In Reply to: A class act or what ..??? posted by bopgirl on Tuesday, 30. May 2006 at 05:35 Bali Time:
Last July I was in Poppies Lane and went past a shop about halfway along that had a great range of cloth and embroidered bags. I was not in a hurry, so waited to be served as the young man was attending to a group of Australian women. They were negotiating a bulk purchase for the group of them, but kept asking him the price then changing the number and quality of the bags they wanted and asking again. The leader of this group was quite aggressive vocally, almost harassing the poor man, and I marvelled at how he kept calm and polite in the face of her accusations that he was trying to 'rip them off' and other words like that. During this time (about 15 mins) I just smiled at him from time to time to reassure him I was not going to leave while this was all going on. Eventually the women rejected his final price (which was reasonable) and walked out, leaving all the bags they had selected laid out at his feet. I felt so sorry for him -not so much losing the sale but the unwarranted and derogatory way he had been spoken to - that I bought five bags at a 'good for me-excellent for him' price, just for the pleasure of seeing the smile on his face.
One of my favourite quotes is from Jacques Cousteau, the underwater explorer. He said "Every human being is born with the right to be treated with dignity" but I like to also think that everyone we meet is someone's mother, father, sister, brother, son, daughter, and if they were mine I would not want them to be treated with anything but fairness and kindness.
One of the sadder things for me in Bali is seeing tourists (from several countries-rude people are found world-wide) treating locals as second-class citizens, or unintelligent and primitive people. Giving service with a smile does not make you less important than the person you serve. Intelligence is not measured by University degrees or fat wallets.(Could you read body language with the skill of a market stall seller, or convert rupiah to several different currencies in your head faster than a calculator?) One culture is not superior to another; it is just different. Wealth is not power, but using it unfairly to control or manipulate others is. Wealth -even if hard-earned - is a gift, to use wisely and compassionately.