Being Taken

This post is about Halloween costumes and being fleeced. These two subjects are highly related this year as we were fleeced by the souvenier merchants at the market while shopping for Halloween costumes...

Now some of you may get that feel good all over feeling when you walk into a market in a place like Mexico or China and know you are in for some good negotiating. I have some friends who have made dickering an art, and are almost able to lower the price of their groceries at Target because of this skill, let alone buy beautiful silver platters in the markets of Mexican towns for pennies, pennies I tell you.

I am not one of these talented negotiators, because I just cannot stand to argue with people. All I want if for them to be fair with me, and in return I'll try to pay them what their items are worth and help them put food on their family's table (the favorite line of the merchants in South Africa is "please help me to support my family today" ugh the guilt). I hate bargaining, I hate it. And this makes for trouble when you walk up to a Zulu guy and try, in your very AMERICAN accent, to get a fair price for something like, let's just say, zulu bead work or a rasta tunic.

Here is how the negotiations went;
"how much for the shirt"
"I make a special price for you my dear...300 rand" says the merchant. He is speaking about a cotton piece of fabric, sewn by machine and so simple that I could probably have done it myself. The guy tells me his special price is about 40 bucks. He is fleecing me in public. I feel violated...

"that shirt is not worth so much...and I want to be fair with you. But you've got to be fair with me guys" I say, as now it is not just one merchant, but we have loads of them and I'm starting to keep an eye on my wallet for fear one of them will secretly snipe it while I'm "negotiating"...

"truly my dear, you won't find this at this price" Yeah, I'll find it for lots less once I get home to the thrift store, buddy.

"I see thework was not done by hand. The fabric was purchased overseas, not made here in Africa. I want to be fair with you but I can tell by the work that it is not worth 300 rand, it is fair to offer you more like 150 (just over 20 bucks)". Says I.

"oh, My dear, you must help me support my family...I cannot take so little. You won't be able to find it anywhere for that price." says the merchants in unison

"but perhaps I can make it for that price, because I can see that the fabric would be available to me in Joburg"....now I'm feeling mad because I know this is happening as a result of my "foreign-ness" and I also know that I"m not going to run around Joburg for fabric to somehow stitch a halloween costume for my kid...I'm gonna buy this shirt from this guy and I'm trying not to make it the most regrettable purchase of my life...

"I can give you no less than 250 rand" the merchant smiles

"you are taking advantage of me" I say
"you will be happy with the shirt my dear"

I hand him the money and walk away furious. Mad at myself for actually paying this amount for a stupid shirt. Even more frustrated that the reason I paid it was because I look and sound different from a South African, and that means to the merchants that I am dripping with money...

uh, I'm not dripping with money. And if I were, I'd be happy to "help support a family" with the money I was dripping with. But not if it meant being lied to about the quality and value of items at the souvenir market; I'd be feeding orphans or building houses for township families. Not buying overpriced beads and shirts for Halloween!

I got taken I tell you, Absolutely taken to the cleaners....