People Who Cheat Expats

[DerAchtundzwanzig]

Change on a purchase. Example: something costs 24.25 AR$ and you hand them 30 AR$. They give you 5AR$. This happens a lot when I am with my English speaking/non-Spanish speaking friends. It is at that point that I say, "We will wait while you find the 0.75." I always get that look of surprise and sure enough, they find the 0.75.

Same thing happens at Chinese supermarkets. They try to give you a caramelo instead of change, when the change is 10 or 20 cents. They always say "Te puedo dar un caramelo?", and I always say, "No, I'd rather have the 10 cents", and they say "No tengo". At that point I say "No problem, I'll wait here for my 10 cents" and what a surprise, they have them.

 

[ajoknoblauch]

Change on a purchase. Example: something costs 24.25 AR$ and you hand them 30 AR$. They give you 5AR$. This happens a lot when I am with my English speaking/non-Spanish speaking friends. It is at that point that I say, "We will wait while you find the 0.75." I always get that look of surprise and sure enough, they find the 0.75.

Oftentimes, Argentines will round off the difference in your favor, especially w/taxi drivers.

 

[cbphoto]

"Tell people there's an invisible man in the sky who created the universe, and the vast majority will believe you. Tell them the paint is wet, and they have to touch it to be sure." - George Carlin

 

[Gringoboy]

Same thing happens at Chinese supermarkets. They try to give you a caramelo instead of change, when the change is 10 or 20 cents. They always say "Te puedo dar un caramelo?", and I always say, "No, I'd rather have the 10 cents", and they say "No tengo". At that point I say "No problem, I'll wait here for my 10 cents" and what a surprise, they have them.

At least you can eat a caramelo, which is more than I can say for an arg 10c.

 

[ajoknoblauch]

At least you can eat a caramelo, which is more than I can say for an arg 10c.

In addition, with the caramelo you get a bonus of caries.

 

[EricLovesBA]

Slightly off topic, but you know after I'd been here for a while, always wary of getting the "gringo price", (which incidentally, I don't think I really get the gringo price very often), I began to examine the idea a bit more closely. Actually in certain types of business, such as consulting or manufacturing, commonly you don't publish a price on your website, but rather you ask the person to contact you for a quote, and you sell them on the strengths of your product. When you do the estimate, it considers the volume and cost, but without a doubt it also takes into consideration how deep are the pockets of your client. Retail is traditionally a bit different, but this difference is not written in stone.

More interesting however, is the paradox or hypocrisy which I have coined "The gringo price vs the wetback wage". It's rather common to hire somebody of limited means, or someone in a desperate situation to do a small or ongoing job for less than the going rate, whether here or in our home country, and many of us really don't bat an eye. After a bit of introspection on this, although I do not commonly pay the gringo price or tolerate doing business with those who charge it, I am at the same time not so harsh in my judgement of it as an act of outright thievery or moral depravity. More like just a bad business practice, violating the norms of good customer service.

 

[WindyCityJames]

Oftentimes, Argentines will round off the difference in your favor, especially w/taxi drivers.

Agreed...I have always had taxi drivers round down...which then makes me give them a bigger tip!

 

[kosta]

"Tell people there's an invisible man in the sky who created the universe, and the vast majority will believe you. Tell them the paint is wet, and they have to touch it to be sure." - George Carlin

What an idiot this George Carlin was! Does anyone older than 6 believe God is "an older guy with a grey beard who by the way speaks english". I don't think so. Many of the atheists are just haters. It has nothing to do with "critical thinking".

 

[Iznogud]

What an idiot this George Carlin was! Does anyone older than 6 believe God is "an older guy with a grey beard who by the way speaks english". I don't think so. Many of the atheists are just haters. It has nothing to do with "critical thinking".

It's called "humor" (quote) but it's a bit complicated and needs some explaining,(/quote).

 

[trennod]

I agree, I actually dont think you get screwed on the rounding. Taxi drivers will round down, often kiosks will round down. Sometimes, the kiosks do offer you caramelos but I certainly dont complain for the sake of 10 or 25 centavos