Price Tags

The frustrations of moving to this new town have really been amplified by this whole 'no price tags' kind of culture. I mean, I grew up with the mindset of 'am I willing to pay this much?'. We all did. You go to the store, see something you want, look at the pricetag and make the decision to buy based upon how bad you want it. Here the mindset is 'how much am I willing to pay?' meaning that I have absolutely no idea how much something should cost and I have to make a stab in the dark guess as to how much I will pay for it, never knowing how much it should actually be. I know how much things are supposed to cost in the capitol but out here it's different.

For example, the new city is where they grow the vegetables and take them to the capitol. So I go the vegetable guy and he gives me a price that is way more than the capitol. When I ask, he says that vegetables cost more here. How do I know? That doesn't make any sense at all if they're grown here, but I can't find any vegetable guys who are cheaper than the first guy. Does that mean that vegetables really are more expensive here or is there not even one honest vegetable guy in this city? I don't know.

Another example, cokes. My country actually has their own coca cola bottling plant and, in the capitol, a glass bottle of coke costs 25cents. Out here, they cost 35cents. Not a huge difference but the first time I bought one and kind of argued with the guy, he just laughed and kindly explained that it costs more b/c they have to bring the bottles full from the capitol and then return them empty. This one makes sense. Good thing the guy took the time to explain or I would have never gone back to his little store again thinking that he was trying to rip me off.

Yet another example, a bottle of water. In the capitol it costs 25cents but I can't figure out how much it's supposed to cost here. The first time we asked, the guy said 50cents and so we didn't buy one from him, that's twice as much as we think it's supposed to be! Went to the next store and they guy gave it to us for free because we were 'his guests'. The next store I went to, the guy just threw it in for free with all the other stuff I bought and couldn't figure out why I would need to know how much it cost if he was giving it to me for free.

Do you see my dilemma here? Everywhere I go, everything I buy, I have no idea how much I'm supposed to pay. I've been ripped off a few times since getting here and now I don't want to trust anyone when they tell me a price b/c they are probably lying and I have no idea. Even though it's just small amounts, it's still the principle of the matter. I shouldn't have to pay twice as much for something just because I'm white!

Oh yah, picked up my poles this morning. 15 exactly the same as the example I left with him, just like I wanted. I really expected to get in there and have 15 weak poles but they were all just right. Guess all that repetition paid off!!!