BootsnAll Travel Network
Add this blog to: MyYahoo, Google, Bloglines, RSS


« Passing Friendships
Heraklion: Airport Hassles »

Haggling in Reverse

There was a tiny grocer’s in the alley of Chania Old Town where we stayed, and since we had decided to get very drunk on our last night, this was the place to get some refreshments before facing the glare of the morning sun.

I was pleased when I handed over the money to the grandmother behind the till: 1.30€. That was cheap.

But wait a minute, that couldn’t be right. The orange juice had a price sticker on it. It was 1 euro. The coke couldn’t just be 30 cents, it’s not even that cheap at Lidl.

I looked at the woman’s wrinkly, smiling eyes and wrestled with my conscience. Difficult as it was, I would have to explain. Otherwise she’d lose out on her livelihood.

So I shook my head and pointed at the receipt. “No, no, no. That is not right. I give you more!”

And was met with blank look.

Thinking myself clever, I went back to the fridge, but of course the coke wasn’t priced. I took out a can of iced tea. That was 80 cents, so I carried it back to the till, pointed at the price sticker on my juice, then at the one on the can and wrote:

€1.80 – 1.30 = €0.50

Then I pointed at the receipt for €1.30 and made the gesture of giving her some money.

Then I searched for—and couldn’t find—my wallet.

Now it was the grandmother’s turn to shake her head. Apparently she now thought that I thought she’d overcharged me. She waved away the iced tea, pointed to the coke and wrote on the receipt:

1.00
  70
1.70

So the coke was only 70 cents. Whatever.

I finished fumbling through my rucksack and discovered the wallet in the juice bag. I fished it out triumphantly and saw that it contained no change.

With her questioning eyes on me, I turned the receipt around and wrote: 0.50€ (a gesture from me to her), 4.50 (a gesture from her to me) and handed over 5 euros.

She shook her head emphatically, turned the receipt over and scribbled in decisive strokes:

1.00
  70
1.70

Then she took the fiver and gave me €2.30 change.

Tags: , , , ,



This entry was posted on Friday, May 2nd, 2008 at 10:52 and is filed under Greece. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

One Response to “Haggling in Reverse”

  1. Buenos Aires Says:
    June 11th, 2008 at 19:46

    Nice and Interesting Blog!!! :o) Greetings from Italy

    2. Posted from Italy Italy