Bargaining for a Price
My wife, L couldn't believe it! The (male) vendor was having a fit - yelling and grabbing the clothes and throwing them around.
L shopped for clothes in the suq (open market). After finding 4 shirts, what she wanted, she haggled for an hour with the vendor.
L: "How much?"
Vendor: "60 dhs."
L: "I give you 40 dhs."
V: "50 dhs, OK?"
L: "40 dhs each, and I want these four shirts."
V: "40 dhs for these two shirts. But, not for those other two."
L: "No, no. Come on! You reduced for two. Reduce for the others. I want the four shirts for 40 dhs each."
At this point, the vendor lost it! He started yelling, grabbing and being mean. L was so shocked that she got "mad" too. [bargaining is part theater] Both she and the male vendor was angry such that another vendor (male) came over to calm L down.
"You have to understand that V is sick; he is diabetic. He loses it sometimes, he can't help himself. Please forgive him."
L stopped griping and composed herself. "OK, just give me a good price."
All in a day shopping at the suq.
L shopped for clothes in the suq (open market). After finding 4 shirts, what she wanted, she haggled for an hour with the vendor.
L: "How much?"
Vendor: "60 dhs."
L: "I give you 40 dhs."
V: "50 dhs, OK?"
L: "40 dhs each, and I want these four shirts."
V: "40 dhs for these two shirts. But, not for those other two."
L: "No, no. Come on! You reduced for two. Reduce for the others. I want the four shirts for 40 dhs each."
At this point, the vendor lost it! He started yelling, grabbing and being mean. L was so shocked that she got "mad" too. [bargaining is part theater] Both she and the male vendor was angry such that another vendor (male) came over to calm L down.
"You have to understand that V is sick; he is diabetic. He loses it sometimes, he can't help himself. Please forgive him."
L stopped griping and composed herself. "OK, just give me a good price."
All in a day shopping at the suq.
posted by Carl | 5:26 PM
1 Comments:
I remember many similar scenes. Sometimes I haggled too hard and felt mean afterwards. Sometimes I did not haggle hard enough, and I think the vendor felt smug but disatisfied, not to have enjoyed the sport. My favorite trick was to bargain for a decent price, then give a tip! This worked well with rickshaw pullers. We had to agree before the ride. Then at the end of the ride I would hand the agreed amount, and then a tip, with a "thank you for your hard work" comment.
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