- Thread starter DRDone
- Start date
Understanding the Dominican Mentality
- Status
since it appears to have, then please enlighten me. do you believe that people who do the right thing by others do not get rooked? sorry to burst your bubble. i can write books about guys who have come here, treated locals with great respect and deference, only to have the recipients of kindnesses crap all over them. furthermore, this happens the world over. there is no guarantee that people who do the right thing will have it done to them in return. that is a myth which does not stand up to scrutiny.
Last edited:
Thats my problem with this site. Way too many jaded miserable people posting their crap
and you call me pompous? you see things one way, i see them another, and your approach is to start up with the ad hominems and vitriol. i never at one moment attempted to insult you, but you have gone on a full blown rant.
remember your bromide; you get what you give. maybe you should measure that against the way you elect to be abrasive to other people.
There is a degree of truth to what you're saying. Dominicans, by and large, seem pretty much like a win/lose people. But I've been living here for over two years and I feel like a winner. Things just seem to get better. I haven't been on DR1 much because I'm making more money these days, so I don't have as much time. I've had a few win/win situations with Dominicans, you just have to stand your ground. If a deal is not to my liking I walk away.
Remember you are the foreigner. You have the advantage, especially with the opposite sex. There are more Dominican women here than foreign men. If some chick wants to put you in a situation where she will win and you will lose, walk away and find a better deal. Same goes for other people. For complex transactions I deal with other foreigners and I only deal with Dominicans for basic things (like buying bread). As far as hiring Dominicans, why bother? There is an expat community here, hire them if you need physical work done and if you do Internet stuff like me outsource jobs to other countries where people are reliable.
By the way, not all Dominicans are unreliable. The apartment maintenance guy that works where I live is super reliable. He is so trustworthy that although my landlord is European, I pay my rent to the Dominican guy and he then gives it to the landlord. If I need him to buy something for me from the Colmado and I accidentally give him too much money he gives me back the spare change. I leave money sitting out and the Dominican lady that comes and cleans each week has never touched it. You just have to vet Dominicans to see who can be trusted and who can't be.
Last edited:
my lady cleaner used to try and borrow (get an advance) and then i realized she is lazy....of course i kept her as it is e z er to keep her...but no more advances....she used to take home my shirts for pressing...not a big deal in a bag going home and she got a ride here...then a pattern ....unless i was ready with the shirts and the hangers...she would leave them....
u canot advance money to people who dont have any...sorry....
u canot advance money to people who dont have any...sorry....
Someone I knew died and I went to the velorio. It was at the family house in a humble neighborhood in Santo Domingo. I arrived with mutual friends before the body arrived. When the casket was brought in it was set up in the front room.
I noticed that there were no small possesions anywhere and that several rooms were padlocked. I asked a friend what that was all about. It's so nobody can steal anything (at a velorio that includes friends, family, neighbors and wander ins).
I love this country. Qu? un pa?s de maravillas.
I'll say it again, for about the fifth time, two books that can help prepare you for life in the DR are Lewis Carrol's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There.
Living in the DR is a journey of observing what appears to make no sense whatsoever and occasionally uncovering the logic of it all... or some of it... or not. :cross-eye:dead:
JABBERWOCKY
Lewis Carroll
(from Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, 1872)
`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"
He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought --
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.
And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.
`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
Have you heard about Irish Alzheimer's?
That's when you get old you forget everything except your grudges. :laugh:
This explains their philosophy while driving. It never ceases to amaze me how their never waning desire to never let anyone go first causes everyone to get where they are going later. At any intersection at any point, nobody will EVER wave another car to go ahead of them. They both enter intersection and jockey about for a minute or two and finally one guy wins and gets through first. If he would have just waved the other guy through, they both get through faster.
The other day in front of my apt there was a worse traffic jam than usual. Everyone trying to get to gymn or mall as usual but this time there was a dominican stand off. Two cars squeezed into a spot that neither could pass. It was literally 15 minutes of yelling, honking, alarms going off, idiots trying to "help" etc. All easily avoidable if one of them could swallow his damn pride and let the other guy "win". Instead we all lose.
- Status