3 posts tagged “tourist hustling”
So there I was hoping to get support for a work visa in J's office when he throws down: he wants to pay me US$700 a month (yes, that is seven hundred dollars) because I don't yet have an intimate working knowledge of his system. Not only that, he says I'm not an expert yet in Delphi and that if he were to pay me a livable wage, he would be paying for my training. I'm not an employee he continues, and neither am I a contractor. Oh, but if I want a contract, I'll have to write it up myself and tell him what I can offer his company. And nope, no support for a work visa either, because then he'd have to actually pay me. He'd rather pay well for someone local because what if I have to leave the country? The message: fuck you you tourist!
In that exchange, there is much that reveals the peculiarities of Barbados' attitude toward technology, skills and management. So let's begin:
- My lack of knowledge of the system. Seriously. Like EA, Google or Microsoft candidates know the intimate details of their systems and are paid any less than their salary because they are on probation. If they don't make the cut in 2 weeks or 3 months or whatever, then bye bye. In our discussions he went on to say that if he were to pay me more, then he'd be paying for my training. No shit sherlock. I'll learn the damn thing if I have a goal feature. Trouble is, he doesn't know what he wants and, as owner of the company, wants to monitor my progress because he used to be a "programmer"; he knows what's what. You used to be a programmer you say? Can you say "micromanager"? Ex-geeks are the worst managers most of the time.
- My lack of knowledge of Delphi. Um. Most programmers in the world know how to program, not how to program in some language. This aspect surprised me. I had told him my strongest language is C++, and he then proceeded to try to impress me with some Borland C++ 4.0 compiler (seriously!) he bought from eBay. In the one-week I worked (for free) with him (on probation), I had done my little module in Delphi, his language of choice. When he discovered that I had done so, he was surprised. He expected me to link up my C++ program to his Delphi system as if learning a new language just isn't done. How baroque! And he likes to say he used to be a "programmer"! True, I haven't yet learned how to create threads in Delphi, but neither do his other programmers.
- I have to write my own contract. Why? So he can cover his ass because he doesn't know what he wants. "You have to write your own contract so you can show me what services you offer that will benefit this company," he says in a belligerent tone. No buddy. That's not how it's done. I didn't come knocking on your door trying to sell you encyclopedias or drugs. You put an ad in the paper. This is your company and we negotiate a contract together for services you want. I'm just a developer, I'm not a consultant. I've laid out my skills in detail on my resume and in person and you spent three hours in our initial interview talking about the lack of talent in the country and would I be interested in implementing a 3D-engine for him in 6 months for $700US a month? If I don't have skills you want or you're too obtuse or greedy to see where they can be used (practically!) in your company, then don't waste my time and I won't waste yours. Tech jobs are thin here, I admit, but I ain't that desperate. I ain't greedy either; after all I left an excellent, well-paying job to be with C and to expand my repertoire of skills, so getting paid a competitive salary isn't my priority. I'm just not that stupid.
- I am not Bajan so I might leave him in the lurch. Again, that's not how it's done. We agree on a contract. I'll stay in Barbados to finish it if I have a work-visa. If I don't deliver in the time specified, then no money or take me to court.
Given all this, I give up on him and finding a developer job here. I'll stick to developing, consulting and teaching for a community centre, where while not prestigious, the job is nonetheless fulfilling.
No, I will not buy you duty free shoes.
Yes, I have seen the new Nike Free Cross Trainer's, and I agree that were you to pay in Barbados dollars, you would be completely ripped off. Yes, I agree that if you were to pay the duty free price, you would be greatly rewarded for your intelligence in asking me to use my passport and e-ticket to purchase them for you. But you don't get it. I will not buy you duty free shoes.
Yes, I see you have the money to pay the duty free price because you keep waving it in my face as if it were smelling salts and I just had to wake up to see what a good deal it would be for you before I put my arm around your shoulder (or not) and said, "Yes, I will buy you duty free shoes." But the truth is, I will not buy you duty free shoes.
Yes, I can see you are quite desperate and that you normally wouldn't ask someone to do this for you, especially a tourist, but your skinny, disheveled appearance, gold tooth and shiny white shoes actually tells me that you would ask someone to do this for you, especially (and only) a tourist.
Yes, I believe that you come from a poor family and that these shoes are a gift for your brother, but something tells me that you have bought into a Western lifestyle when the means for which will forever be beyond your reach. So yes, I can see that it would give you something shiny and new to possess and that it would give you hope of a better future, but the fact is that despite basic living expenses you would rather buy shoes manufactured in China by children. So, no, I will not buy you duty free shoes.
Yes, I can see that I am being hypocritical by purchasing the shoes myself, using my passport and e-ticket to pay the duty free price, and that it wouldn't be sweat off my back to just throw another box onto the counter. But you don't get it. I will not buy you duty free shoes.
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Google "tourist hustler" and you'll find this interesting article on how hustlers (all male) in India have one night stands with female tourists, usually white. I didn't actually consider hustlers providing a service themselves but it was pretty sexist of me to assume that (i) all hustlers are male and (ii) that, implicitly, if a hustler was female, then of course she could provide sexual services herself. The difference in the article, though, is that the male hustlers do it for free. This suggests an additional game mechanic for the previously proposed game Tourist Hustler (See the post on Oct. 14, 2006):
- Characters. Male or female.
- Additional Actions: Romance. You can choose to "romance" a potential mark by chatting them up and/or taking them to dinner or buying them a drink. Here is where it gets a bit controversial as you can charge a fee for whatever discreet services you were buttering them up for. If you don't, and were just looking for some tourist skin, then all the power to you. Who knows, you may fall for each other and your "mark" could take you away from the miserable place you live in.
- Additional Actions: Duty Free Purchase. You can also ask your mark to buy you something at the duty free price.
Hmm, maybe this game should be called Exploit! instead and have a game mode where you can exploit any number of people/cultures to do your bidding. It would probably scale. Time to up that ESRB rating again.
But in all this exploiting of base human behaviours, I am wondering whether there isn't something more perspicacious as an explanation for this phenomenon. The article linked to above attempts one:
"He was a member of an easily identifiable species, and now I understood where they came from. We had created them [the tourist hustlers]: we, the tourists -- foreign women, gay men, drug users and souvenir shoppers; we, the exporters of Western culture. The forces that had distorted this man's social world so profoundly were my own. We had come here to appreciate Indian [or Bajan or Jamaican or ... ] culture, but in the process we were changing it. This man's behavior was just a symptom of that change...
They say this world will only get smaller, and perhaps it's inevitable that cross-cultural encounters leave their mark... [I]t seems to be an unequal exchange. Tourists leave a clear trail behind them, transforming pockets of the local culture. But any social impact that they themselves experience is less visible and more fleeting. At the end of their trip, travelers can forget this strange world they have passed through. It's the local inhabitants who don't have that choice. Their world is changed, and they continue to live in it, bending themselves to meet its new shape."
It'll be hard to be flippant to the next hustler that comes along.
C: "That's too much. We don't have change, take $6 from the $20."
Leroy:"Why you haffa do that? This job 'ere is me salary, and me make no money otherwise. It be $2 per bag and I pay $23 for me cart alone. That dere is chump change after the man flash a $20."
C: "Are you finished? $2 dollars per bag is $6, so here's $6. We don't have to give you anything, so take the $6 or take nothing."
At this point in the exchange, I was looking and feeling more the Asian Tourist than ever, for being sucked into Leroy's hustle. I had not asked in advance how much his services cost, and I was more than willing to actually give him the $20. Hell, I'd give him a $50 if that was all I had. Stupid tourist. It didn't put so much of a downer on my hopes about being in Barbados, but it was a welcome reality check, a reminder to keep my eyes and ears open in a country built on the tourist industry. I am, in fact, an Asian Tourist in Barbados.
Soooo, in light of this revelation, I am trying to draw up some plans for a Grand Theft Auto-like game called Tourist Hustler, where you, as a hustler, will try to mediate every interaction your "charge" has with the country he/she is visiting. Some basics:
- Resources. These include your social network of hustlers and service providers; tools like a baggage trolley, scuba gear, snorkling gear, maps, compasses, surf boards, local currency, disposable cameras, SIM cards, weaponry, etc. These tools will be stored in your safe house, which functions as a place to save your progress thorugh the game, among other things. In tropical countries, your safe house will be a shed by the beach or in the jungle; in other countries, the house will fit the tourist industry.
- Actions. Selling, and referrals. Selling: You can set the price of your tools, but if too high or too low, tourists might not bite based on a tourist's world experience. The higher the world experience, the harder it will be to hustle them; best try an easier mark. Gauging a tourist's world experience requires some world experience as well, and this will come from the user's knowledge of the game, and of, well, travelling. Referrals: The utility of a referral is a function of the relationship you have with the service provider. Be it requiring a small fee for your services, or from being close friends, each successful referral should give you some $$ in your cargo pants' pocket. You can of course gain market share (or build relationships) by referring for free, but at some point, other hustler's will invade your territory.
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