It Pays to be Bilingual

• biltmore
  February 27th, 2008 at 6:21 pm

  Wow, that sucks. Haha!

• just a guy
  February 27th, 2008 at 7:15 pm

  it’s certainly a more blantant example of the human habit of fleecing the outsiders. (tourists always pay more)

• CheeseDuck
  February 27th, 2008 at 7:41 pm

  Hmm.

• Adam Stanhope
  February 27th, 2008 at 7:55 pm

  This is one of the reasons I learned to speak/read/write in Thai.

• Vako
  February 27th, 2008 at 10:05 pm

  Funny stuff but in reality, really Effed up. It reminds me of those signs people put up in their businesses such as “price subject to customer’s attitude” and all that. As a business owner, I would not pull that crap on people. No need to use my business as a platform or bully-pulpit for my bitterness against the Human race.

  “We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone, including those not of our own tribe” might be more accurate to this post. But at least that Argentinian was honest…

• bean
  February 27th, 2008 at 11:26 pm

  Not to be a stick in the mud, but you don’t have to be bilingual to know the difference between 4 and 5. Unless you’re assuming that they’re in two different currencies, and that’s just over-thinking it.

• Charlie Y. Ellis
  February 28th, 2008 at 12:19 am

  I saw a few of those at the street market in San Telmo, Buenos Aires, and at first I thought it was an instance of street vendors unabashedly charging the tourists higher prices. It turns out, however, that it was four pesos for a regular orange juice, and five for a large. The positioning of the prices is incidental. A wider shot of the cart would reveal two stacks of cups of different sizes.

• Lux
  February 28th, 2008 at 5:56 am

  Good lord, I feel kind of embarrassed of my countrymen.

• SW
  February 28th, 2008 at 9:04 am

  lighten up folks, it’s funny. and if someone is dumb enough to fall for it, consider it a stupidity tax

• Malc
  February 28th, 2008 at 1:02 pm

  In Venice we heard about a three-tier pricing system in cafés and bars: Tourist, Italian-Speaking Tourist and a (virtually free) Venetian rate.

• vanderleun
  February 28th, 2008 at 1:13 pm

  “Pay 1 to continue in English.”

• phoenix
  February 28th, 2008 at 5:27 pm

  That’s the best thing I’ve seen all day.

• jojo
  February 28th, 2008 at 5:44 pm

  JOJOJOJO

  PORFIN ALGUIEN NOS DEFIENDE

• XuYu
  February 28th, 2008 at 10:08 pm

  Do they give you the price based on the language you order in? Or the color of your skin?

  Works even better when the local language has it’s own numbers: http://www.thailandvoice.com/content/view/89/44/

• ted
  February 29th, 2008 at 8:47 pm

  Same in Rome, where you can just tell they know you’re a tourist, and will overcharge you for a sandwich.

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