In India

[indigo_rose99]

I made it here.  I even made it to the hotel.  *sigh*  Which is very pretty.  And utterly nonfunctional. 

I'm going to get some sleep and try to sort at least some of this out tomorrow.  I cannot fix the utter lack of any place to put my stuff (no drawers or storage of any kind in the hotel room), but perhaps I can get a plug converter that works here.

of course I have many that WOULD work here.  At home.  In Texas.

And before I become a zombie, let me say:  I HATE tipping cultures.  Yes, this one is worse than ours.  At least in ours when a person says, "No, leave me alone.  I want to handle my own bags,  No, Go away.  Stop that!" people actually stop it.  Here they do it anyway and expect a tip for having helped.  *Grind teeth*

Comments

[aurienne.livejournal.com]

Are you sure you're charging enough? Make sure the rates cover all the chaos somehow.

[indigo-rose99.livejournal.com]

As of yesterday and today? Clearly not. *rueful laugh/sigh*

[mr-efficient.livejournal.com]

The funny thing is, India actually *isn't* a tipping culture. If you eat where the locals eat and stay where the locals stay, no one will ever hit you up for a tip. Tipping is just something that they've learned from Western tourists do. So if you eat where the Westerners eat and stay where the Westerners stay, you can count on being harassed pretty much nonstop.

[indigo-rose99.livejournal.com]

Probably true. The problem is that I don't LOOK like the natives. On my last trip, simply stepping out of my taxi caused a hoard of people to descend upon me, to sell something or help me in some way. Today as I walked around, people stared. I figure I'm doomed.

[mr-efficient.livejournal.com]

Yeah. It's not a tipping culture, but it is a begging culture. We have unemployment benefits and ADC and food stamps and Social Security. India's social safety net is amputees sitting on street corners with their hands out. Millions of them. So many that you could give them everything you had, and it wouldn't begin to make a dent. It's just overwhelming.

[ovrclokd.livejournal.com]

Ooh, that drives me nuts. I hate it when people just assume that I want them to mess with my stuff - high-end hotels are the worst. (By the time I've gotten put of the cab, they already have my luggage loaded on a bellhop cart. Do Not Want, and there's np graceful way to get it back at that point.

You might try "Please don't touch my bags. I prefer to carry them myself, and I'm not ping to tip you." Make it clear upfront so they don't have any motivation to keep hassling you... *hug*

[indigo-rose99.livejournal.com]

As long as it is one bag, I found that
death grip + a really firm "No, thank you"
works. It is when I have more than one bag and I cannot do the death grip that it gets out of my control.

Though I like the "...and I'm not going to tip you" part. Nice. *planning for future use* Like tomorrow morning. Checking out is going to be one of Those Experiences. I can just tell.

Tomorrow is going to be a Long Day From Hell. And it starts with packing!