Tigeras Unite, driving away of tourisum . . . .

I have never droven here but have been approached many times for money. I laugh and call them tigres and say I'm a ..I can't spell it.. tigrasa..tell them I'm the Dominicana Gringa...no pregunta mi autoridad...don't question my authority...but always say it with a smile. Usually get a laugh and all is good.
But then I've never been in a truly sticky situation. Or maybe I have been and just am too stupid to know it.
I see my Dominiican friends responding to people that want thier money ..they talk a bit..never understand what they'er saying ..and usually ends up with a few laughs and hand shaking and all is fine.
Try and handle every situation with firmness and always with a smile and a little laugh and it seems that all is good.....
When they see they can't take you they usually don't bother you.

I usually just vtell them if anybody wants my jeep they can have it. It's insured, I can use the money, and I'll save a ton on the constant repairs.

That confuses the hell out of them! LOL.

One time I was at a festival with a friend and his car was stolen while a "tigere" was suppose to be watching it. Of course he said it wasn't his fault and that was that.

Now I always ask them if they'll pay for any damage that my car might substain or if they'll replace my car is it's stolen under their watch. Of course they always say no and that's the end of that conversation.

my saying in that situation

Every time a tigre ask me to watch over my car I ask tell him Ok but who is going to watch over you !!!
when I come back I hand him 10.00 PESOS and the thing is over

I usually say something in English (I dont speak much Spanish anyway), smile, and walk away. When they realize I cannot speak Spanish they tend to give up with the situation.

Bloody Tigeres and Panitas

DRtechie said:

Now I always ask them if they'll pay for any damage that my car might substain or if they'll replace my car is it's stolen under their watch. Of course they always say no and that's the end of that conversation.

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Thanks for the idea DRtechie!
For the past six years I've parked everywhere here. No problems, I give the panita parking guy 10.00-15.00 its all ok, sometimes they even covered the winshield with a cardboard so the car wouldnt get hot. No complaints.
Some weeks ago, I go for drinks in the Zona Colinial, as clockwork, as soon as I park the panita is there,
Ta' cuida comando!!- As I'm ready to leave the guy comes running, I put my hand in my pocket and give him 5 pesos. The guy looks at me with discontempt, I get pissed and tell him there's no more.
When I parked at my house I noticed the little bastard took off the center hubcap thingies which at the dealership go for 1.050 each. So now I have a trip pending to avenida Barahona to buy them from somebody who stole them too, probably I will buy mine back.
So, from now on, I advise against giving any money to those oportunist parasites unless they do something nice like have a good spot at hand and shade the car or do a little washing.
:angry:

Funny

calamardoazul said:

Every time a tigre ask me to watch over my car I ask tell him Ok but who is going to watch over you !!!

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That's exactly what my father tells them, laughing they answer: no, don, yo no, yo soy una persona honesta. Is comical really. Usually we have no complaints.

DRtechie said:

One time I was at a festival with a friend and his car was stolen while a "tigere" was suppose to be watching it. Of course he said it wasn't his fault and that was that.

Now I always ask them if they'll pay for any damage that my car might substain or if they'll replace my car is it's stolen under their watch. Of course they always say no and that's the end of that conversation.

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Yeah but what if you do this and then he decides to take a key and scrape it along your door or slash a tire or two while you are gone? I think I would tell him I would give him 20 pesos beforehand so there wouldnt be any bullshit when I come back on the price or anything wrong with my car.
Larry

In that case they would be having a small chat with my friend "Mr. Slugger". :devious:

You're right though. I've had good luck when it comes to that. I guess it also helps that I don't drive around alone and hardly ever leave my car in unknown places.

In other countries there are parkmeters which you'll feed with the equivalent of 10Pesos (or usually more) without hesitating. No safety guaranteed. So I pay him usually RD$10 on leaving, to get rid of him and go on with my life.

I found my car washed one morning when I stepped out of the hotel in Barahona. Next to it the happy smiling guy with his hand open.
Boy was I mad, because I was going to go through dustroads into the campo. When I told him so, and that I wasn't willing to pay for a service never asked for, he let me know that I might find the car with the tires slit the following morning.
Since I knew I wouldn't be anywhere close to Barahona the next night, I considered this a fair deal and took off.

gerd said:

When I told him so, and that I wasn't willing to pay for a service never asked for, he let me know that I might find the car with the tires slit the following morning.

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I posted that I would not want someone to slit my tires because I refused to "allow him to watch my car". I would not want to return and find my tires slit . But if he told me to my face that he would slit my tires as he did to you he would be swallowing some teeth.No wonder some of these guys are so pushy with some of you.Show a little backbone for Christsake.If he told you to your face that he would have his way with your wife would you pick her up and run away with her like you did with your car or would you put your foot up his ass?
Larry

This is what I always do

When faced with "buscones"(the worst thieves in DR, second only to street vendors and limpiabotas) I make them a positive nod that "yes, you can watch my car", then when I return, I place my Glock right in front of my belt in full view so he can see it, get on my car, hand them $5 pesos a drive off. If they want to do something, they can try.

But the best thing is to keep very well informed about where you go and where you park. 95% of the times, I will only cater to places with parking lots watched by paid watchmen or automatic lots with guards in every floor. For instance, I will never go to a disco without a parking lot with a guard. I also prefer places that will give you a ticket to be stamped or validated by a business in the mall or location.

Go to restaurants in the Acropolis, get a ticket and have it stamped by the restaurant. No fee and paid guards with scooters supervising!!!

It is better to pay for a $500 to $800 daily pass at a resort with a parking lot and security, private beach and all, than go to public places like the Teleferico, which I will not ride if they paid me $100,000. That thing is as safe as driving in Autopista Las Americas. Besides, everytime you go to public places to mingle with the rift raft, tigueres and chopos, you end up paying more in hassles.

I understand tourists want to get a feel for our society as a whole and learn about our culture and people. But I have never been fooled by the smile of chopos. 80% of our population are thieves or are honest people so desperate for money they will just about do anything to take your money, sell you something worthless, and the best you can hope for is that they beg you for it.

TW

Larry (ILoveDR) said:

Yeah but what if you do this and then he decides to take a key and scrape it along your door or slash a tire or two while you are gone? I think I would tell him I would give him 20 pesos beforehand so there wouldnt be any bullshit when I come back on the price or anything wrong with my car.
Larry

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Absolutely. Money talks. Like I said before, we never have any problems, but we take very good care of them. Also, I think these guys know who they can't mess with. Is like that spanish saying goes: "El diablo sabe a quien se lleva.

Re: This is what I always do

. 80% of our population are thieves

TW [/B]

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Is exactly the same thing Mr. Hippo said once, but he was referring (I think) to his cronies.....:bandit:

Couldn't Be.

That's way too low of an estimate. Maybe if the other 20% consisted of 19% lambones and 1% Tigeres, OK!

Tom (aka XR)

at the risk of having my tyres slit....

porfio rubirosa has already called me an "anal spelling bee geek".
i?m not sure what a 'bee geek' is, but what my spelling of 'anal' has to do with it, i'm just not sure.
at the risk of more name calling, i wish to point out golo's consistent use of the term 'rift raft' - there is no doubt about golo's intelligence, and i always appreciate his informative, although biassed, posts (which incidentally are very entertaining for the most gullible of you) - but i feel the 'anal spelling' urge to tell him that it is 'riff-raff'.
of course, as i said to my chauffeur this morning, it is immediately deduced that most of you fall into this peculiar sort.
why on earth would you bring yourselves to associate with these car watching 'tigueres' in the first place? if they were to so much as approach me, i would have to have one of my 'minders' take the poor unfortunate around the corner to teach him a lesson.
i, also, believe that golo wrongly associates riff-raff to poor people, politicians, military and such like. while i don't dispute that politicians, a lot of poor people and some military are riff-raff, you would have to include a lot of rich people (just look at what goes in and out of carol morgan school) and all foreign diplomatic personnel in the d.r..
incidentally, i do know a lot of poor people that are definitely not riff-raff - my chauffeur would not be seen dead in a baseball cap and always has his tie done up to the collar - surely not the action of riff-raff.
the house maid has enough education to know that she should always keep her uniform clean, and if the unlikely occurrence of us ever meeting in public should happen, that she knows she should wait for me to acknowledge her before even giving me a cursory glance - surely not the action of riff-raff.
when the nurse accidentally cuts me, drawing blue blood, during my morning daily shave, she readily accepts her dock of pay without a hint of a complaint - surely not the action of riff-raff.

i do believe that if one is willing to admit that they carry, worse, exhibit, a firearm as a crude expression of toughness, then said person, in this case golo, must also be included as one of the riff-raff.

this is not just another 'style' before 'substance' post, this is a genuine attempt to help with the further education of your lower classes.

bochinche

Congratulations, riding around in the back of your limosine, you came up with your definition for riff raff and now are preaching it to us. I am sure we will all write it down or print this page out to refer to in the future when we are unsure if someone falls into the riff raff category. Since you have given your definition of riff raff, I will give mine. Riff raff is anyone who is around who brings down the quality of your lifestyle or is a constant annoyance . Applying my definition, I would categorize your above post as riff raff. Please discuss this with your chauffeur.
Larry

bochinche, this is too funny! You remind me of an old English Plantation owner in Burma or somewhere swilling his pink gins in the afternoon with his panama hat hiding the sweat on his bald dome while his Indian servants laugh behind their blank 'servant' facial expressions. Were you serious with this post?

riff-raff...

....riff-raff?

wasn't that one of the characters in "the rocky horror picture show"?

mob :classic:

{aka riff-raff rouser}