It is true that Chinese usually call "foreigner" as "lao wai", but it is absolutely impolite for any Chinese to call "foreigner" as "lao wai" face to face.

I only know that Chinese worship and admire/respect (even fear) western people from the developed countries very much, pitifully I never thought those wealthy Chinese good at English could "bully" foreigners from developed countries sometimes, too.(The tragic death of my late American husband's death in China let me know about the truth.)