Incomes & Outcomes (Cont.)

The sales agent, my boss, and I climbed into another cab and drove to the final hospital. On the way my boss asked me if I was nervous.

Bossman - "Do you think this will be a difficult job?"
"Nah, it doesn't look that difficult."
"Your job really isn't that hard. All you really need to know is Ni Hao. Xie Xie. Bye Bye. It would help to know a few other things but you are being paid to improve the company's image. Many hospitals in China believe that the technology of western products is better than China's. We need you to be there to show the clients that we care about them. Smile a lot. When we go into this next hospital make sure you pay attention to what I do. Next time, I will not be here. It will just be you and the agent."
"I really don't know that much Chinese."
"Don't worry about that. The agent will do all of the talking and negotiating. Just smile and thank them. This time, just watch what I do."

We exited the cab and entered a huge hospital. Earlier in the day, my boss taught me to say, "Director of technology" "Hospital Director" "hospital" and how to formally address my boss in front of other people. As we scanned the hospital directory he pointed out the Chinese Characters and said them out loud. He mumbled "ke dahn" and we set out walking past waiting rooms and laboratories. We stopped outside of a woman's office where we paused before shuffling in. We all shook hands and took seats as my boss introduced himself, handed out a business card, and a catalogue of the company's medical equipment.

The woman behind the desk looked unimpressed.

After 5 minutes we shuffled out of the room and began to walk down the hall. One doorway down stood a man in a laboratory coat who was stirring two beakers of red liquid over hot plates. Initially I thought it was blood.

He looked up at us and my boss approached him handing a business card, catalogue, and introduced us. The man stopped stirring and paged through the catalogue. I glanced back at the door and saw the biohazard sign. --I'm pretty sure we shouldn't be here-- The walls were lined with vials and various chemicals in canisters.

The man put the catalogue down on a steel table and picked up his glass rod to stir the fluid again. He added some red powder and continued to talk with my boss. I smiled as i realized he wasn't stirring blood, just some red powder into water from the sink. The man had inadvertently given me ammunition to do my job, my smile widened.

I stood there with a smile plastered to my face for the next 40 minutes scanning the room for things which could distract me and kill the time. When we finally left, my boss was angry and spent a good ten minutes in the parking lot talking heatedly to someone on the phone.

We said goodbye to the sales agent and boarded a bus.

Bossman - "That last hospital was terrible. She didn't want even want to speak to us. We will discuss business later. Now we party."

We went to a Chinese restaurant and ate some noodles and walked to a grocery store where he bought a Budweiser for himself and I. He toasted a successful day, while muttering about the failure at the final hospital.

Bossman - "We will have business cards for you printed tomorrow. You are now our Senior Director of Sales."

He clasped me on the shoulder as he walked us to the bus which would take us home. It was the most comfortable bus I have taken in China. In between falling asleep, we talked about family, the state of the economy, his parents faith in Buddhism, and his inability to believe in God.

Bossman - "I don't believe in God. I believe in myself."

Although this isn't the first time I have heard such a statement, I think it is the first time I have seen it manifest itself in ones attitude and actions.