Mar 13, 2010

When Haggling Become Sport


Huairou District Beijing, China
March 7th, 2010

There we were at the base of the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall trying to decipher the multitudes of options offered by each of the several ticket windows. We knew we wanted to do the traverse that would start with the cable car / gondola and would culminate in a death defying ride down a raised metal alpine slide from the Great Wall to the parking lot hundreds of feet below. I approached the window and said three adults (we had our buddy Ben Burde along) and two children for a one way ride to the top of the wall.

Before approaching the window I had stood about five feet back and thoroughly read the english text taped neatly to the window that explained in pain staking detail the various rates, discounts and classes of customer. The first thing I noticed is that each window was selling different tickets for different activities. One window sold Gondolla rides, the other sold Alpine slide tickets and yet another apparently sold nothing at all. Each ticket window was tinted so that you could not see the woman behind it, but you could hear her voice as she called out like a street vendor beconing you to slide your money under the glass in front of her. Since we wanted to ride up and slide down I'd need to conduct business at two windows. I figured it was best to start with the trip up the mountain. So I walked toward the gondola window.

After I determined that each adults would cost 40 RMB and the children (12 and under) were 20 a piece for a grand total of 160 RMB I took that amount from my wallet and confidently approached the window where the tinted woman had been shouting at me to presumably approach so she could help me out. I approached and confidently asked for three adult and two child one way gondola tickets while simultaneously presenting her the 160 to indicate that I knew what I was doing.

Her tone and lack of tickets told me there was something wrong. Suddenly a calculator appeared with the figure 190 typed in and she yelled "no child discount". I naturally found that an interesting position since the window she was hidden behind clearly indicated, in red one inch adhesive lettering, that there was indeed a child discount. I responded by typing 160 into the calculator, pointing up at the child discount lettering and sliding the calculator back under the glass while loudly saying "child discount". A couple of back-and-forths later and a line has formed behind me as other contestants waited for their turn at the window. The woman finally relented with a huff and sold me the tickets at face value.

I graciously said "shieh shieh" (thank you) and turned to leave knowing that I had stood at the window, toe to toe with a true professional, and won. I was ready for the Wall.
-Paul

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Glad you showed that old lady who was boss!! By the way, what are 30 RMB worth these days. Do you think she was pocketing the difference or was she maximizing profits for the ...wall?