I’ve been in Shanghai for about a month now. I’ve seen quite a few people and quite a few things, and overall, I’d still say the city has been pretty good to me.
One thing you feel very quickly here is how crowded Shanghai is. Taking the bus is enough to make that clear. Back when I was in school, I used to take Route 29, and at the time I thought that bus was already packed. But compared with the buses heading toward the office in the morning, Route 29 was nothing.
Recently, though, I found a new route. To my surprise, there are actually seats when I get on. The bus doesn’t get painfully crowded along the way either. A group of people gets on, another group gets off, and there is still room to stand and breathe. So starting this week, I’ve switched to this route. The old bus took about 20 minutes to get to the office, while this one takes around 30, but at least the ride is much more comfortable.
The reason I’m talking about buses is that something has been happening again and again lately. Or rather, the same thing has been happening.
When I first arrived in Shanghai, someone came up to me in the subway. He looked about forty and had a child with him. He said he had lost his wallet and asked if I could lend him a few yuan so he could take the subway. I figured people run into emergencies sometimes. In a city this crowded, it’s not exactly impossible for a thief to take advantage of the situation. Losing a wallet sounded believable enough. So, trying to be helpful, I gave him ten yuan and went on my way.
Yesterday, it happened for the fourth time.
I was waiting at a bus stop, listening to music, when a young woman in her early twenties came up to me with a pitiful look on her face. She said something, so I took off my earphones and asked what was going on. Same story: she had lost her wallet and wanted to borrow a few yuan for the bus. Once again, out of the same instinct to help, I gave her the small change I had left from lunch.
Four times in one month. Isn’t that probability a little too high? Maybe I should go buy a lottery ticket. Who knows, maybe I’d win five million.
Or maybe I just have a face that looks especially easy to fool, so people keep coming to me one after another.
Four times, and every time the wallet was lost. Every time, the reason was exactly the same. The thing is, I really do want to believe that they genuinely needed help. I want to believe they weren’t lying, or at least that they weren’t using my sympathy as something to take advantage of.
But if this happens again, what am I supposed to do?
Am I still supposed to believe them?