Getting cheated or not

The other day me and some friends were talking about how we used to get cheated (in terms of prices) when we first came to China. A French guy (who now speaks perfect Chinese) told us that when he went to Beijing the first time he bought a beautiful tea pot that had been reduced from 400 to 100 kuais. Back in Suzhou, he had some friends over and used his new pot when he made them tea. A girl complemented him for the tea pot and asked him what he had paid for it. When he said 100 the girls started laughing and said he was good at making jokes, seeing that she had seen the same tea pot on sale in Suzhou for 25 kuai. He didn’t have to give any further comments.

I’ve been cheated too, many times. In the beginning I found the haggling process a bit uncomfortable, I didn’t know what price to ask for, and seeing that many sales people start off with an outrageously high price, I always went for the 50% off price, which is still way too high. Anyways, now I have become a bit better and if I want to buy something I don’t even ask what the price is, I simply say how much I am willing to pay, and then it goes from there.

However, when the price is already quite low (eg when it comes to buying fruits) it is still quite easy to get cheated. Like some months ago, when I was buying apples from our local fruit man. I wanted five apples and he asked me for 20 kuai. Sure, I thought, picking up my wallet, when I suddenly heard a Chinese couple, who had been watching me, say (to the man, in Chinese)

-Wow, now we understand how you make your money! Cheating stupid foreigners!

I don’t know if it was the word ‘stupid’ or ‘foreigner’ (the used the word ‘lao wai’ –which I hate!) that pissed me off, but anyways, I ended up pulling back my twenty, putting down my bag of apples and giving the man an angry snort before I said something lame like:

-I don’t want your apples anymore! Or any fruit! (yes, pure drama queen) and walked off.

I never went back to the same fruit man. I had been buying my fruits there for the last 6 months, so by the time I stopped going he must have already made a fortune of my purchases.

Anyways, now I’m not that conscious. I try to buy my fruit at the same time as Chinese people are in the shop, buying the same fruit. That way I know I can get the same price. It’s funny though, every time you enter one of those fruit stands. The surrounding Chinese people really follow every move you make. They want to see what you are buying, and, what price you are getting. Yesterday I bought some pineapple (on a stick) on my way back from uni and a minor crowd was gathered when they heard me order two sticks (in Chinese). When the man charged me 2 kuais (1 kuai per stick), however, everyone lost interest and seemed a tad disappointed. Everyone except for me, that is. I knew I had, for once, gotten the right price.