A Visit to the Bike Guy

It's a good idea every two weeks or so to pump up the tires in your bicycle. To do that, most people around here go visit "the bike guy" (or at least, that's what we call him). The bike guy isn't any specific guy. There's a bike guy on a street corner at least every half mile or so. You see them there with a big patio umbrella, a small cart with supplies (tires, locks, pedals, breaks), and a mat laid out on the ground filled with random nuts and bolts and parts. And usually, one or two air pumps.

Adding air to your tires is a self-serve service - meaning, you say, "I want to add air!" and he looks you and then points to the pump on the ground. Then you add air yourself and then pay him 2 mao (that's about 3 cents). Sometimes there's a basket on the ground nearby, and people just toss their money in there to pay him.

Tonight, on the way to volleyball, I biked down a curb ramp, and for some reason... the chain came off the teeth on my gears. My bike was off the chain (yo.). So, I had to walk my bike over to the nearest bike guy to pay him a visit. And I would be late to volleyball.

The bike guy was busy. He saw me, and I showed him the problem (from first look, he could tell that my bike was off the chain). But he was busy working on another guy's tire. I went to his mat of tools, and asked if I could borrow the screwdriver. "Sure. Take it," he said. So I went to work.

Grabbed a different screwdriver. Grabbed a wrench. Got my hands all dirty. By this time, the bike guy, seeing that I seemed to be doing ok without his help, took on another customer and left me alone. And about 10 minutes later... I fixed my chain and got my bike going again.

I return the tools and I say, "How much do I owe you for using your tools?"

In Chinese, when somebody says 看你吧 (kàn nǐ ba), which literally means "look at you", they are saying, "It's really up to you..." The bike guy says 你看-----, and I missed the rest of the sentence. He said something like, "Well, you look at..." and who knows what he could have said afterward (maybe "... how busy I am over here. I don't have time to take your money." or "... how you stole the wrench that I was using. This should be at least 10 kuai."). I have no idea what he said. But I interpreted it as 看你把 - "it's up to you."

So, it's up to me. And here's the big cultural dilemma. How much do I pay him? He didn't help to fix my bike. But I did use his tools. And, for a good several minutes more than I normally use his pump. Give him too little (or nothing at all), and would he get offended and yell at me, chasing me down the street? Give him too much, and would he think I'm a crazy throw-money-around-like-it's-nothing foreigner?

I settled on 5 mao. I figured... if I normally use the self-service pump for 2 mao, now I'm using 2 1/2 self-service tools (2 screwdrivers and a wrench)... so... 5 mao. I threw it in the basket, said thanks, and biked away. He didn't chase me down. But I don't know if he said anything about me to the other customers there.

How much would you have paid?

On a separate note... there were some new guys at volleyball tonight. One of the guys, who was by far one of the better guys on the court, asked me for my phone number afterwards... he said that they have a dorm team (or something like that) and he might call me sometime to play as their setter. In my limited language ability... I think that's what he said. Or maybe he said that the national olympic team is holding tryouts next week and he wanted to invite me to come tryout. Most likely, it's the first one.