friend, oh will you buy this???

[mhenna11]

Is this okay, I am not sure if this is cultural or economical or both, please help me understand, I meet really nice people but lately I have been less open, which isn't normal for me. In BA, a new prospect friend, will invite me somewhere, get my email, be real nice with me, have one or two good conversation, and out of nowhere, they will try and sell me something. I was okay with it in the beginning but I dislike being coerced into buying something I don't want to buy more than once. I will be asked repeatedly, in all different ways, and when I don't buy their products or show interest, they lose interest in developing a friendship with me, I stop hearing from them completely. I know it's about earning pesos, it's tough right now, I understand this, because I am going through it myself, but I am not going to lie and try and manipulate a new person to get money. NYC is, (well use to be) for small businesses, everyone our neighborhood, and community, always helped each other out, in whatever art, or creative projects we were working on; in caring way, respectful way, we all sold something, whether it was food, tea, art, clothes, music, we all had something to sell. We never made a lot of money but enough to make the rent. Here, it feels a little ruthless to me, and shallow. Am I overreacting? Argentinians are upfront, why not say in the beginning, "look I sell this product, do you want it, no, okay, have a nice day." the end. What do you think?

 

[Clairekac]

heyy, sorry to hear that,im from buenos aires and have friends from other countries that live here and i have never heard that before,but ofcourse here in argentina theres people for everything... my advice is not too be less open just cause a couple of bad experiences,people here can be really nice too,and maybe is a matter of were u meet them.. ive made lots of friends in bars and we keep in touch and have a good friendship,

 

[mhenna11]

It's so late, still working, thank you, it's hard being in a new country and knowing going back home isn't an option, I will be open, I have to remember that, there are a lot of good people here, I have met them, too. Thanks for reminding me.

 

[Clairekac]

I cant imagine im sure its hard,but take everything as an experience and learn from them.. im sure youll do just fine xo

 

[TheBlackHand]

Never happened to me. But I always generally try to support fellow small business owners.

 

[citygirl]

Out of curiousity - what are they trying to sell you? As Blackhand says, I've always tried to support small businesses of people I know but never did I feel pressured to buy from them or that they were only talking to me to get my business.

 

[Davidglen77]

Honestly, the one thing that I really despise about this country is how dishonest people can be regarding money and business matters. I have had happen to me what you describe, people all friendly and nice, act really interested in your friendship and then boom they come out with some sales pitch and since you are kind of caught off guard and try and be polite by saying something like "well it's not really something I use" or "I am not in a position to purchase that right now" they sometimes get offended or just don't act like you are friends any more. It's very hurtful. Other things I have had happen to me are: my business associate using my small company's money and documents for a relative who is bankrupt in an attempt to get a loan from a bank, money laundering, then I get asked to rent my one and only property to a friend of my business associate "just for a few months" and me stupid trust them, and of course as soon as I do it, they start sending me phony invoices for repairs (which I never authorized and were never done) and they wouldn't let me in to inspect the alleged repairs of course, don't pay the rent, and now have put me in a legal mess with lawyers which has cost me plenty of $$$. However I do have a few good friends here, who are honest and kind people, who I don't believe would ever do anything to hurt me and have supported me through a lot of very difficult situations such as the ones I have detailed above. My rule here is this, and this is one which many people follow, DO NOT MIX friendshops with money, do not lend or rent anybody anything of real value, (property, automobile, money) without assessment from a lawyer that you trust and don't let your guard down EVER. In the USA I had done business with friends, family members and while we always didn't agree on everything and there were sometimes disagreements even arguments, nobody ever STOLE from each other or had our business been used for illegal purposes, or have I been BURNED and SCREWED like I have been here. Some people here will sign a contract, and then laugh in your face when you ask them to follow the rules and keep their end of the agreement. Just my personal experience that I don't wish on anybody.

 

[almgia]

i have been here since late june. while i have not directly experienced anything of the sort, i have heard a few different times that a lot of argentines are big flakes and/or scam artists. well, actually, i have experienced the flakiness on more than one account. just meeting people at a bar or party and swapping email/phone numbers to not hear from them. also, my girlfriend met a guy whilst on her way to work and they swapped numbers but once she told him she had a boyfriend, a potential friendship faded immediately. anyway, you arent alone in feeling that way, but likewise with anything in life you should never give up nor lose hope....

 

[nikad]

That is not common,being a local I can assure it´s not the norm. Then again it would be good to check where you are meeting these people? I personally do not mix friends and business, although I have made some exceptions a few times. One thing is to be talking and mention, oh by the way I do this or sell that so if you ever need let me know, etc, that is fine, but what you mention is just bs! In any case it is best to know their true colors sooner than later. I believe the attitudes that you refer to, have more to do with people trying to befriend expats to take advantage of them and their $ ( a more sophisticated expression of the tourist ripoff imho ) My guess is that this would happen more often if you meet these people in expat zones ( Palermos, fairs, coffee shops or restaurants where expats go, etc )

 

[CarverFan]

I'm curious too, mhenna11, what are these people selling?...it happened to me once, the secretary of an official translator came by to collect some papers and, after chatting awhile, she tried to sell me furniture! She did it again when she returned the documents. It made me laugh.