I am Chinese

Was supposed to meet a new investment representative today, who came on a marketing call. Obviously, having never laid eyes on the rep, and we were supposed to have a quick chat over a cup of coffee:

Me: How would I recognise you?
Lady Representative: Well, I am Chinese, have long hair and I am wearing a jacket.
Me: Err...

For a moment, I was stumped. Now, THAT would surely be easy to recognise in the usual throng of Asian people around the place (not), but I bit my tongue, and did not retort, merely said "ok, see you in 5 minutes".

Now, whatever happened to the "I am wearing a black jacket and holding a red rose", but obviously this wasn't that kind of meet up. But surely, in an Asian country, it would be difficult to distinguish from such a description given earlier.

Still, given the circumstances and having met the lady rep (who was friendly by the way), it was not difficult to see why such a description was given. For one, the rep was used to dealing with foreigners and is not from South East Asia, and have been overseas for a very long time, speaking with a thick British accent. Very good English actually, for a previously non-English speaking person, but for a slight inflection in certain words usually made by Chinese speakers, I had guessed as much that she was not a natural Brit. Had thought that she was from Hong Kong, but was mistaken. For all she knew of me over the phone, I may not even be Chinese, and no, I did not speak with my "lahs and liaos" and neither did I sound so uppity over the phone. Having met up, she asked if I spoke Mandarin, and I did admit that I only spoke barely conversational Mandarin and Cantonese, but couldn't read those ever so difficult and confusing linguistic strokes. Alas, a "banana" is a "banana". Although tongue in cheek, I did brave it and said "Keh yi chiang ee tian tian", and she, from the land of my ancestors, simply smiled.

What's the morale of the story? Well, never jump to conclusions, and always put yourself in the other person's shoes. And it may also sound a bit cliche, "never judge a book by its cover".