It's not just foreigners... long time friend from Santiago was telling me this week about a discussion he had with friends (all 30-40 yr old middle/upper class Dominicans) recently at Cap Cana and the 'monthly allowances' they gave their girlfriends for hair, clothing, etc, etc.
A chica from the campo/barrio doesn't need more than 150 pesos for the salon. Remember, there is no tipping in the salon, so don't add on to this price.
If she has long, straight hair(pelo bueno) her aunt Mechi washes it. Mechi's 12-year old daughter Filsa does the rollers and the chica dries them not by sitting under a hair dryer but by taking a ride on her novio's motoconcho.
Aunt Mechi only charges 100 pesos for this service.
I know this for a fact. I never paid for nails, so I have no idea what they cost.
And if she wants extensions, let the guy who will be filling your shoes the second you get on the plane pay for them. It's not that serious.
What you want to avoid by not overpaying is the drama that will ruin your vacation. When the chica tells her friends and family that Gringoman gave her 2,000 pesos for her hair, they sit around and coach her-he is now seen as a sucker who will fall for any sob story to squeeze more money out of him.
So for 1-2 days tops of happiness, the rest of his vacation will be spent having this chica driving him crazy with incredible tales of woe.
Every time her phone rings, you will be asking these questions-
Who is in the hospital this time?
Who has gripe and needs medicine?
Who got into an accident?
Who died and needs money for the burial?
The law of diminishing returns Dominican-style is what we are trying to get through to some of you guys when you overpay. The more you pay, the less effort she will put in to making you happy because she is now focused on fleecing her pendejo.
If you want to listen to the above-mentioned crap while on vacation and you feel arrogant enough that this won't happen to you, or maybe we should mind our own business, then fine.
My concern is in letting people not make mistakes that will ruin their vacation.
This scenario plays itself out every single day. AZB has posted stories of guys like this being disrespected by some barrio chica.
Listen to him every once in a while instead of constantly harping on the abrasive tone of his writing style and maybe, just maybe, you'll be able to keep the upper hand with your chica.
Draw the line with her. Let her know you'll treat her with respect and kindness but you are not a sucker.
She'll still gets her hair done, she'll still look nice for you and you'll enjoy your vacation with the least amount of drama possible.
Why is this so hard to understand?
