramen Vegie Noodle Soup.. The soup is the best part that I like due to its mild taste and warming feeling especially in winter.  So that I visit the place a few times a week when I`m around and it is fine to walk about 15-20 minutes to be there.. Overall, nice environment with pleasant service people and reasonable prices..

During yesterday lunch, I noticed a tiny transparent flat plastic piece in my bowl which probably was from the packaging material and overlooked by the cooking team so that it made its way in my bowl.  I called the waitress, showed her the plastic piece and asked if she can talk to the chef to make sure that my noodle is plastic-free... She immediately apologized and took the "evidence" to the kitchen.. She returned after a short while and offered to replace my half-eaten noodle while telling me that she made the alarm and urged "inside" to be extra careful.

Later, I was served with extra soup free of charge accompanying with further apologies and assuring that they`ll be extra careful. Within half an hour time, I noticed that a negative situation was turned into a satisfactory customer service and the most I liked was the wish and action to change for better.

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