Over there

I attempted to fix this pocketwatch today, one that's mine on borrow status. The lady I forked it over to in the jewelry store had white tiger-striped rims on her glasses and one hell of a time figuring out how to open the watch. That gave me (and my brother) plenty of time to stand around and look dumb while she examined the watch. Here, as best as I can piece it, is an excerpt from another employee at the store, who was giving an impromptu speech to a customer pawning off her gold necklace. Apparently the necklace wasn't everything the customer thought it was:

"No, you see, in other countries, they might give you something and tell you it's something else. They consider it a job well done if they manage to fool you and sell what they're selling. That's ok to them, it's morally alright. Over here, in the Land of the Free, where the customer is always right*, we don't do that. We give you what you paid for. Over there it's a different story."

Never mind that this pomp was just trying to save the store some money by devaluing the necklace, or that the "Land of the Free" is one founded on swindling and coercing the previous tenants to herd them into the most useless land. And that whole slavery deal? Ask any slave from back then, and they'll probably say they got gipped! The customer may always be right, but usually they have no idea how much the forces of advertising compel them to consume.**

As I see it, the way our corporations treat people and their countries "over there" in the name of a good deal, it's more than fair trade if some street vendors want to take tourists for everything they're worth.

In the end, the lady with the funky glasses couldn't even get the pocketwatch open. She was nice enough to point me towards another watch shop. It was closed for the day, which I suspect may be due to terrorists.



*In retrospect, I wish I had belted out "Deep in the Heart of Texas" right then. But I might not have gotten my watch back.

**Hang on. Ice cream sandwich time.