After we exited the archaeological site, Sarah and I got some postcards at little stands by the side of the road (I got mine for free). We also stopped at a table with a lot of jewelry on it and then I lost 23 euros. Here's what happened:
The second I stopped to ogle the shiny baubles, this tiny, very old, kind of scary looking grandma came over and said "Hello, lady, come look at my shop!" I was like, "Ok!" and then the next half hour found me standing there, with handfuls of necklaces that she kept giving me to inspect. She would describe what they were all made of, like "This one is made of volcano rock from Vesuvius. Natural! Na-too-rel!!" and "This one, pearls from Capri, for Mama! Mama! You give to her, Mama like this one!" It was very funny, but at the same time not really funny at all-- I was too polite or scared to just say, no thanks and walk away. Plus, Sarah wasn't helping me get away either. It wasn't her fault since I didn't tell her to say something like, "Oh crap, we have to catch our train! LET'S GO!" like I was secretly hoping she might do.
Sarah, fortunately for her, didn't get sucked in and stood off to the side fending off the old lady and the other people around the table (who were probably related to the scary old lady) and who were trying to get her to buy stuff too. She kept telling them that she was a student and too poor to buy anything. Good technique, I thought.
Eventually, after looking at tons of necklaces for a long time, I asked her how much they were. I was holding a "natural Vesuvius volcanic rock" and another one with the same supposedly volcanic rock with pearls "for Mama." She took them out of my hands, wrapped them up in a bag and put it back in my hands telling me it was something outrageous like 75 euros for both of them. But she lowered the price for me to about 50, and I kind of just stood there in shock. There is no way I am paying that much, I thought. After standing there for awhile, looking at Sarah, looking at the package in my hands and pretending to search my backpack for my wallet, she patted my hand and said, "I like you, 45 for both." I found my wallet and peeked inside and saw I had two 20 euro notes and a 5. But I had to get dinner later, so I pulled out a 20 and pretended to look for more. After awhile, the scary lady who had been puttering around and organizing her table, but still watching me and Sarah came back over and said, "Ok, you are pretty-- 35. That's a good deal!"
I was so uncomfortable at this point, I was sweating. I didn't want a necklace, I didn't want to spend that much and the lady was being really pushy. I was also about to put my acting skills to the test and try to get her to accept the least amount of money possible. Plus, I was in way too deep to back out now. So I offered her the 20, which she immediately took from me and said, "Just 15 more. I will take American money too." This lady was so aggressive! I told her I didn't have any American money and pretended to look around my backpack for more. At this point, I wanted my money back and was getting desperate just to get out of there, but she had my 20 euros clutched in her fist and Sarah was standing there basically grinning at me and no help whatsoever. The scary lady hadn't forgotten about Sarah and said, "ask your friend for money" which stunned me, but seeing her reach for some cash, I stopped her with a "put that away" thru gritted teeth. Still sweating, I looked thru my change and found 3 euro coins and told the lady that was all I had. My wallet had a few pockets in it, and hiding the one with the rest of my money, I showed her the empty pocket. It's all I have, I insisted.
After asking for just "10 more euros," and then eventually "just 5" and then "whatever you have," she took the 3 euros and said, "Ok, I like you, you look Italian" she let me go! After I had paid, the lady turned to Sarah and basically threw 2 necklaces at her! She told Sarah she could have them "special price" for 25 euros but her husband, who had been trying to get Sarah to look at stuff, pipped in and said, "no- 15! You are student, you poor- I know!" and so Sarah gave in and got hers for 15.
I put mine on right away, determined to get my 23 euros worth. Sarah thought the whole thing was hilarious and reckoned that the scary grandma probably ripped us off just like the ticket guy and the necklaces we bought were actually plastic or something!Oh well, at least it's a good story....
What did I just buy....?
