As a former female manager, I thought I'd escaped the glass ceiling syndrome in Sydney, only to be confronted by the treachery of glass floors in Shanghai.

Where did the fashion for glass floors in restaurants come from? Whoever started it, please stop! I don't like appearing to walk on thin air. It makes me feel uncomfortable. I'm collecting a list of all the restaurants in Shanghai with glass floors - it's getting to be a long, black (or rather, transparent) list. I like to have my feet firmly planted on solid ground, thank you. I like to feel I am standing securely, not about to fall through to a pebble garden below.

There are not only glass floors to contend with, but also glass stairs making my rise to the top precarious. It can be tricky enough walking up and down stairs, without the extra task of focusing on careful placement of each foot. Ascending and descending needs to appear to be effortless and natural.

Then we get to the lack of handrails and balustrades; bridges that hover above ponds with no handrails or an edge of any kind. By the time one has manoeuvred the entrance obstacle it's quite a relief to have made it to the dining table.

Is this the marketing strategy: that customers will be so filled with confidence at having made it to the security of their table that they will then settle back and spend lots of money? Or eat more to cover up their anxiety about negotiating a safe exit? A friend recently fell down a notorious set of stairs in Julu Lu. He was explaining to an over-cocktailed colleague the danger of the stairs, with only every second tread being lit, when, oops, down he went. He had to have his knee re-built.

Far from deterring customers, the glass floors, glass stairs, trick doors and edgeless bridges seem to be proliferating. There is a coffee shop near my home which has a glass floor insert right in front of the cake counter. It seems to separate me from the cakes; preventing me from getting right up close to inspect. Maybe this is what was intended? Maybe it is a way of making the cakes seem hard to get and therefore more desirable?

Why, I ask, can't they just give me a sense of comfort straight off? Why can't I have easy access to my cake? Why do I have to earn it by going through an obstacle course? Is there some aspect of yin and yang that I am missing here? Give the customer the opposite of what they think they need? Give them insecurity so that it can be followed by security? Emptiness to be followed by abundance? An empty floor to be followed by a full plate? A treacherous stair to be followed by a comfortable sofa? The promise of success, just across the glass floor.

Have I left behind the glass ceilings of Sydney only to have my equilibrium tested by the glass floors of Shanghai?

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