the jimmymac attack!

Way gwammy! way gwammy! If you are in Taipei for one day or more and go shopping or into stores like 7-Eleven you will be greeted by the shop workers yelling, 'way gwammy!'. Actually it is not way gwammy, it is more like way gwanley (I think). Many people have told me I say it wrong but it still sounds like 'way gwammy' to me. It is quite fascinating and unique to Taiwan as far as I know. I've made short trips to Hong Kong and China and never heard any 'way gwammy' from anyone. Anyway it is fairly harmless and sort of entertaining. I'll probably miss it when I leave. They also have another one that sounds like 'chez gwammy'. The way gwammy means welcome and chez gwammy is thank you for coming. I think we foreigners should start something. When they say chez gwammy when we leave we could say, 'catch you on the flip side'. It is ridiculous but to me its no more ridiculous than 'way gwammy'.
The really ridiculous part is they sometimes seem to put a lot more time and energy into shouting way gwammy than in serving the customers. I have seen 2 or 3 clerks standing around shouting way gwammy while 1 sad employee is manning the cash register. So everyone is getting greetings coming and going but then we have to stand and wait in line because there is only one cashier. I guess the brilliant bosses think its important to be greeted.