Unfortunately, there is no "haggling 101" class in high school to prepare one.
The first time I ever visited Florence I was a young 21 and went to a bazaar,
pointed out a sweater i wanted and asked the man to get it down for me. He
immediately spat at my feet and cursed me the entire time. I was so aghast I
just stood there, so hub came up and told him succintly what he could do with
his sweater. Guess it really pissed him off when customers were "blah" enough
to just purchase?
Another time in Rome I asked a price, and was thinking over the price when
the vendor went off on me in a long diatribe against "rich Americans". I
switched over to German and told him what an ass he was, after which he
profusely apologized. Needless to say, i did not purchase from him.
Guide books ought to tell the young and inexperienced how to buy..they may
now, but in the mid-seventies they didn't....it was like shopping with
blinders on.
We all like entertaining and fun buyers and would like our days to be full of
witty, fun, interesting people....but alas, working a booth can be deadly
boring and the people bullish. Like Lex, I too will offer a much nicer price
to someone that shows cooth and is not crude enough to suggest that I'm a
crook before he's even dealt with me. I always wonder about the overly
suspicious buyer..one cannot help but wonder how many people he has screwed
in the past! you know...Shakespeare's thingy "me thinks he doth protest too
much" comes to mind.
Susan Steele
Virginia USA
< This message was delivered via the Olympus Mailing List >
< For questions, mailto:owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >
< Web Page: http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright/olympuslist.html >
|