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Friday, February 24, 2006

Sabjiwaalaa.. The Vegetable Merchant

This is the shop from where I generally buy vegetables in Hsinchu. I do not understand his language (He speaks Mandarin) and he don't know English either.
But this old man sells vegetables in very competitive price & and I have always found his prices are lesser than any other shop in my locality in Hsinchu. Here the interesting thing is, he knows that I'm foreigner & also he knows that I do not understand his language. But he always gives me right price. I have found him very honest.
As he do not understand English, I have to point to different vegetables I want to buy And put them in the basket and give it to him for weighing. The funny part & interesting situation comes now. After he weighs all vegetable I brought, I just ask him "How much do I need to pay?". He murmurs something in his language. Then I just look at him & smile :) . He raises his finger to tell how much I need to give. That also does not work, because his method is different. If he raise one finger it indicates 100NT$ & if he raise 2 fingers then it indicates 200NT$ . If it's exactly 100 or 200NT$ that doesn't matter ( it'll not happen most of the times ). So finally I'll take out 200 or 300 bucks from my valet and hold in front of him and he'll take exact money and returns me back the exact change.
Here what impresses me about this man is his "HONESTY". Even today whenever I pass in front of his shop he just looks at me & gives a smile. A smile with full of warm welcome.

4 Comments:

At February 24, 2006 11:54 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Honesty is the best policy...

 
At February 25, 2006 12:08 AM, Blogger Mike said...

yes it is

 
At February 25, 2006 12:10 AM, Blogger Claire said...

Dear

You're lucky to find a honest merchant....and I believe that one main reason he doesn't cheat on you because he knows that you're good at meth...and always...:)

 
At February 25, 2006 12:14 AM, Blogger Mike said...

hmm :))
hey cindii
yup i agree that i'm good in Maths, but i do not understand what price he fixed for each item. If i understand that, i'll never be cheated. But here i do not know the price of each item. I just pick the things i want & he'll tell me the final price :-)

 

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