Accidentally Haggling
I had one mission Friday afternoon after class: Find a gift.
My language class had decided to do a gift swap the next week, so we all put our names in a hat and drew out who we would buy a gift for. I picked a guy who I think I've talked to 3 times in my life. No matter, it's my responsibility to make sure this guy doesn't go home sad after gift swap day. There are few things as shameful as seeing your secret buddy leave the room with tears in his eyes after gift swap day.
So, with this in mind I headed to the local market, figuring I could find something cheap and...well, cheap. The only rule was that whatever you bought had to be 15 bucks and under. Not knowing this guy from Adam, I had no idea what to get him. Does he like music? Movies? Socks? As I entered the market, I had no clue what to buy...
As I first entered, I saw a bunch of guys with signs yelling something, and one guy with a megaphone yelling something. I couldn't make out what they were saying, but I didn't hear the words "America" or "George Bush", so I figured I was in the clear. Some cops were standing to the side, so I guess it was a legal protest. The signs they were holding had broken pieces of bread on them, whatever that means. Just to be sure, I took the long way around and kept going...
Well, I wandered around the gigantic market for a while, got lost, found my way back, and stumbled onto a guy selling football team sweaters. Since every male from a country that doesn't start with "Ameri" loves football, I figured this would be perfect. So I walked up and started a conversation in my horrible "Yes, I am a foreigner" accent:
"How much are those?"
"30." - Ouch. The limit is 15.
"That's expensive. I can give 12." - I don't know why I said 12, it was the first number under 30 that came into my head.
"That won't do."
"Okay, thanks." - I turned and started to walk away.
Wait for it, wait for it...
"15." - I turned around and bought my secret buddy some happiness.
In all honesty, I wasn't trying to haggle. I really was walking away, wondering where else I could go to find some cheap football sweaters.
In all my daily blunders of language and cultural etiquette, it was nice to do something right for a change, even if it was by accident.
Well done, you!
Posted by
Jennifer |
6:59 AM
You're a hard man to bargain with! Let me hear from you sometime soon!
Posted by
C-Love |
6:31 AM
Dave Ramsey would be proud of you!
Posted by
Anonymous |
7:47 AM
wow half off! Too bad this doesn't work in Wal-Mart
Posted by
Anonymous |
9:35 PM