The Art of Bargaining

I received my crash-course in Vietnamese Economics 101 today. We finally worked up the nerve to hail a taxi (we had to go to the US Consulate to have some documents notarized), and found that, while most drivers are honest, some are just there to make your life miserable. Take, for instance, the man who drove us back from the grocery store to our apartment today. Our fare came out to 38,000 VND (just under two dollars). I hand the guy a 100,000 VND bill, and he hands me back 10,000 and shoots me a sly grin. I stare back at him and say “NO!” He pulls out his little wad of money, and unfurls another 20,000. Again, I stare him down and say “NO!”. Out comes the wad again, and another 20,000 makes it into my hands. By then, I was so disgruntled that I got out and let him keep the remainder.

But that was just the beginning. Later on, we headed on down to an indoor flea market. It was vast and sprawling, with dozens, if not hundreds of booths, but at most there were eight or nine distinct sets of wares - they all seemed to compete with each other selling the same exact items. We came across a set of 20 chopsticks. They were wooden and engraved, quite lovely, and we decided to get them for our kitchen. I ask the lady for the price and she holds out a calculator with 80,000 on it. I grab it from her, and type in 50,000. She starts yelling at me like I’ve just spit in her eye or something. So I start walking away, but she calls me back and types in 75,000. I start to walk away again and she types in 60,000. By now I’m smelling blood in the water, and so I make my move - I grab the calculator and punch in 55,000 - sold. It’s only a difference of one-and-a-half dollars, but that’s besides the point. The thrill is in the give-and-take.

We ventured out into the touristy part of the city to find some other goodies, and found the salespeople unflinching… however the Vietnamese have a knack for lining up three or four different shops, selling the same goods, only feet away from each other. So we were able to compare prices and find some pretty good deals that way (we saved 10,000 VND on a wall decoration just by walking down the street and asking the next person), We still have so much to learn, but feel as if we are getting our feet wet pretty fast (literally, just ask Sara about the guy who threw himself to the ground and tried to glue Sara’s loose sole back onto her sandal… we had to pry the guy off!).

Until next time,
Mike