Bellamy,
Might I enlighten you on the economics of this situation and hopefully clarify for Federico.
There’s a basic principle at work here, namely, supply and demand. The demand for a good, a commodity or service is apparent, in this case a specific number of white ceremony boys.
Now that the demand is understood, you’ve utilized this here forum as a source of supply or a way to engage the market to in some way fill your demand.
So lets, digest your critique of Federico for calling you out on low-balling. As you state, Chinese would gladly eat up the chance to spend a day standing around for 100元. However, might I remind you that white boys are not Chinese, meaning there are far fewer white boys ergo creating a disproportion supply.
Whereas you on average can find an excess of Chinese people in China (how often have your heard someone mutter under their breath 中国人太多了while on the subway to work?), you’ll find that white boys are in short supply. They’re a hot market commodity in high demand.
Let’s look at another simple set of proportions to better understand the difference in demand for both a Chinese ceremony boy and a white ceremony boy. Your suggested payment of 400元 a day compared to a good Chinese price, 100元. 4:1. However, if you’re to account for the population differences of roughly 700,000:50,000, it’s quickly apparent how things don’t quite line up.
I’m not advocating you make an offer more comparable to population disparity (which would imply you pay more in line with 1400元 per day [as an afterthought this seems like a pretty spot-on figure for this sort of gig] ), but to defend yourself of criticism and remain stolidly inflexible regarding pay, you might find yourself out of luck finding folks.
Give 1000元 a day consideration and you’ll easily get takers.
In summation, don’t be a butthead to folks who are offering realistic advice. You’d never go to a vegetable market and assail a person on their prices and attempt to gain the favor of his or her fellow salesmen. You’ll get nowhere real fast.
Regards,
Jacob Klink