Job Discussion Forums

[Ben Round de Bloc]

Me enga��.

I don't think there are many of us who can claim that we've never been ripped-off since coming to this country. I certainly can't.

OXXO stores (chain of convenience stores) downtown are notorious for ripping off customers. Their cashiers have a habit of taking customers' money and immediately putting it into the cash register drawer before giving back change and then short-changing the customers. For example, if a customer's bill totals 40 pesos, and he pays with a 100-peso note, the cashier gives the customer 10 pesos in change. Then the cashier swears the customer paid with a 50-peso note. Tourists/Foreigners are prime targets, but it also happens to locals sometimes.

My house was without phone service for most of a day earlier this week. About noon I decided to head for the pay phone a couple of blocks away to call in and report it. When I got out to the street, I noticed that there were some linemen working just down the block. Since the logo on their truck didn't indicate Comisi�n Federal (electric company) or Telmex (phone company,) I asked. It turned out that they were a crew sub-contracted by Telmex to replace phone lines. Then one of the crew members asked the guy I'd been talking to what the problem was, walked up to me, and told me that the work they were doing would not cause my phone line to be dead, that it must be a problem with my individual line. However, to avoid all the hassles of calling it in and waiting for a Telmex repairman to come, he would gladly repair it for a "small fee" after they finished replacing the lines. Knowing that my phone service would most likely be functioning again as soon as they finished their job, I decided to play along with him (dumb gringo who just got off the plane,) so I asked what he considered a small fee. If he'd tried to hit me up for the cost of a couple of Coca Colas, I might have gone along with it. Obviously, he and I had very different concepts of small fee, since I didn't consider his offer of 200 pesos to be small. At that point I dropped the Yo tener problemos con mi tell-lay-phono routine that I'd intentionally slipped into when I felt I was going to be ripped-off and switched to Oye, guey, �por qu� quieres enga�arme as�? etc. �Te cach�!

Just looking for some opinions here, is there a difference between being ripped-off and being enga�ared? If there's a difference, where's the dividing line? Any thoughts and experiences to share?

[thelmadatter]

Do I get ripped off? Yeah.. how much? Not completely sure always. Bargaining is not my strong point, despite knowing how important it is here. And I still get steamed about taxis and others (but prinicipally taxis in Edo. de Mex.) who jack up the price ridiculously as soon as they hear my accent, so I have to bargain that much harder.

My solution is to avoid taxis and some of the other situations where Im more likely to get ripped off. Cant avoid everything of course.

All I can say is that I am still learning... and I ask for help from local friends when I need it. They can say and do things I simply cannot.

[some waygug-in]

This is the one thing about Mexico that I do not miss, although I got better at avoiding those situations the longer I was there. I was always a target just because I was a 'gringo'.

[Guy Courchesne]

It happens a lot around DF too...mostly nickle and dime short changing at the OXXO's.

As far as street vendors are concerned, I kinda find it fun to play the haggle game. When I first arrived, back when Clinton was president, I'm sure I overpaid for a lot of stuff. But, getting used to the game means I get better prices now. Ben, I love slipping into the local lingo too dame precio guey, soy medio-chilangois my favorite.

By the way

[ls650]

I have to say that in 5+ months I've only had two or three minor instances of getting short-changed... and they all seemed to be genuine mistakes that were easily rectified when pointed out to the clerk.

Perhaps I am in an unusually honest area?

[MixtecaMike]

This reminded me of something that happened when I was very new in that neck of the world.

I usually got my shoes shined in the Central Park of the town I was living in, it was Q2. I always made sure I had the correct change after some nasty little street urchin refused to give me change for a Q5.

Anyways, one day I got my shoes shined in the Democracia park, I said thank you, gave the guy Q2 and walked away. He came running across the park after me to give me my 50 len change, the price in the Democracia was only Q1.50.

I was so impressed I stayed there, married a local, had two kids and will one day retire there.

[Guy Courchesne]

awww...

We need a thread just to post our 'why I stayed' stories. Maybe a collaborative book.

That reminded one of the first time I noticed that someone was trying to rip me off. Usually, you pay 10 pesos in gran Tenochtitlan to git yer shoes shined. Once, a mobile shiner in Zona Rosa tried to charge me too much. It was the effort he went into breaking it down that made it a classic in my book.

-translated, you see-

'Well, for the front part of the right shoe, that'll be 45 pesos. For the back part of the same shoe, that's another 45. So, since I did both shoes, you see that comes out to 115 each, so it'll be 250 pesos' - no joke

I think I gave him 19 pesos while the other guy with a real shoe shine stand just laughed at all of us.

[MixtecaMike]

Oh yeah, the assault shoeshiners of Zona Rosa. $250 was the going rate about 8 years or so ago, not long after they took the zeroes off the peso bills.

Wonder how much they ask for now, if they are still there.