saddened and disappointed once again

Spicedwine

Member
Apr 25, 2006
568
19
18
We were driving our Dominicana friend home yesterday. She asked if we would mind stopping at the chicken guy just off Pedro Clisante - she wanted to pick up a 1/2 chicken to take home. No problem. The guy there knows us, as does the business next door. Like 6 years. Hi - how are you ? Been away for a while. Good to see you again. She gets 1/2 chicken, with yuca ----> $125 pesos. We stop at the same place today - 1/2 chicken - with no veggies. 140 pesos. It's not the 15 pesos. Someone told us long ago : they ( Dominicans ), in spite of what we may think, for the most part really DON'T like us, really resent us being here, and really don't have any respect for us. This saddens us. And it's easy to generalize. We know not all are like this. But it happens way too often.
 

Tamborista

hasta la tambora
Apr 4, 2005
11,747
1,343
113
Did it occur to you to ask where are the veggies, and why are you being charged "un precio differente hoy"?

I guess if a thread on dr1 makes you feel better, then good for you.
I would have walked away and gone elsewhere without my yucca.

There are ZERO gringos in Sosua, and every business is taking advantage of the gringo, sad, but they need to survive. Not that this is excusable, as they now lost you as a regular customer, this is just Dominican mentality to think for today not tomorrow.
 

windeguy

Platinum
Jul 10, 2004
42,211
5,969
113
I know you guys are from the Great White North, but it's close enough for this song, in this case the second verse:

[video=youtube;ausU6_kDnAg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ausU6_kDnAg[/video]

Down to the Banana Republic
Down to the tropical sun
Go the expatriated Americans
Hoping to find some fun

Some of them go for the sailn'
Called by the lure of the sea
Trying to find what is ailing
From living in the land of the free

Some of them are running from lovers
Leaving no forward address
Some of them are running tons of ganga
Some are running from the IRS

And late at night you will find them
In the cheap hotels & bars
Hustling the senoritas while they dance beneath the stars

Spending those renegade pesos
On a bottle of rum & a lime
Singing, give me some words I can dance to
Or a melody that rhymes

First you learn the native customs
Soon a word of Spanish or two
But you know that you cannot trust them
Cause they know they can't trust you

Expatriated Americans feeling so all alone
Telling themselves the same lies
That they told themselves back home
Down to the Banana Republic things aren't as warm as they seem
When none of the natives are buying any second hand American dreams
 
I'm a newbie but you have to be firm and say no I am paying .... You don't just take it or people will walk all over you here!! They will respect you more (well maybe not jaja) but you will feel better paying the price one "should" pay!!!

Look I was upset when I first moved here about this too, don't take it personally, it's just how it works here. They will try and get ahead any way they can!!
 
Dec 26, 2011
8,071
0
0
Someone told us long ago : they ( Dominicans ), in spite of what we may think, for the most part really DON'T like us, really resent us being here, and really don't have any respect for us.

Sometimes yuca is just yuca. You're reading way too much meaning into it. He may have been charging everyone 140 today. Who knows? But instead of getting hurt, you should have playfully questioned what you felt to be a discrepancy.

Was it good chicken?
 

windeguy

Platinum
Jul 10, 2004
42,211
5,969
113
I'm a newbie but you have to be firm and say no I am paying .... You don't just take it or people will walk all over you here!! They will respect you more (well maybe not jaja) but you will feel better paying the price one "should" pay!!!

Look I was upset when I first moved here about this too, don't take it personally, it's just how it works here. They will try and get ahead any way they can!!

Grasshopper, now you can take the pebble from my hand.
 

Spicedwine

Member
Apr 25, 2006
568
19
18
It's not about the yucca. And it didn't even occur to us that " el precio era diferente hoy" until later.

Did it occur to you that this was an observation about relationships between Dominicans and gringos ? Not about getting our
money's worth.
 

bronzeallspice

Live everyday like it's your last
Mar 26, 2012
11,009
2
38
Spicedwine, hope this makes you feel better. It's not just gringos who are going
through this, they will do it to Dominicans abroad too! My father always said to
me do not speak english in the stores or around anyone or you will pay a higher
price. It's all about the money.

Anyone from abroad to them is loaded..
 
Last edited:

Tamborista

hasta la tambora
Apr 4, 2005
11,747
1,343
113
I agree it is VERY sad but you will get over it or not be able to spend time / live here, if you can't!
It will eat you up if you let it, and it is so not worth it! It's just the Gringo Tax!


You hit 500, are you getting paid by the post now?
 

Aguaita29

Silver
Jul 27, 2011
2,619
272
83
Someone told us long ago : they ( Dominicans ), in spite of what we may think, for the most part really DON'T like us, really resent us being here, and really don't have any respect for us. This saddens us. And it's easy to generalize. We know not all are like this. But it happens way too often.

If it was about resenting gringos then us locals wouldn`t get overcharged too!
 
Dec 26, 2011
8,071
0
0
My gf always harasses the vendors without clearly marked pricing to the point of being annoying. Then I come in and gently reprimand her for insulting the hard-working man. Good cop/bad cop. It's all a game. Whatever it takes to get a little extra yuca. But if you think it's because they hate you, you're way off.
 

Mu?ecote

New member
Aug 1, 2006
170
20
0
try always to have exact change, when you know the price just hand them the 125 pesos and walk away. i went to buy some avacados at a small colmado in POP and the dominicana in front of me was buying two, she handed the guy 25 pesos and he gave her back 5 pesos. i bought 10 but only had a 200, he handed me back 50 pesos. i just looked at him and shook my head. when im way too hot or just ****ed at something i usually throw in my "without shame" comment in spanish. however if that is the only time we get robbed we are the lucky ones. hate to say it but these people arent are friends, thats why i got a dog.
 

ramesses

Gold
Jun 17, 2005
6,674
809
113
I understand there are/have been restaurants that have 2 menu's....one local and one gringo....fact of life here.
 

tflea

Bronze
Jun 11, 2006
1,839
164
63
tu no speki da spanish mrs. d. por eso te daban el bushei.
ponga el t'she, o pierde el quarto.....carajo.
normal.
Anyway, I have never seen a restaurant with 2 menus.
That is not only costly to print and discriminatory, it is too obvious and
likely one of those urban legend kind of things. Not to say it's never
happened, but nothing that I've ever seen.
If someone gets cheated, once, twice or always, it is not the Dominicans
who are taking you for a ride, it is those who have refused to saddle up.
Giddy-up Lil ranger, there's a long trail ahead.
 
Last edited:

dv8

Gold
Sep 27, 2006
31,266
363
0
i've heard about two menus but i have never seen that in action. clearly, in some places there are menus in english and spanish. for instance our favourite restaurant in maimon has that. but the prices are the same. we always check the bill in details.