When I arrived a Addis Ababa last Tuesday night, I exchanged some money straight away. Usually on tours, I can budget needing about $200 in cash to tide me over. That has to include some meals, any drinks or snacks, tips, gifts and souvenirs, and any additional supplies I might need along the way.
Arriving in Addis was a madhouse. The immigration line was long, it was going on 10:30 p.m. and I wasn't sure if I would have to the a taxi to the hotel. I could write paragraphs about my taxi phobia, but I'll cut a long story short: I never know if they are legit, I never know if they will take me the right way to the right place, and they have me and my luggage in their car, so I'm pretty much a hostage. Therefore, I generally avoid taking them if I can. Arriving in Africa at night with no local currency, I wasn't feeling really confident about my taxi negotiation skills. So the first step was to to get some money.
Luckily, the money exchange was open and doing a hopping business.
The exchange is a little over 18 birr to $1.
Just a reminder: a beer or a soda costs around 15 birr.
So when I exchanged my $200, I got over 3,000 birr. The clerk had to get a rubber band to contain all the 100 birr bills. And the money is filthy. It has a weird smell to it, that has remained constant. It is worn and torn. In restaurants, you are likely to get back change that is the most disgusting money you have ever seen. I think foreigners are most unlucky about the change they receive. A couple of people have even sent the money back for different bills. One I saw was taped together in three places, and one third of it was missing, and it was washed nearly blank. It got returned to the waitress as her tip.
Negotiating or haggling makes me feel like a heel, even though I know it is expected, and in the end, both of us will feel like we got a fair price. But when you are haggling over the price of a basket with a child and you are arguing about whether it is 40 birr or 30 birr - the difference being about .50....well. Especially when I'll pay $5 for a cup of coffee at home.
And yes, I know it is all relative, and I know that they also pay far less for goods than we do, and the haggling is about respect for them as much as for their customers...yes, I know all that.
But it doesn't stop the feeling that that kid could maybe really use that extra 50 cents more than I could.
Arriving in Addis was a madhouse. The immigration line was long, it was going on 10:30 p.m. and I wasn't sure if I would have to the a taxi to the hotel. I could write paragraphs about my taxi phobia, but I'll cut a long story short: I never know if they are legit, I never know if they will take me the right way to the right place, and they have me and my luggage in their car, so I'm pretty much a hostage. Therefore, I generally avoid taking them if I can. Arriving in Africa at night with no local currency, I wasn't feeling really confident about my taxi negotiation skills. So the first step was to to get some money.
Luckily, the money exchange was open and doing a hopping business.
The exchange is a little over 18 birr to $1.
Just a reminder: a beer or a soda costs around 15 birr.
So when I exchanged my $200, I got over 3,000 birr. The clerk had to get a rubber band to contain all the 100 birr bills. And the money is filthy. It has a weird smell to it, that has remained constant. It is worn and torn. In restaurants, you are likely to get back change that is the most disgusting money you have ever seen. I think foreigners are most unlucky about the change they receive. A couple of people have even sent the money back for different bills. One I saw was taped together in three places, and one third of it was missing, and it was washed nearly blank. It got returned to the waitress as her tip.
Negotiating or haggling makes me feel like a heel, even though I know it is expected, and in the end, both of us will feel like we got a fair price. But when you are haggling over the price of a basket with a child and you are arguing about whether it is 40 birr or 30 birr - the difference being about .50....well. Especially when I'll pay $5 for a cup of coffee at home.
And yes, I know it is all relative, and I know that they also pay far less for goods than we do, and the haggling is about respect for them as much as for their customers...yes, I know all that.
But it doesn't stop the feeling that that kid could maybe really use that extra 50 cents more than I could.
I did not realize that haggling was a sign of respect. I think you are right though... the kid probably wants the $0.50 more than he wants respect. I say do want feels good to you. I'm not a world traveler and so maybe this is a naive perspective on my part, but there's no way getting around the fact that you're a foreigner, a tourist right? So they can say, ah silly American paying too much for something... and the kid can have his extra money, and you can feel good.
ReplyDelete