Bartering

It's 2009, and we're back in action. I just arrived in Cairo International Airport (CAI)  two days ago, and I was warmly welcomed by the typical "Welcome to Egypt..."

"... Would you like a taxi?" 

You have to be careful when catching a taxi at places like train stops or airports because the taxi fare varies greatly depending on who's taxi you enter. At CAI, there are three rounds of taxi cab drivers. The first are the "official" guys, their target is foreigners who didn't plan for limos or tour buses beforehand. These guys work in a kiosk, speak fluent English, and they even have a clipboard full of "official" prices to different destinations within Cairo. His taxi is the most expensive because he seems legitimate, and truth be told, he is a little more legitimate that the others because at least he knows how to work the system. The second line of defenses comes right after I exit the airport. These prices are generally too high, but I just wanted to get to my destination, so we agreed on a price and he took me to the car, but then asked me to wait. He told his buddy to watch me while he looked for another customer. I told him I wasn't going to wait, so I went to the third line of taxis: the guys that just wait in their cars and don't try to play games to entice you into their taxis. These drivers wanted to agree on a price up front, so we agreed on a fair price. 

Here's where we get into the bartering. After I put all my stuff in the taxi, the cabbie told me that I had to pay 5 more pounds (equivalent $1) for the parking ticket. 

I call this request the "Just a Dollar Game." It's a game between Egyptians and foreigners, and it always begins once a sale is made. If you can score an extra dollar for every transaction that you make you are going to be considerably more successful, especially since this is always a bottom line profit. So, this is an important economic game. Usually this game is played in a souk (Arabic marketplace), where you might be bartering over a sweatshirt, soccer jersey, or scarves. There's an initial bartering process that usually begins with two vastly different prices between the customer and merchant. After a couple rounds of converging prices, the merchant will try to close the deal. If he can't simply get the foreigner to pay for his overpriced good/service, then he'll concede to the foreigner's offer. To him, the sale has been made, but instead of just giving up he offers one dollar more than the foreigner's offer. The idea is that the foreigner (untrained in the art of bartering) is happy that they are so close to an agreement that the foreigner might as well just pay the extra one dollar to finalize the transaction. But, if the foreigner is smart, he will know that like him a dollar is just a dollar to the merchant. The merchant would far rather make the transaction than lose a sale because he was stubborn over a dollar. So that's where the "Just a Dollar Game" starts.

"We already agreed on 60 (a really generous price in the first place), so I'm not going to pay an extra dollar" (My lines translated from Arabic)

"You speak Arabic good. Don't worry, one dollar is no big deal"

"Great, then we don't have a problem. The price is 60"

"60 plus 5 is 65"

"55 plus 5 is 60"

"The price of the taxi is 60 plus 5 for the ticket"

"I play basketball and soccer. I don't play the dollar game"

"Ok, no problem..." goes on to talk about how his son teaches Arabic and tells me about his service in the military. You have to have two faces here, the bartering face and the human face; once you get the bartering out of the way, you can just be yourself and meet someone new. 

Mahmoud the Taxi Driver

The equivalent of Joe the Plumber?

Every now and then, I bring up the American election with a taxi driver. Today, I got a catch.

I asked Mahmoud who he supports in the upcoming election. His response: Abu Treka, the all-star Egyptian soccer player. I had never heard of him before I came to Egypt, but here, he's king. Mahmoud explained that a president must be popular, well known and most importantly, anti-war.  

As I tried to press Mahmoud for a serious answer, I found that nothing would come of it. He thought Hilary was still in the race and Obama is a jew. Furthermore, he had never heard of McCain.

Obama and McCain are frequently pictured in the front pages or at least international sections of newspapers in Egpyt, but only very educated people are informed about the candidates. The few Egyptians whom I've talked with on the election state just the same thing that come from the headlines in newspapers: McCain still thinks he's in the twentieth century and Obama understands the ins and outs of the twenty first century.

On another note, there haven't been any problems with any taxi drivers. 

The Real Teddy Roosevelt

This kid from Siwa carries a big stick too. And, you really should see the way these guys whip their donkeys with sticks. They just wail on them.

It might not be "Morning in America" as McCain would like, but it's 3 AM when the debates start here. Last night's debate was boring to say the least, but it's nice to stay connected to what's going on. The election is not really a hot topic among Egyptians. Many people whom I've talked to haven't even heard of McCain and a lot of people think that Obama is Muslim. I am rarely asked questions about the election, but in the few (less than 10) discussions I've had with taxi drivers, students, and dorm supervisors I've found everyone supports Obama. Unlike Americans, I don't think the Egyptian support comes from Obama's tax cut to 95% of working families or his pledge to implement a policy to reduce greenhouse gases by 80% by 2050. I have to talk to more people about the election to get a greater sense of the root of his support, but I'm pretty sure Obama's support in Egypt comes from the reasons outlined in Friedman's New York Times article from the past summer.

And now for some fun, here's a snippet from the latest taxi ride. I'm in the taxi with two other Americans and the taxi driver and we're talking for 15 minutes about traveling to Sharm Al Sheikh. At a pause in the conversation, the taxi driver asked us if he could ask us just one question about America. I love this part because these questions usually get at the basic cultural differences between our cultures, but his question was a little different. He asked, Is the WWF real? And more specifically, is the Undertaker real? 

The Microbus

I'm sitting in the back seat of this Microbus (اسمها مشروة بالعربية)

It's an alternative to taking the taxi. The Microbuses only have five rows of seats, but before they take off, they always find a way to squeeze in 19 people including the driver. Two people can sit beside the driver in the front, four people can sit in the very last row, three people can sit in the three middle rows, and the remaining three people sit in the folding chairs along side the three middle rows. 

The ride is only 3/4 pound (about 12 cents). In order to pay, you just pass your money to the person sitting in front of you. 

The upsides: 1. fixed, lower prices 2. carpool with everyone and their mothers and save the environment

The downsides: 1. you have to know their routes 2. you get dropped off 10 minutes away from where you actually want to be.

Watch Out!

According to an article on BBC News a year ago, they're not too big on critical blogs here. Did I say I LOVE Egypt? Because I do.

Anyways, here's another great taxi story:

I had a good conversation about life with a taxi driver who didn't speak a word of english. When he pulled up to my stop, I decided I'd just give him 5 pounds (instead of the normal 3). I only had a 5 pound note and I didn't feel like getting into another argument over the price -- usually it's fun, but I was pretty tired. When I gave him 5, for the first time in Alexandria, the taxi driver told me that I gave him too much. He actually offered the 5 pounds back to me... a ride on the house. I told him that I knew five was more than normal and that it was o.k. for him to keep it. 

Externalities in Cairo

I took a train from Alexandria to Cairo last weekend with 3 friends (1 guy, two girls). For only 40 pounds (less than 8 dollars!), I chilled -- literally with the air conditioning -- in the second class cabin for 3 hours.  Immediately after exiting the train station, a 50 year old man who was walking towards us unzipped his pants and exposed himself. He did it so quickly that it seemed like he had a lot of experience. Anyways, that was my first impression.

Cairo has a problem with pollution (see skyline in picture below). It dried up my eyes so much that I couldn't wear my contacts for more than a couple hours. The air was so polluted that I felt like I couldn't breath and I was coughing until a day after I returned to Alexandria. 

Taxi drivers go crazy because they can usually rip off tourists. I tried to get two taxi drivers to bid down the price from the Pyramids to a place for lunch and one ended up taking a swing at another. A couple hours later, a taxi driver got out of his car and tried to push me after he thought I didn't pay enough (his tire popped before we got to our destination, so I assumed I'd get a discounted price). After the whole street descended on us (10 people circling us), we all discussed the price. The people on the street were more interested in conflict prevention than a fair deal, so I decided to just pay a dollar more and walk. 

Kids can go from playing soccer with their friends to crying on command and trying to get money from foreigners.

Whenever I asked for directions to the American University Bookstore, everyone told me "ala toole" (straight ahead). It turned out that I circled the bookstore for 15 minutes before someone gave me good directions.

Museums and many shops close at 4:30 in preparation for Ramadan dinner. So, we weren't able to check out any of the museums. However, I convinced a guy to open up his bookstore at 5:45, so I could get an English to Arabic dictionary.  

The pyramids were super sweet. They are huge. The Sphinx is awesome and camels make pretty funny noises. 

A Salient Issue

This one time in a taxi... 

Conversation from yesterday's taxi ride (my side of the conversation translated from Arabic to English)

T: Do you mind if I ask you a question?

M: No, you're welcome to go ahead.

T: Where are you from?

M: America.

T: Oh, I love America. It is the best place in the world. I love Americans.

... conversation about his family in Cairo and his degree in commerce from a university in Cairo...

M: Why do you like America so much?

T: It's because of the economics.

M: What exactly do you mean by that? (I had just read about the government takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac the day before!)

T: If you work hard in America, you get rewarded with a lot of money. If you work hard here, you get nothing. We work too hard here.

... finally, he starts speaking in Arabic ...

T: But, Americans hate Arabs.

M: Do you really believe that? Do you think I'd be here if that were true?

T: America will never give me a chance. 

M: Then, how can you like America?

T: Because of the system whatever you put in you get out.

... we talk about his desire to start a family and how he needs a dowry before he can marry... but given the choice between a marriage today or a free 1 way ticket to America, there's no question, he's off to America

I wasn't going to post this conversation, but I saw this article in the New York Times about the "widespread mistrust of the United States and the belief among Arabs and Muslims that the United States has a prejudice against them." My conversation in the taxi seemed timely.

Back to Saint Mark's

Before I tell the story I must explain how the taxi system works in Alexandria. You tell the taxi driver where you want to go and if he says yes, you hop in the front seat (unless you’re a girl then you’d sit in the backseat… taxi drivers sometimes put their hand on your thigh). Now, all taxis are required to have a meter, but no taxis’ meter works. This can be problematic for visitors who don’t know exactly how much to pay (especially since the taxi drivers always want more). When you arrive at your destination, you get out of the taxi as if you're not even going to pay, close the door, get out your wallet, give the taxi driver your money and walk away. Often times they yell and you just keep on walking. If they are really unhappy, they might even get out of the car; that hasn't happened, but I'm sure it will soon.

Today, immediately after I got in the taxi, the driver told me the ride would cost eight pounds. I usually pay five pounds, but one of the Egyptian guys on my hall told me he never pays more than three, so I told the taxi driver, I wasn’t going to pay more than three. After a little back and forth, he offered six pounds, so I told him that I have never paid more than three. Then, he asked me where I am from. He told me that three pounds in the Egyptian price and not the American price.  So, I told him he could just let me out in the middle of the road. He didn't let me out, but he was pretty ticked the entire ride. Here's a little economics lesson: a little knowledge can spoil price discrimination.

The taxi dropped me off a couple blocks away from where I wanted, but that's where serendipity comes in. I had planned to go to the gym, but I saw a guy with a basketball walking down the street, so I asked him if I could join him. This guy was 5’ 9” and looked like he was in his late teens, but it turned out he was 13. So, I played 5v5 basketball with a bunch of thirteen-year-olds: eighth graders from Saint Mark’s. 

Some New Vocabulary

The road along the Mediterranean is called the Corniche. Cars go around 45 mph and like all of Alexandria drivers leave a space cushion of 1/5 a car length (I guess they just inverted the American rule... clearly I have an American bias here). 

Today on the Corniche, my taxi driver had a 30 second conversation with the taxi driver in the lane next to us. This guy took us on some out of the way route and then started yelling after we paid him the normal amount (I never can understand what they're yelling... I know the word for thank you and that's not it). 

Unlike the taxi drivers, most people are really nice. Yesterday, we had a soccer match 5v5 Americans vs. Egyptians. Needless to say, we lost. After the game, everyone shook hands and said (literally translated) "good luck." I learned more names and room numbers than I can possibly remember... everyone wanted to play playstation.

At the gym, all the employees are too nice. One of the personal trainers taught us a bunch of body parts in Arabic (bi, tri, trapezus, buton - abs, and sudir - pecs) and another guy got offended when we told him we didn't want to use the sauna. 

Crazy Taxi Drivers

Around 10:30 p.m, I got in a taxi with 3 friends. Like most taxis in Alexandria, the handles to roll down the windows were missing, there was no meter, and three guys in the back seat meant we are basically sitting on each others' laps. But, every taxi is a little different; this one had a fur lining on the dashboard.  Anyways, driving in Alexandria is absurd. There are no formal rules of the road. Cars straddle the lanes, drive the opposite direction on one way streets, and everyone is constantly laying on the horn and even yelling at other cars (they all have turn signals, but they never use them).

Most of the drivers are aggressive, but that's common for any city taxi. This guy was simply mad. In the first five minutes, we nearly get in a couple accidents and then ten minutes into the ride, the driver slams on the brakes so hard that Adrian (the guy in the front seat) slams his head into the windshield (not hard, but it still hits). At the end of the twenty five minute taxi ride, we got out of the taxi (you always get out before paying), and offered him 7 pounds (10 would've been fair if he hadn't almost killed us). He started yelling at us and said we owed more, but we told him he almost got us in an accident and just walked away. He stayed parked in his car for 15 seconds and then just drove off. So, we saved 40 cents.*

*If you don't like that ending, here's a typically acceptable ending: And, then we found $20 dollars.