Travel Tip #5- Not Your Friend
Travel Tip #5- Not Your Friend
Meknes, Morocco
October 5, 2007
Homepage: http://canciondelvagabundo.googlepages.com
I compiled this list in good humor based off my experience with dealing with touts in various touristed areas of the world. Much of it is self-explanatory and is what all travellers already know anyway. I just thought it would be fun to write down.
Of course every traveller wants to be able to move in and out of a culture, make friends, and get really close to the folks they are travelling amongst, but, simply put, there are many people out there who feed off of good intentioned travellers and would suck them dry in an instant. Unfortunately, these are usually the people that are, for obvious reasons, most accessible for travellers to meet. Some people call them touts, I just call them assholes.
I have always found it very difficult to find a “human” basis of understanding with someone who views me as nothing other than “money on legs” (thanks Andy www.hobotraveler.com). I now find it a great impertinence to even try.
If someone yells “Hello my friend ” to you as you are walking down the street, they are not your friend.
If someone tries to pressure you into going into any shop, restaurant, hotel that you do not really want to go in, they are not your friend.
If someone tries to charge you more for something than the stated price, they are not your friend.
If someone tries to make you walk in a direction that you do not really want to go in, they are not your friend.
If someone tries to make you feel guilty for not wanting to talk to them, they are not your friend.
If someone calls you a racist because you do not want to hire their service, they are not your friend.
If a cab driver does not start his meter as soon as you take off, he is not your friend.
If someone walks up to you in a highly touristed area speaking many languages and trying very hard to be your friend, they are not your friend.
If a produce vendor in the tropics tries to charge you two dollars for a few bananas, he is not your friend.
If you tell someone to leave you alone, and they do not follow your directive, they are not your friend.
If someone tries to get you into a shop by saying “Just have a look. No buy. Just have a look,” they are not your friend.
If someone comes up to you and immediately starts talking about how “all men are brothers,” they are not your friend.
If it seems like someone is trying to get something from you, they probably are, and are not your friend.
If someone is not my friend, I feel no obligation to them.
So this is my piece of advice to all of you beaten and battered wanderers.
As always, take it or leave it.
Walk Slow,
Wade
1 comments:
Good post, man. And one clearly fuelled by encounters with certain Moroccan lowlifes – this much is plain to see. And you’re bang on the money with it, too.
As we know, the “hello my friend. Where you from?” routine is a global phenomenon (at least it is in places more frequented by tourists) and as such, after a while, it’s easy enough to deal with. What I found hard to deal with though was the way that, in Morocco, they don’t just play mental chess with you – which can be kind of fun, and keep the senses sharp – but the real hustlers go straight for the heart. And, in my opinion, that’s a shitty, shitty trick to play.
A lot of the good hustlers know the best angle, and that is to get you onside - to befriend you (although, as you rightly say, they certainly aren’t acting as a friend would). Any decent human being is polite, courteous and wishes to be a good ambassador and give a good impression. It’s engrained in our psyche, its how decent people are programmed to be, it’s the right and natural thing to do. Acting any other way simply makes you feel awkward.
These guys clearly know this, and they use it against the uninitiated to good effect. If you do rebut them they then go to stage B, which is to look offended thus reconfirming in your own mind that your behaviour is inappropriate. It’s their last chance saloon, their final shot at drawing you in – and it’s by far the most powerful weapon in their arsenal. The phrase ‘saving the best until last’ seems to befit this situation perfectly, as no one like to upset others - especially a new friend…
In short, it’s the dirtiest trick in the tout’s book of underhand tactics, and it’s used all too often. That’s why now I feel no guilt about doing as you do, which is telling myself that they are not my friend, and that’s why I can no just walk away having not succumb to their predatory tactics.
Sweet post, dude, keep ‘em coming!
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