Do you know that the global fast food chain, McDonald’s, is the
second home to Hongkongers…literally?
We all know that Hong Kong’s house price is ridiculous, and lots of
Hongkongers can’t afford them. So…where do they live? What could be better than
the 24-hour fast food restaurants?
The term “McRefugee” first came from Japan, which describes
unemployed people who can’t pay for the high rent staying overnight at
McDonald’s. And not long later, the phenomenon spread to Hong Kong.
In some areas, while the restaurants
operate normally during daytime, they become the shelter to 30 – 40 homeless at
night. Since the homeless do buy food or drinks, and it’s the company’s policy
to “not disturb the customers”, they are basically free to stay no matter how
that upset the employees.
The employees (and probably other customers) may find that
appalling, but the scene is also heartbreaking to people who thoroughly
understand Hongkonger’s hardship, especially if you get to listen to the
homeless people’s stories: a businessman,
who got cheated by his business partner, broke and exhausted after a few years
of legal battles, had to run away from his
relatives because he thought he betrayed their trust; an over 60-year-old security
guard, who lost his job because of his suffering from stroke, could barely paid for his medical treatment and medicine even with
government welfare, let alone paying for rent.
And there are many more unfortunate people like them. When
interviewers tried to approach them, their
first responses are usually “you must think I am lazy”.
No, I don’t, even if you call me hypocrite or wishful idealist.
As if staying there is not pathetic enough, there
were even people dying there. In 2015, a homeless woman was found dead in a
Kowloon Bay McDonald. What’s sad is that she lost unconsciousness at around 1
am, but no one cared about that and simply assumed she was just sleeping. It
wasn’t until the morning business hours next day that people found her to be
more than “just sleeping”.
Suddenly I think of what Chris Patten said during his visit to Hong
Kong these few days.
He told Hongkongers to “hang in there”.
Was he talking to these people?
But
how much longer can they “hang in”?
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