A Day At The Market
Five friends and I went to the local marketplace in Jaipur, and the dedication with which they sell is admirable. They are the ultimate masters of Indian time, “One minute, sir. Just one minute – take a look. Don’t have to buy – just look” is a commonly uttered phrase by shopkeepers. In this case, one minute certainly does not mean one minute. The plethora of items that will be attempted to be sold in that “one minute” makes it impossible that “one minute” could ever last 60 seconds.
The selling tactics are admirable as well. The first question is usually, “What country are you from, sir?” once I reply “America” it’s always followed by an “Oh, great country! Beautiful country!” – I have yet to meet a shopkeeper with any animosity towards America, but I’ve been ripped off every time I buy something. I suppose that’s marketing 101, know your target audience; Americans love to be told America is a great country. Nothing makes me want to buy from a shop more than when the shop keepers shows the USA a little love. It didn’t take me long to realize that this was the tactic used by literally every shopkeeper. They are not exactly the masters of elaborate small talk, but what they lack in eloquence they make up for in persistence.
The selling becomes relentless once I’ve been reeled in with some small talk. Last week in Jaipur I learned that it’s impossible to know where one man’s store ends and another’s begins. I first talked to a man who wanted me to buy some t-shirts, while my friend Matt was approached by another vendor. Funny enough, Matt was approached because he lived in California – and that vendor was a real fan of California. The California fan led us to his spice store – we didn’t go in at the time but we told him we’d come back with our friends. All the stores are the same, but the California fan differentiated himself by a picture of when Hugh Jackman was in his store. I decided to go to a different t shirt store than the man who first approached me.
After coming out of that store the man approached me again, this time very disappointed about my decision. Two other friends and myself were standing next to him for a little while as we looked for three of our girl friends. Once he realize we were looking for the girls he told us, “I can show you where the girls are, but you have to buy from my shop” We didn’t think he would actually know where the girls were, but at this point we were desperate. We weren’t buying from the store, but we needed some lead. He told us they were in a silver shop – but he wouldn’t tell us which one. There were only so many silver shops on this street though, so we deduced pretty quickly which one it was. Surprisingly enough the girls were in the store, but this man had done us a service – we needed to buy from his store! The girls were looking at silver rings – so the man showed us to a friend who would happily sell us some rings. Once they realized that rings were not our cup of tea they figured they’d try something else – knives. We were shown four or five knives when they brought out the big one. It was a knife used for hunting tigers – and boy was it impressive. Unfortunately I’m a college student and I don’t have the money to splurge on a tiger hunting knife because I think it looks cool – maybe after co-op.
When we left the silver shop we were lead to the same spice store we had been taken to earlier; but by a different man in the silver shop. I didn’t want any spices, so I left the store – only to be met by my first friend, still angry I hadn’t gone in his store. After some back and forth, we settled on telling our friends to go to the store. Frustrated by his persistence we obnoxiously pointed to the man, yelled to the girls and said, “Hey! Go to this guy’s store!” Finally our Uber arrived and we were free’d from shopping at the market.
