Comments on: Last price

By: drthrottling

drthrottling — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 12:39:43 +0000

I love a good haggle…
Travelling through Indonesia for 8 months it ended up being the key to learning enough of the language to really enjoy my trip. The amount of people I met who felt simply out of their depth was huge though… a number of them felt it ruined their travels and made them feel uncomfortable.
My travel agenda was never set in stone so if I ended up spending an entire day in a market then so be it!

By: Matthew Teller

Matthew Teller — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 07:24:19 +0000

Spot on, Gail.

By: slowtraveller

slowtraveller — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 18:13:09 +0000

We used to haggle in the West too – before life got far too urbanised and hurried. In the Middle East people still have time – time to stop, chat, have a cup of chai…and haggle. Which is one of the reasons I like travelling there. So, as I’m in favour all things slow (except my broadband internet connection) I vote for haggling!

By: Matthew Teller

Matthew Teller — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 12:25:25 +0000

I like that. Haggling IS like surfing – you’re never quite sure what’s playing under the surface, and the potential to come a cropper and end up looking like a prat is never far away… But then again, get it right and you feel good all day…

By: Nathan Midgley

Nathan Midgley — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 10:24:45 +0000

Haggling’s like surfing: something I’d like to be able to say I do but can’t face the humiliation of learning. Like David, it makes me uncomfortable, so I suck at it, and knowing I suck makes me all the more uncomfortable.

But I’d have thought your upbringing or your career matter as much as your nationality. Some people are just at more ease with negotiating.

By: Matthew Teller

Matthew Teller — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 09:55:19 +0000

That’s alright – self-declared bias works! It’s the “I’m not biased but…” variety that causes trouble.

As for seeing your girlfriend, well, erhmm, I couldn’t possibly comment.

By: David Whitley

David Whitley — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 09:41:56 +0000

Have you been seeing my girlfriend behind my back? Interestingly, her comment on the tipping debate rumbling on my blog (http://www.grumpytraveller.com/2009/07/27/tipping-etiquette-and-%e2%80%98service-not-included%e2%80%99-the-socially-acceptable-add-on-charges/) was “Well, you would say that. You’re English.”

Her point was that the standardised pricing and pay the clearly labelled asking price system is an entirely western construct. And she’s right. I don’t like tipping and haggling because of the way I was brought up.

Transparent, set pricing is certainly more time-efficient, and I much prefer to be able to browse through things knowing what they cost. I also have a rather rigid haggling style (decide what I want to pay, and stick to it, even if the salesperson insists on playing the higher-lower game).

But would I feel the same way if I’d have been brought up in the Middle East/ Africa? I doubt it. As you say, different cultures, but in my utterly biased opinion, the Western method is better.