Uncle Eddie...

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

While people often times take it for granted and don’t realize it, life in the United States is pretty good. Things are typically quick, simple, and efficient. Also, there is a heavy emphasis on customer service. It’s typically the merchant that will go out of their way to make the customer happy and not the other way around.

Things in Senegal can be and typically are, quite different. As I have come to find out over the past 19 months (wow time is flying by) this difference isn’t necessarily a good or bad thing. While I prefer quick, simple, and efficient actions, the opposite can be fun once you get used to it.

I think I’ve mentioned it before about how difficult it is to break large bills (above $4) usually. In order to break certain bills, I often have to go to certain places that I know will do it and then spend half of it buying something so I don’t feel guilty. If you go to a neighborhood boutique and you don’t have change, well, you better go find some, or you aren’t going to be bringing home that new tube of toothpaste that you need. Sometimes, you have to go back to a boutique to get your change. I don’t know if this is common for everybody or just me, since being white, I typically stand out from the majority of boutiques customer base.

This past weekend, one of the coolest things happened. I was out in a part of town by the American Club and realized that I really needed to buy some laundry detergent and a razor. As a result, I stopped by a boutique that I hadn’t been to before and started talking to the owner. I paid him a 5,000 CFA bill ($10) with about 4,000 CFA in change coming back to me. The guy goes through his drawer for about a minute looking for change and then pulls an Uncle Eddie from the National Lampoon Family Vacation films and starts going through coffee cans looking for money. Finally, he gave me my 5,000 CFA back, plus 150 CFA that I would have been given in change and told to come back later to pay.

The minute I turned to walk away, it struck me that I had just made a profit in this boutique trip. Not only did I still have my 5,000 CFA, but also 150 CFA, 6 packs of detergent, and a razor. For some reason, I found this business deal quite amazing….but I guess my middle name is “trust”.

The next day, I went back and handed the boutique owner the 1,000 CFA that I owned him. I didn’t even have to get my change because he gave it to me the day before…genius.

Come a few months, I sure am going to miss things like this.