(Issues) / 4 May 2012
I am not sure about the rest of the world, but we Indian women are super hagglers. Now my husband has a problem with the haggle word and wants me to say ‘super negotiators’. According to him, there is a ring of discredit to the haggle term, and being a procurement guy, he is sensitive to what I say about this bargain battle that we girls glibly indulge in.
Despite being a past master of bargaining, my man has always stayed away from it when it came to my personal purchases and I nurse a permanent grouse against him over this. Isn’t it sacrilegious that someone who strives and saves millions for his company should leave me to my own defenses when I am dying to save a few Dirhams on my dress, accessory or the curio in the Global Village? But I guess in our personal domain, we women have a cleverer way of getting the bargains out than men.
Often to the embarrassment of less intrepid souls, we employ this incorrigible habit lavishly to varying degrees of success on everyone from the salesman at the gold showroom to the vegetable vendors to real estate agents to even the dentist and the doctor. Seriously, I have asked my dentist in India for a discount on the bill because my husband was out of job at that time, tough times…so you know….
The tools we use vary widely - some are extremely weird and spontaneous that give unexpected results, others are old tricks that stand only half chances. In India, we ask for the price, raise an eyebrow exaggeratedly as if to say that I wasn’t buying a plot of land but a few bunches of spinach and then walk away feigning disinterest. Then the predictable call from behind would see us trotting back in suppressed glee. This trick however has run its course, and now if you walk away…you simply walk away. And then there is always the fear of getting fleeced should the vendor get wind of your Dubai back ground, so we are often very guarded in speech and manner. Hyper market bags from here can be big giveaways, mind you!
Last month we had been to a gold store here which wasn’t Indian owned, but the moment the salesman began to speak, I grinned inwardly at the prospect. We Malayalis can sniff a Malabari bro from miles away. Some Mallu chat on monsoons and power cuts later, the making charge happily trotted down the scale. Tra-la-la! Fraternal feelings and a common lingo are, no doubt, handy trump cards to use.
Interestingly, there is perfect understanding on this between the shop keepers and the customers. They know about our fad for wrangling and we know that their price tags are inflated. So we both take no offence at the drama that unfolds before every purchase and go through the motions by default. Just that shopping becomes a bit too tedious with all the haggling and harangue.
I remember how a few months ago I confronted a salesperson at the Dragon Mart with a “What? So much? We India China poor people. No rich. We less money get, so, less money give.”
I have no clue if the bemused China man got through anything I said. But after a long battle in pidgin language I got the ware for half the quoted price. Quiet a victory, I gloated on my return home, to which my procurement man commented, “He still would have made some money. No one sells anything below cost, silly. After all, he is there to do business and not charity.” I was crushed to a pulp, but it also made me think about how skewed and suspicious the pricing structures in our market place are!
So what is the real worth of the things we buy?
Incidentally, a friend recently purchased a 15 million Rupee villa in India for 10 million! Down by a full five million rupees! “1.5 crore for fully furnished and one for unfurnished. We talked the builder down to it”, she explained.
“To that much? Wow!”
“Good buy?”
“Of course, of course.”
Now, let’s hear it for our sharp bargaining skills and their bogus price tags, folks! Applause, applause
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