Uniforms at the USA Pavilion

Staff members in the USAP wear different uniforms based on their departments, and each is unique and colorful. The Student Ambassadors, kitchen staff, cleaning staff, guards, office workers, waiters, IVG employees in the retail store and quick-serve restaurant, can each be identified by their color-coded clothes. When I first arrived, Student Ambassadors wore tailored grey slacks or knee-length skirts and long-sleeve button down shirts that read "USA Pavilion, Shanghai Expo 2010 on the breast pocket (males) or sleeve cuffs (females).Later, some staff members decided to change the uniforms to reflect the heat, so we had a contest to design the new uniform and then everyone would vote. The winning uniform was khaki shorts and a white polo shirt with blue trim and a diagonal blue stripe running across it; the USAP logo adorns the left side of it. The kitchen staff are all given black hats and white chef coats with the USA Pavilion logo on the left breast pocket. They sold one to me, and embroidered my name on the pocket for free! It is my favorite souvenir from our pavilion! Office workers, the staff, dress professionally with nice shoes, slacks, dresses, and the ocassional tie.

Sometimes, we have a special uniform item donated by one of our corporate or state sponsors, such as cowboy hats or space suits from Texas, Hawaiin shirts from Hawaii, blue t-shirts that read "Powered by CITI," and rumor has it Oakley wil join the ranks of sponsors with free sunglasses during the second session of Student Ambassador shifts.

Time schedule for life and judges

Some people still claim that there is a proper age and timetable for college careers and life in general, and attack people who are "behind schedule." Admittedly, I am older than the average MBA student; in my class, we range from 22-35, so I am not the oldest, nor am I the youngest. This would be forgivable if I had any professional work experience in an office, in the field I am specializing in, or in any real accomplishment not related to education. As it stands, I do not; thankfully, only a minority of people remind me of this. My uncle and aunt wrote on the congratulations card for my bachelor's degree "Good job on the 10-year university track," my great aunt and uncle said "You are behind in development and in life," and my supervisor at the USA Pavilion has been especially honest and observant with me.

Every department has been alloted a budget to go out as a group and eat together; this will bind people as a group and enhance morale within the department. On one night in July, the Finance department went out as a group to a local hotpot restaurant. My supervisors Jun and Emily and my coworkers Carol and Jing were also in attendance. I have been in situations before where I was the only person who does not understand what the others are saying, for instance at my friend Ilya's house where only Russian speakers live, and my friend Shaul's house where only Hebrew speakers were at the table with me. Needless to say, it makes one extremely uncomfortable. That night in July, all four of my coworkers decided to speak only in Mandarin; being ethnically Chinese, they speak it far more fluently than I do. As if that weren't enough, when Jun ordered the food he said "Mark, you're obviously not on a diet so I should order a lot of food." He asked if I wanted beer, and I said yes; unfortunately, no one else did. So not only was I the only one who did not understand what was being said, I was also going to be the only drinker. To be fair, at a couple of points during the meal, he spoke in English for my benefit. "Look at Emily, Carol, Jing and me: Emily and I graduated from top universities in China, Carol graduated from Cornell, and Jing graduated from UCLA. You are not even in a state school, only a city university." "You only have work experience in restaurants? Who referred you to this job anyway? You are at least 5 years behind in life, what are you going to do with yourself?" Although the drinking of alcohol might have softened the blow of some of this honesty, I did not want to be the only drinker; this would have been even more uncomfortable if that were possible. After I finished eating, I got up to leave earlier than the rest; Jun said "No, we're all about to leave, you can go home with Jing and Carol." So I was effectively trapped at that point, but luckily he just decided to say things I would not understand for the rest of the meal.

I did try to counter his attacks by saying things like "If you could only see me 5 years ago, you would congratulate me instead of telling me how old I am. I could still be delivering pizza, waiting tables, making sandwiches, or any of the other myriad jobs I have had in my life; instead, I decided to go to school and change my life." He, like some other people I will probably always encounter, will always harass me about my age. I have noticed, and been told by other people, that Chinese people tend to be extremely honest and things we would not say to one another (your acne looks bad, how much money do you make?, how much was your house?, you're quite fat, etc.) are common expressions here. Chinese friends have told me not to care about them and that older people like him are usually the ones to say those things. I have heard them so many times that I have to let them roll off my shoulder or else I will go crazy and start fights (not good).

Anyway, I try not to get angry to his face because I want a recommendation letter from him at the end of my time at the USAP. It gets more challenging as time goes by, unfortunately.

Typical work day

On a typical work day, I will wake up at 8:00 am and look out from the window of my Donghu Expo Village apartment complex to see the Expo grounds; the massive China pavilion always impresses me with its size. Once I am ready for work, I walk to the Expo employee bus stop, where the bus going to the Expo picks up employees every 15-20 minutes. I go through the ridiculous security station that is really only for show (since one person per pavilion is given a "Security Station Free" pass) and then get in line to ride another bus to the USA Pavilion. Once there, I greet my supervisors who ask about the status of my VIK project and then say "Good job;" after that, I go to my desk, turn my computer on, and withdraw my VIK notebooks and folders from my filing cabinet. Following that, I make a timetable schedule for my shift: a list of company representatives to contact, coworkers to harass for helpful information, and physical receipts and invoices to review and translate. After all of these steps, before the end of my shift, I have to review the spreadsheet in which I record my work and make any necessary changes. This helps me go about my day in an organized fashion.

After making my lists, I open my email inbox to check for responses from the previous day's emails. If there are email responses from our pavilion's corporate sponsors, I read them and respond accordingly; otherwise, I open my contact list spreadsheet and begin contacting corporate representatives. Most of the time, I have a contact name and email address that were each given to me by either the sponsorship department or Jake Parker, one of the supervisors in our pavilion. The email I send will diplomatically thank the representative for helping to sponsor our pavilion, explain who I am and how I know his/her contact information, and politely ask for any records they have of VIK goods given to us. If I only have a phone number, it becomes more difficult; sometimes, the receptionist does not speak English, so I have to use my Chinese ability to achieve my goal of speaking to the representative. During my conversation with the representative, we usually decide to only speak over emails from that point on, as that is the easiest and most convenient way to transmit data. If I have already emailed a representative but have received no response for several weeks, I will politely resend my request; this has not happened very often, but there is the occasional representative who has not checked email since returning from vacation. Whether I call, email, or send a follow-up email, I always make a note of it in my VIK spreadsheet.

The best way to get new contact information or follow up on other requests for information, is to directly contact the sponsorship department, Jake in Operations, or one of the IVG (Australian company we contracted our restaurant and retail services with) supervisors. This is one of the many times where patience and good relationships help: they are all usually busy with their own jobs, so I have been told many times to "check back later," "ask me another day," or "who are you again?" One of the sponsorship department employees, Stephanie, is the supervisor of the state sponsorship relations; I have helped her out numerous times with various tasks, so she helps me get contact information when she can. IVG supervisor Dominico often helps me with my requests for contact information, like the names of our Gallo and Ecolab representatives, and any new invoices he has for delivery of cleaning supplies or wine.

Somewhere in between various tasks, usually about 12:00 pm, I will gather other employees and head to the staff cafeteria across the street for delicious and ridiculously cheap food.

After lunch, I will continue working on the task of contacting representatives, then I move on to transcribing information from various invoices and receipts that have been given to me. Usually there is at least one new Wal Mart receipt, sometimes I have a new Dell delivery notice, and if I am really lucky there will be some information I requested from IVG. The items delivered, date, and usage are all required in my spreadsheet, as well as a physical copy of the invoice; if the information was delivered in an email, I will print the email and file it away in one of my VIK folders.

A few times per week, I have another task to perform at some point throughout the day, such as lifting heavy things, handing out money to students, traveling to the bank and back, traveling to China Mobile to pay a bill, walking to one of the Expo offices to check for mail, organizing invoices and statements in large binders, or compiling and processing receipts for expense reports. These other tasks break the monotony of office work somewhat.

At the end of the day, I usually check my VIK spreadsheet to make sure it reflects all work I have accomplished over my shift. This includes any new delivery data I have received, purpose and usage information, contact information changes, and I make sure the new dollar/RMB totals for our VIK received thus far are accurate. After I complete that, backup my data on my flash drive, and log out of my computer, I will say goodbye to my coworkers and supervisors and walk to the bus stop to return to the Expo Village.

Food in and around the Expo

Living in Shanghai: Food inside the Expo Village and the Expo park

One of the most important questions to deal with every day is “What should I eat?” The answer to this question can be difficult, considering the culinary diversity surrounding and within the Expo Village. For every price range, time of day, speed of service, and distance from where I live, there are several options.

Within the Expo, there are several overpriced restaurants such as Bubba’s BBQ, NY Pizza, Masala Art Indian Cuisine, more than one sushi restaurant, Crazy Chicken, and several others. All of them were expecting far more business than they received, and some of them actually were not expecting much business but were forced (coerced) into opening a location inside the Village.

NY Pizza was one of the restaurants that did not receive as much business as its owners had expected (imagine pizza hut with 4 people inside on a Friday night). Maybe it’s because the crust was too thin and plain, the service was too slow, and they fell victim to the mistake of not bringing appetizers before the meal (very common in China).

Bubba’s BBQ was insanely expensive as well, but at least the food was somewhat tasty. Bubba came to China expecting to make a killing off of the money that visitors from all over the globe brought by taking advantage of how isolated the Village is and how much trouble it is to go elsewhere for food.

Masala Art Indian Cuisine is like many Indian restaurants: overpriced yet tasty. The menu contains a wide selection of Indian dishes from many different locations in India, several of which I have eaten and enjoyed.

For those Expo Village residents who have neither the time nor the money for one of those restaurants, there is always Family Mart; Family Mart is a common and popular chain of convenience shops throughout many cities in China and Japan. They offer several daily necessities, a large selection of beverages, prepared foods such as sushi and sandwiches, etc. It is the perfect option for parties (Qingdao is a popular and very cheap beer in China), late night meals, and even as a meeting place at one of their several tables.

Inside the Expo, there are many interesting and delicious options for park visitors and employees alike; KFC, Wishdoing, Papa John’s, Kung Fu Combo, Burger King, and Pizza Hut are several of the well known brands of restaurants available inside. Each one has lowered its variety in order to speed up service, for example Papa John’s only offers 4 different pizza options and they are cooked far in advance of when they are actually sold. For those without much money, there are several convenience stores (like Family Mart), small food booths with cheap stuffed buns and special Chinese desserts, and the many excellent staff cafeterias (staffeteria, for many of us). The one I would routinely go to has a wide variety of intricately prepared foods, rich with nutritious soups, vegetables, fish and meat options, a dessert booth with ice cream and muffins, and a beverage counter. All of the food there is incredibly cheap, mainly because it is subsidized by the Expo Bureau, and is thus unavailable to guests (the food can only be paid for with food credits deposited at the Expo Bureau itself). Almost all of my lunch breaks were at the Staffeteria so I saved a lot of money over eating at Family Mart or Burger King.

Many of the various pavilions also had small restaurants in which you could buy mostly authentic food from that country; the spices, vegetables, and preparation methods were all brought by the people who left their countries to work at the Expo. The Sri Lanka pavilion has excellent curry sauces, meat pies, and breads; the Norway pavilion has a delicious, fresh, and wide assortment of Norwegian seafood dishes; the Pakistani pavilion has BBQ shish kabobs, traditional Pakistani curry dishes, rice casseroles, and more; unfortunately, the USA Pavilion outsourced its restaurant and retail management to an Australian company called IVG, which decided that fast food (Quick serve restaurant) would be cheaper and thus make more money than serving various American foods would have been.

FedEx visits USAP

FedEx Visits USAP

FedEx is another one of the USAP’s cash-only sponsors, and as part of the sponsor level they were on, they were allowed to schedule several special events and lectures using either our conference/dining room or the 1776 Lounge (bar and lounge area). Many times over my first 2 months at the USAP, I would tell everyone in the Sponsorship department that, because FedEx’s headquarters was in my city, I would greatly appreciate the chance to meet some of their representatives when they visit our pavilion. One time, I had the chance!

Many of you will recall that, at the USAP, I was responsible for delivering the payment to China Mobile to pay the bills for all the pavilion-sponsored cell phones. On July 9^th, I left the USAP at 16:00 to deliver the payment to China Mobile; when I arrived, I discovered that I had left the check at work in my file cabinet! I returned to the USAP at 18:00 to retrieve the check and upon my return to the USAP, I decided to enter the VIP entrance to climb the stairs to the second floor office. The stairwell leading to the second floor of the pavilion on that side opens directly across from the dining room in which a special event was being held. I had a strange feeling that it was FedEx’s event, and sure enough when I asked a random suit-wearing man “Which organization is having an event tonight,” he told me that it was FedEx and that he was representing an American office. I told him that I was from Memphis and a USAP student ambassador, and he invited me to the event to meet several Chinese and American FedEx employees!

The event’s subject was corporate social responsibility, with a focus on the environmental impact of industrialization and overconsumption. After the first lecture, I was introduced to the representative of FedEx Shanghai’s corporate outreach and social responsibility office, and she was very happy to meet me. She has visited Memphis, including the FedEx hub, headquarters, and Graceland, and was eager to establish outreach connections with a student group I was involved in, called GCC (Global Chinese Connections). The power of luck and excellent timing has won again in my life!

Harmful Mold

The danger of rushing construction

The Shanghai Expo is staffed partly by several thousand volunteers and employees, some of which live in the area adjacent to gate 6 of the Expo, called Expo Village. Inside Expo Village, there are several ethnic restaurants, shops where you can buy antiques, a convenience shop and 2 apartment complexes. The apartment complexes, Donghu (where I lived) and Jinjiang (where I wish I had lived) are different in regards to their facilities and construction: Jinjiang apartments have a computer for use by the residents, machines to dry clothes, and weekly maid service, while Donghu has more land area, beautiful landscaping, and illness-causing mold inside the walls of the apartments. Several of my coworkers at the USAP have had terrible allergic reactions to the mold, symptoms of which include difficulty breathing, abnormal acne and skin rashes, nosebleeds, nausea, fever, and more. The mold is due to shoddy construction which left areas in the walls where moisture could come in, and Shanghai being as humid as it is, moisture settles in.

Eventually, our repeated complaints caught the ears of the supervisors who contacted the main office of Donghu apartments and threatened to cease rent payments on all rooms until the problem was solved. The problem has been treated as cosmetic, meaning that the staff members responsible for cleaning projects were sent to scrape the mold off the walls, scrub them, and then paint over the areas. The deeper issue is not being solved.

After Donghu failed to solve the problem, USAP staff needed proof that the rooms contained harmful mold, so lucky for us, Ecolab is one of the USA Pavilion’ s sponsors and cares about its well being. Ecolab is a chemical sanitizer-producing company that has supplied many of the required cleaning solutions as part of their sponsorship agreement. After investigating several rooms, they discovered that most of the rooms had water damage but only 2 had dangerous mold; this meant that the people who claimed illness from non-dangerous mold having rooms had to be suffering from something else entirely. Hooray for experts!

On a personal note, many of you will notice that I have facial hair in several of my pictures; this is because I was afflicted by a terrible rash and acne on my face. Since leaving Donghu, my face has cleared up significantly, so the people who said it was not due to the mold were obviously wrong.

Reconciliation and division of duties

Reconciliation

One of the many tasks that the finance department must perform every day is to count the remaining cash in the office and balance it against the book value of accounts; this is a critical step in order to know precisely how much money the USA Pavilion has, because the account balance that can be checked electronically only tells part of the story. As soon as cash is dispersed to a person or department, the value muse be recorded and subtracted from the previous total to calculate the current balance. For example, if the Dance America department needs 400 RMB to pay for some special fabric for a costume, the department head will come to the finance department and explain it; we will then either advance the money or instruct him to prepay and submit an expense report for reimbursement. If the money is to be prepaid, we make a note in the journal and have the department representative write a letter with details for us to keep on file. If a shipment of office supplies arrives at the USAP, it will most likely already have been paid for; if not, the deliverer submit’s the invoice and we disperse cash accordingly. In June, we had a problem with one of the printers that Dell donated to us, so the IT department head received an advance payment to use on a new printer from Best Buy. We recorded both the initial payment to him and the refund of change when he returned. Most computer parts have been purchased using this method of payment, though several times we had to reimburse various IT department employees for their purchases.

Other than equipment purchases and expenditure reimbursement, we also must record the payment of stipends to the student ambassador employees and the Chinese volunteers who represent our pavilion and are not paid by direct deposit like other staff members. The fact that the stipends are all paid in Chinese RMB notes complicates the reconciliation process in two ways: first, the estimated amount of expense reimbursements and student stipends must be withdrawn from the bank weekly and second, three student ambassadors are authorized to disperse the funds.

On Mondays, the supervisor of our student ambassadors and volunteers prepares the payroll spreadsheet that compiles names and payroll amounts, and subtracts penalties based on absences/late arrivals. Once we have that list, we combine the amount of cash on hand with the estimated expenses to reimburse and the payroll amount to students, and then we know how much to withdraw from the bank. Although most of this passes through our hands, the final review and approval of our CFO and/or his assistant are required to make out the withdrawal slip for the bank. Two of the finance department’s student ambassadors would ride to the bank, withdraw the money, and return to the pavilion to begin dispersing stipends for the day. That is when the second problem arises: 3 different people are authorized to give out stipends, so each must know what the others have done and the job must be coordinated to ease reconciliation at the end of the day. We must 1) count the cash into equal stipend payments, 2) ask the student to recount and sign in their designated signature column 3) sign our own names and record date dispersed in their designated columns. If several students arrive at once, as they often do, it can be very distracting and sometimes a signature or date can be omitted. Although the students arrive to collect their stipends during their breaks, we must be sure to remember not to allow the student ambassadors to rush us into making mistakes. This last issue has caused some problems with recording that have led to frantic calls to students asking if they forgot to sign and leaving work late because we couldn’t figure out why the numbers were wrong. There was a day when two of the students in the finance department calculated large discrepancies, and for 3 days there was no solution; we spent hours watching video surveillance of every place the money had been, recounted the cash and all of the week’s reimbursements several times, but at last it was clerical error that had resulted in the miscalculation and there was no actual missing money. This is a lesson in the importance of separation of duties and responsibilities in the workplace, even within a single department.