Elevators
One of the elevators in my building has been broken for months now and with 27 floors to cover, 1 working elevator is proving to be an inconvenience. So I've taken it upon myself to provide encouragement. I decided to have 100 business cards printed that said "fix the fucking elevator" (把你他妈的破电梯修好)and used masking tape to put them on the elevators doors on every floor. This proved time consuming and the cleaning lady was ripping them down too easily. Version 2 took a softer approach and said "please fix our broken elevator" (请把我们的破电梯修好) and masking tape was replaced by ultra sticky double-sided tape. This too proved unsuccessful, so I asked the graphic designer at my intern to design a cartoonish looking elevator and this is what she came up with. The sign he is holding says "I'm sick" and thus, 100 more business cards were printed, double-sided tape applied, and the process of plastering my building with them soon began. The reaction has been better. I see people taking pictures of them, writing on them, as well as the cleaning lady tearing them off the walls. I know this because not only is the card gone, but a white strip remains in place due to the adhesive refusing to peel off nicely. Version 4 of the cards is planned to use a traditional Chinese propaganda poster being replaced with "Comrades, 2 working elevators is the key to our success" or something along those lines. A lot of Chinese have told me "This isn't your problem, why challenge it?" At which point my mind begins racing, thinking of which argument to jump on them about. What if everyone thought that way? So being proactive is better than saying nothing? If the masses don't mobilize, nothing will get done. Or perhaps I'm just fed up with the inconvenience of 1 elevator. I can only hope the cleaning lady gets so frustrated tearing business cards off walls every day that maybe she'll convince someone to fix the broken elevator. Besides classes, Chinese, intern, work, and gym, this is what I do with my spare time.