Laundry Wars


I found a super dry-cleaner a while ago - one of the slicker operations in Shanghai, they pick-up and deliver your dry-cleaning to your home, AND they put everything in tissue paper. (I LOVE tissue paper), so it comes back looking more expensive than when it left home. And cleaner too. 
But running a business in Shanghai is cut-throat. Recently, a very public blog-posting war erupted between current and former employees of the business, on the Shanghai City Weekend website, for all of Shanghai to see, after the landlord tried to set up a rival business with the same name, on the same premises, and with some of the same staff. Happens all the time in Shanghai. But that doesn't make it any less ugly. As explained online by one of the staff:

"When our business grew bigger late 2009, our greedy landlord, a local old man, made a dirty plot with two traitors out of our team, girls from ZheJiang Province and Mongolia. "

A dirty plot! Excellent! Was it a murderous drug-running gambling den sort of plot? Actually, no, as it turns out, just a really vicious detergent turf war. And being from Zhejiang Province - I'm guessing that's some kind of insult. And being from Mongolia - apparently worse! 
The whole thing unfolded over weeks and pages and pages of catty and increasingly bewildering Chinglish. Here's a few gems from the battlefield.......

"And you can decide if your guys till continue to use that dirty ,and discusting laundary anymore.
Yes ,we did get the money , and let me tell another stories ,, that moring , october 4th , we stay out side of DavidHO's apartment form5pm to 2pm , we just wanted to talk about it . But he told us your guies wouldnt get the payment , it was not legal to pay u ."       (posted by kittenwowo)

"Poor little Chinese girl...what're you talking about? What payment and what's the legal issue? You sound like over-pressured, darling. You'd better go see a shrink."   (posted by Clothespa)

"You have very good skill to pretend a good person . I am not the only person who be cheated by you ..."    (posted by kittenwowo)

"Dear, before you pretend to be some real expat, please improve your English grammer and speling skills first. You've never made any progress for these years... Why don't you leave my page and stop messing up all these?"    (posted by Clothespa)

"I am enough for that . I am looking for me new job ."   (posted by kittenwowo)

"Dear laundry sweeties, how about a cocktail at my place and some strip poker to leave this dirty  behind us ? "  (posted by eric_sh)  

Always some predatory sleaze in the wings, isn't there? Perhaps he was feeling over-pressured.

(source:http://www.cityweekend.com.cn/shanghai/listings/services/laundry/has/the-clothespa1/#comment_67076)

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