Why do Indian people always ask for discounts?

[daveymark]

I used to serve in a fine dining restaurant, and every once in a while an inian would try to get me to throw in a free dessert or free appetizer with the meal. It also was not uncommon for an inidan to complain about something insignificant regarding his meal (portion was too small, ice wan't cold enough(wtf?), etc.), then follow up with "give me a free desert"," I don't want to pay for my meal", etc. Luckily, my manager always gave me free reign to make these kinds of decisions. I always politely declined their efforts at freebies, then they would threaten to not come back.

Unfortunately, they never backed up their threats. And I won't even begin to discuss the horrendous tips Indians leave.

 

[Raincity]

I have seen them also try to haggle for more money on slot jackpots and refuse to show ID claiming they are tax except. Last week the hotel threw out two groups of them trying to roast pigs in the hotel bathtubs.

 

[Slickone]

Originally posted by: Raincity
I have seen them also try to haggle for more money on slot jackpots and refuse to show ID claiming they are tax except. Last week the hotel threw out two groups of them trying to roast pigs in the hotel bathtubs.

WTF?! That's...Wow.

 

[amol]

Originally posted by: daveymark
I used to serve in a fine dining restaurant, and every once in a while an inian would try to get me to throw in a free dessert or free appetizer with the meal. It also was not uncommon for an inidan to complain about something insignificant regarding his meal (portion was too small, ice wan't cold enough(wtf?), etc.), then follow up with "give me a free desert"," I don't want to pay for my meal", etc. Luckily, my manager always gave me free reign to make these kinds of decisions. I always politely declined their efforts at freebies, then they would threaten to not come back.

Unfortunately, they never backed up their threats. And I won't even begin to discuss the horrendous tips Indians leave.

Has that happened with every Indian or just a few?

Kinda unfair to judge the whole group based on a few people. But if this is happening a lot ... I'm surprised. I mean, I'm Indian and I've had restaurant orders botched but never has my family complained or anything.

Once, they accidentally put beef in something (I'm Hindu, so I don't eat beef) and that was the only time we complained. But we explicitly said "no meat" to the waiter and they obviously didn't listen.

 

[Cristatus]

Originally posted by: daveymark
I used to serve in a fine dining restaurant, and every once in a while an inian would try to get me to throw in a free dessert or free appetizer with the meal. It also was not uncommon for an inidan to complain about something insignificant regarding his meal (portion was too small, ice wan't cold enough(wtf?), etc.), then follow up with "give me a free desert"," I don't want to pay for my meal", etc. Luckily, my manager always gave me free reign to make these kinds of decisions. I always politely declined their efforts at freebies, then they would threaten to not come back.

Unfortunately, they never backed up their threats. And I won't even begin to discuss the horrendous tips Indians leave.

WTF? :Q I never heard of Indians doing that, even back in India. Also, most of the Indians that I know of usually leave a generous tip.

The other thing is, in out culture, we don't tip. We may just round some figures, i.e.: if it is 92 Rs, then just give 100 Rs. if it is worth it, and it is usually a good enough gesture (obviously depends on the kind of place you go to).

 

[daveymark]

It was a small percentage of indians. I'd get the hagglers maybe once a month, and the complainers maybe once a week. Obviously it's not descriptive of all indians, and it certainly did not affect my service towards indians. The biggest tip I ever recieved was from an Indian ($750). You take the good with the bad, and it all evens out in the end. The only reason I point this out is because these types of situations only happened with Indians. Of course, mine is not some scientific study which I base some hypothesis on. I'm just stating my observations. Who knows, maybe the server I worked with had the exact same problem, only with Jews? Obviously I had other complaints from other people too, but they would be legitimate - e.g., hair in the food, food under/overcooked, etc.

 

[OS]

Originally posted by: sxr7171
I don't care if you do. I'm not an activist, but I'm not alone in believing that food shouldn't be wasted. You can continue to justify what you do with baseless arguments because you can't open your eyes to the effect your actions have. If you had an understanding of what wasting food means to others and then said "I'm going to do it anyway," I'd have more respect for you than you not even having a proper understanding of how your actions affect others because you choose to be ignorant to justify your actions. Making an informed decision is expected of someone with an education. You choose ignorance, and your knowledge of basic economics remains dismal.

You're a fucken douche. You're one of those people who's a dumbass and you don't even know you're a fucken dumbass.

The theory of supply and demand usually assumes that markets are perfectly competitive. This implies that there are many buyers and sellers in the market and none of them have the capacity to influence the price of the good. In many real life transactions, the assumption fails because some individual buyers or sellers or groups of buyers or sellers do have enough ability to influence prices. Quite often a sophisticated analysis is required to understand the demand-supply equation of a good. However, the theory works well in SIMPLE situations.

Mainstream economics does not assume a priori that markets are preferable to other forms of social organization. In fact, much analysis is devoted to cases where so-called market failures lead to resource allocation that is suboptimal by some standard. In such cases, economists may attempt to find policies that will avoid waste; directly by government control, indirectly by regulation that induces market participants to act in a manner consistent with optimal welfare, or by creating 'missing' markets to enable efficient trading where none had previously existed. This is studied in the field of collective action.

source

Just because you know what supply and demand is doesn't mean you know how to apply it correctly. Artificial scarcity from farm subsidies, price supports and import restrictions/tariffs cause prices on many food products to remain high. As do unions fixing labor costs in many supermarkets/production. And inevitably some sellers/buyers are large enough to influence production/prices. So are all those forces also baby killers? Saying you can model all market forces/factors for food with purely supply and demand is like saying you can explain a black hole with newtonian physics.

EVEN if we make the assumption there is in fact a link between casual waste and prices, your supply/demand approach IS STILL RETARDED because you'd have to police waste, overuse, and inefficiency at every level, everywhere to get any real benefit. Are you seriously going to police the obese too? By definition they use more calories than they need and thus drive up prices. What about energy costs/waste, which then also drive up food costs? You gonna police fatasses driving SUVs also? Shit, they're jacking up food prices twice. You'd have to run a nazi state policing everyone's usage to get any sort of real benefit and at what cost? You'd be better off raising taxes and giving more welfare to the needy.

Maybe you should fling yourself infront of an oncoming train since you're taking up resources and opportunities which drives up costs for the poor. Stop being a nazi, a communist, a dumbass and a douche.

 

[Mani]

Originally posted by: GoodToGo

Originally posted by: Mani

Originally posted by: bootymac

Originally posted by: GoodToGo
Let me tell you something about the Indians in America. Now I am an Indian myself and so my opinion is definitely unbiased. More than 90% of Indians are either Gujrati or Tamilian. Between both of them, Gujratis are ~75% and Tamilians are ~25%. In any case, both these sects are the....wait for it.....WORST among all the rest.

Gujratis are known for being the very stingy but yet being the most showy. They will try everything to impress others like dressing up, buying imitations of branded items, fake american accents etc etc but ....yup...still cheap bastages. They own most the motels around but in academics, they are the most dumb fvck ignorant POS's. I went to undergrad and met lots of guju's but none in grad...hmmm..wonder why? :shocked: These guys as you may know, own most the motels around town and their last name is either Shah or Patel. They are also renowned for being completely oblivious of anyone who is not guju and would rather DIE than helping a non guju.

Tamilians are on the other hand more simple but thats about the only positive adjective. They are the generic stinky guys who go around without taking showers and giving other guys a bad name. If you think Gujratis are bad, these guys are the grand daddies. They wont cough up anything....even a dollar. I was living with some and god it was a nightmare. Every time for monthly bill setllement, it used to be a nightmare. The monthly bill used to come as the same but of course the grocery and other utility bills always meant a little plus and minus. But nooooooooooooooooooo, how the hell did the bill come as five dollars more???!11!!!!1?? They used to act as if it was a big deal. OMG, just pay the frigging bill and get on with it. Of course they are very smart in academics. I think in my Grad lab, I was the only Non Tamilian. I knew many Tamilians who doing PHD's in several different topics. But then I also knew a Tamilian who saved up $45,000 in his PHD of 5 years at a monthly stipend of $1800. He never ate out, he never went to the movies and wore the same clothes. At the end of PHD if someone asked him what he did in college, I would dread to hear him answer. He ate the same POS (sambhar which is a popular dish). This guy had enough sambar powder (bought in retail from India by packing in suitcases) to last him a lifetime. OBTW, many of them are vegetarian for religious reasons :roll: If ever a Tamilian comes to eat with you, run out screaming or make an excuse ("Yes I think I am coming down with testicular cancer"). These guys are vegetarian freaks ("Why are you killing the innocent chickens?") I used to love telling them that my favorite dish a medium rare 20 oz Applebees Porterhouse with mashed potatoes just to get a rise out of them.

If you belong to any of the above 2 categories, then fvck you. You are worst of the worst and deserve to back to your POS shanty town in the middle of nowhere. If you are not, then good job on being a person who has a decent opinion of living and doesnt put money above everything else.

winnar

Of what, most obnoxiously retarded post of the thread award? This dipsh*t is so insecure in the image of his race, he has resorted to inaccurate stereotyping and fingerpointing to isolate behaviors Indians of certain descent.

Here's some experiences of my own. The cheapest Indians I know are Bengali, despite being a 2-doctor household, one a cardio surgeon. I had 2 gujurati roomates in college and we never once had an expense dispute. The stinkiest Indian dude I have ever met was Marati - he shared the communal bathroom of our dorm and I had to leave him a note along with a stick of Right Guard for him to get the message. Being Tamil descent, the last time I ate Sambar or Rasam was late 2004, and in fact I just got back from Prime Steakhouse here in the Bellagio after having downed the greatest 18oz Ribeye god has ever put on this earth. All but one of my closest friends is non-Indian, and my girlfriend of 8 months is Taiwanese. Got any more stereotypes to try?

I am not insecure with my race, I hate what most of the Indians fvcking do in America which estalishes stereotypes about us. How many Tamilians do you know that eat beef? How about how bad they stink? How many of them eat sambar every fvcking day? You saw 2-3 examples and shat all over the thread. I have seen countless examples that conform to these stereotypes. I am not an ABCD or a FOB. I am just a guy who wants to have a fun and peaceful life. I wouldnt care less if you are a FOB or ABCD or DCBA, if you act like a fvcktard, then you are spoiling it for everyone.

Face it, if you were not so fvcking insecure, you wouldn't give a sh*t about the representation of your race or what the hell tamilians and gujus may do. Instead of being such a toolbox, realize that a big percentage of what drives this thread is chump-ass retail employees complaining about Indians because they are frustrated about the fact that they work at circuit city and are taking it out on an ethnic minority they lack basic the communication skills to deal with properly.

Also learn to admit the fact a certain percentage of indians are complete cheap asses - regardless of their geographic origin within the subcontinent. Indians in denial about the shortcomings of some of their brethren piss me off, but not nearly as much as the Indians who are so scared sh*tless about their perception that they attempt to shift that perception to an undeserving subset of the population. I'd say living a peaceful and happy life probably does not involve huge rants on the minor idiosyncratic habits of people with similar ethnic backgrounds. It starts with letting go of insecurities and not wetting yourself over what people think of you or your race.

 

[Cristatus]

Originally posted by: daveymark
It was a small percentage of indians. I'd get the hagglers maybe once a month, and the complainers maybe once a week. Obviously it's not descriptive of all indians, and it certainly did not affect my service towards indians. The biggest tip I ever recieved was from an Indian ($750). You take the good with the bad, and it all evens out in the end. The only reason I point this out is because these types of situations only happened with Indians. Of course, mine is not some scientific study which I base some hypothesis on. I'm just stating my observations. Who knows, maybe the server I worked with had the exact same problem, only with Jews? Obviously I had other complaints from other people too, but they would be legitimate - e.g., hair in the food, food under/overcooked, etc.

I think just that one incident more than evens it out

 

[Whitecloak]

Originally posted by: Mani

Originally posted by: GoodToGo

Originally posted by: Mani

Originally posted by: bootymac

Originally posted by: GoodToGo
Let me tell you something about the Indians in America. Now I am an Indian myself and so my opinion is definitely unbiased. More than 90% of Indians are either Gujrati or Tamilian. Between both of them, Gujratis are ~75% and Tamilians are ~25%. In any case, both these sects are the....wait for it.....WORST among all the rest.

Gujratis are known for being the very stingy but yet being the most showy. They will try everything to impress others like dressing up, buying imitations of branded items, fake american accents etc etc but ....yup...still cheap bastages. They own most the motels around but in academics, they are the most dumb fvck ignorant POS's. I went to undergrad and met lots of guju's but none in grad...hmmm..wonder why? :shocked: These guys as you may know, own most the motels around town and their last name is either Shah or Patel. They are also renowned for being completely oblivious of anyone who is not guju and would rather DIE than helping a non guju.

Tamilians are on the other hand more simple but thats about the only positive adjective. They are the generic stinky guys who go around without taking showers and giving other guys a bad name. If you think Gujratis are bad, these guys are the grand daddies. They wont cough up anything....even a dollar. I was living with some and god it was a nightmare. Every time for monthly bill setllement, it used to be a nightmare. The monthly bill used to come as the same but of course the grocery and other utility bills always meant a little plus and minus. But nooooooooooooooooooo, how the hell did the bill come as five dollars more???!11!!!!1?? They used to act as if it was a big deal. OMG, just pay the frigging bill and get on with it. Of course they are very smart in academics. I think in my Grad lab, I was the only Non Tamilian. I knew many Tamilians who doing PHD's in several different topics. But then I also knew a Tamilian who saved up $45,000 in his PHD of 5 years at a monthly stipend of $1800. He never ate out, he never went to the movies and wore the same clothes. At the end of PHD if someone asked him what he did in college, I would dread to hear him answer. He ate the same POS (sambhar which is a popular dish). This guy had enough sambar powder (bought in retail from India by packing in suitcases) to last him a lifetime. OBTW, many of them are vegetarian for religious reasons :roll: If ever a Tamilian comes to eat with you, run out screaming or make an excuse ("Yes I think I am coming down with testicular cancer"). These guys are vegetarian freaks ("Why are you killing the innocent chickens?") I used to love telling them that my favorite dish a medium rare 20 oz Applebees Porterhouse with mashed potatoes just to get a rise out of them.

If you belong to any of the above 2 categories, then fvck you. You are worst of the worst and deserve to back to your POS shanty town in the middle of nowhere. If you are not, then good job on being a person who has a decent opinion of living and doesnt put money above everything else.

winnar

Of what, most obnoxiously retarded post of the thread award? This dipsh*t is so insecure in the image of his race, he has resorted to inaccurate stereotyping and fingerpointing to isolate behaviors Indians of certain descent.

Here's some experiences of my own. The cheapest Indians I know are Bengali, despite being a 2-doctor household, one a cardio surgeon. I had 2 gujurati roomates in college and we never once had an expense dispute. The stinkiest Indian dude I have ever met was Marati - he shared the communal bathroom of our dorm and I had to leave him a note along with a stick of Right Guard for him to get the message. Being Tamil descent, the last time I ate Sambar or Rasam was late 2004, and in fact I just got back from Prime Steakhouse here in the Bellagio after having downed the greatest 18oz Ribeye god has ever put on this earth. All but one of my closest friends is non-Indian, and my girlfriend of 8 months is Taiwanese. Got any more stereotypes to try?

I am not insecure with my race, I hate what most of the Indians fvcking do in America which estalishes stereotypes about us. How many Tamilians do you know that eat beef? How about how bad they stink? How many of them eat sambar every fvcking day? You saw 2-3 examples and shat all over the thread. I have seen countless examples that conform to these stereotypes. I am not an ABCD or a FOB. I am just a guy who wants to have a fun and peaceful life. I wouldnt care less if you are a FOB or ABCD or DCBA, if you act like a fvcktard, then you are spoiling it for everyone.

Face it, if you were not so fvcking insecure, you wouldn't give a sh*t about the representation of your race or what the hell tamilians and gujus may do. Instead of being such a toolbox, realize that a big percentage of what drives this thread is chump-ass retail employees complaining about Indians because they are frustrated about the fact that they work at circuit city and are taking it out on an ethnic minority they lack basic the communication skills to deal with properly.

Also learn to admit the fact a certain percentage of indians are complete cheap asses - regardless of their geographic origin within the subcontinent. Indians in denial about the shortcomings of some of their brethren piss me off, but not nearly as much as the Indians who are so scared sh*tless about their perception that they attempt to shift that perception to an undeserving subset of the population. I'd say living a peaceful and happy life probably does not involve huge rants on the minor idiosyncratic habits of people with similar ethnic backgrounds. It starts with letting go of insecurities and not wetting yourself over what people think of you or your race.

hear hear!!

 

[rgreen83]

Originally posted by: isasir
I think it's interesting that, (up until this post at least), no one is crying racism or whatnot for fs5's comments. However, you replace the word Indian with Jewish (among other potential choices), and forget about it...

But he said Indian, thats a little different from jewish, jewish ppl arent a race, they are a religion.

 

[bjc112]

I know that in real life, I'm better than you. Simple as that.

:beer: :beer: :beer: :beer: :beer: :beer:

 

[Jassi]

Originally posted by: GoodToGo

Originally posted by: Mani

Originally posted by: bootymac

Originally posted by: GoodToGo
Let me tell you something about the Indians in America. Now I am an Indian myself and so my opinion is definitely unbiased. More than 90% of Indians are either Gujrati or Tamilian. Between both of them, Gujratis are ~75% and Tamilians are ~25%. In any case, both these sects are the....wait for it.....WORST among all the rest.

Gujratis are known for being the very stingy but yet being the most showy. They will try everything to impress others like dressing up, buying imitations of branded items, fake american accents etc etc but ....yup...still cheap bastages. They own most the motels around but in academics, they are the most dumb fvck ignorant POS's. I went to undergrad and met lots of guju's but none in grad...hmmm..wonder why? :shocked: These guys as you may know, own most the motels around town and their last name is either Shah or Patel. They are also renowned for being completely oblivious of anyone who is not guju and would rather DIE than helping a non guju.

Tamilians are on the other hand more simple but thats about the only positive adjective. They are the generic stinky guys who go around without taking showers and giving other guys a bad name. If you think Gujratis are bad, these guys are the grand daddies. They wont cough up anything....even a dollar. I was living with some and god it was a nightmare. Every time for monthly bill setllement, it used to be a nightmare. The monthly bill used to come as the same but of course the grocery and other utility bills always meant a little plus and minus. But nooooooooooooooooooo, how the hell did the bill come as five dollars more???!11!!!!1?? They used to act as if it was a big deal. OMG, just pay the frigging bill and get on with it. Of course they are very smart in academics. I think in my Grad lab, I was the only Non Tamilian. I knew many Tamilians who doing PHD's in several different topics. But then I also knew a Tamilian who saved up $45,000 in his PHD of 5 years at a monthly stipend of $1800. He never ate out, he never went to the movies and wore the same clothes. At the end of PHD if someone asked him what he did in college, I would dread to hear him answer. He ate the same POS (sambhar which is a popular dish). This guy had enough sambar powder (bought in retail from India by packing in suitcases) to last him a lifetime. OBTW, many of them are vegetarian for religious reasons :roll: If ever a Tamilian comes to eat with you, run out screaming or make an excuse ("Yes I think I am coming down with testicular cancer"). These guys are vegetarian freaks ("Why are you killing the innocent chickens?") I used to love telling them that my favorite dish a medium rare 20 oz Applebees Porterhouse with mashed potatoes just to get a rise out of them.

If you belong to any of the above 2 categories, then fvck you. You are worst of the worst and deserve to back to your POS shanty town in the middle of nowhere. If you are not, then good job on being a person who has a decent opinion of living and doesnt put money above everything else.

winnar

Of what, most obnoxiously retarded post of the thread award? This dipsh*t is so insecure in the image of his race, he has resorted to inaccurate stereotyping and fingerpointing to isolate behaviors Indians of certain descent.

Here's some experiences of my own. The cheapest Indians I know are Bengali, despite being a 2-doctor household, one a cardio surgeon. I had 2 gujurati roomates in college and we never once had an expense dispute. The stinkiest Indian dude I have ever met was Marati - he shared the communal bathroom of our dorm and I had to leave him a note along with a stick of Right Guard for him to get the message. Being Tamil descent, the last time I ate Sambar or Rasam was late 2004, and in fact I just got back from Prime Steakhouse here in the Bellagio after having downed the greatest 18oz Ribeye god has ever put on this earth. All but one of my closest friends is non-Indian, and my girlfriend of 8 months is Taiwanese. Got any more stereotypes to try?

I am not insecure with my race, I hate what most of the Indians fvcking do in America which estalishes stereotypes about us. How many Tamilians do you know that eat beef? How about how bad they stink? How many of them eat sambar every fvcking day? You saw 2-3 examples and shat all over the thread. I have seen countless examples that conform to these stereotypes. I am not an ABCD or a FOB. I am just a guy who wants to have a fun and peaceful life. I wouldnt care less if you are a FOB or ABCD or DCBA, if you act like a fvcktard, then you are spoiling it for everyone.

If you don't like what "most" Indians do in America (btw, do you know all of them?), what makes you the minority? Do you tip gold dubloons? Pay retail + tips?

 

[Valkerie]

Cuz they're not a 1st world country.

 

[lilFajita]

Originally posted by: KPSHAH316

Again, I would say that depends on which Indians you deal with. Indians are very motivated people-some are sheep, some are ambitious, with your good and bad in each category. I would notice the clean, polite Indians would always drive a Mercedes/BMW/Lexus. The ones with disgusting hygeine had a Toyota/Honda. I don't understand why affluence correlates with personal appearence, but go figure.

Um, I drive a Honda, and I smell quite nice. I think its sad that you are embarrassed by your own culture and people. I am consistently impressed by people of all cultures that take the little they have or move away from the entire life and culture they have known to do/make something bigger and better...and then, in a cruel twist of fate, they create children like you. :disgust:

I often ask for discounts, freebies, and comps when I feel the time is right (and sometimes when its borderline). Often, I get something, and that rocks. I never would have gotten it if I didn't ask. Then I laugh at the people who are "too embarrassed"...as I drive away in my Honda :lips:

Love to my fellow Indians. See ya at the Hot Deals Forum!

 

[Hammerhead]

Originally posted by: fs5
So I work at CompUSA as a second job now, but I question myself as to why I got back into retail.

One thing that annoys me is indian people asking for discounts. Do they think they're at the street market back in Hyderabad or something. Is it because they're brought up this way? Can someone explain to me?

Don't be mad because they took all the high paying, high-tech jobs and you're stuck at CompUSSR.

So, everyone that haggles when buying a new car is from Hydrebad?

 

[pclstyle]

Hahaha, even if you are a troll...

Originally posted by: Literati

Originally posted by: Amol
I love how you're putting the word Jihad in a thread about Indians :roll:

Also great to see how you're getting your view of other cultures from second-rate movies acted out by puppets.

See it? It's right there... See it yet? Yea, that's my caring, right there.

...that made me laugh pretty hard. Probably because i pictured you jabbing at some invisble point on the floor while saying it.

 

[daveymark]

i saw office space, so I know exactly how indians are supposed to act. Back up in your ass with my resurrection.

 

[oslama]

Originally posted by: shilala
Because they're smart shoppers?
My first guess was that they were Jewish Indians, but I was afraid to say that for fear I'd be persecuted. There aren't any Jewish Indians, are there?

Actually, There are some indians in the state of mizoram think they are a distant Isreali tribe that settled in East India @ 1000 BC. The only common link to Isreal is the common word Messiah or meshia in their language.

 

[The Pentium Guy]

Originally posted by: oslama

Originally posted by: shilala
Because they're smart shoppers?
My first guess was that they were Jewish Indians, but I was afraid to say that for fear I'd be persecuted. There aren't any Jewish Indians, are there?

Actually, There are some indians in the state of mizoram think they are a distant Isreali tribe that settled in East India @ 1000 BC. The only common link to Isreal is the common word Messiah or meshia in their language.

Well the whole world's related.... just way back to the first human

 

[The Pentium Guy]

AKA we're all jewish indian chinese french spanish italian english czechoslovakian arabian persian egyptian austrailain.................E T C

 

[northerner]

i used to be in sales for an automotive parts warehouse and we always had people coming in saying they get this discount and such cause they know so & so.

in retail there are several pricing structures:
cost: original cost the store bought item for
jobber: 10-20% over cost
dealer: normal pricing
retail: 50+% over cost

and for me it would all depend on the customers attitude, be a jerk to me and your getting retail price or more!

be patient and knowledgable and i will probably give you jobber!

it never hurts to haggle but be respectfull about the way you do it!
oh, and as for warranties, we did such volume we could warranty anything at any time if we wanted to! electrical starter 6 months past warranty, if i like the person i can fudge some numbers and make it happen! parts reps want to keep the store happy because of the volume of merchandise moved so it didnt bother them if we have more warranties then normal.

 

[Icepick]

Originally posted by: klah
You should all read this:

Confessions of a Car Salesman

We hired Chandler Phillips, a veteran journalist, to go undercover by working at two new car dealerships in the Los Angeles area[for 10 weeks]. First, he would work at a high-volume, high-pressure dealership selling Japanese cars. Then, he'd change over to a smaller car lot that sold domestic cars at "no haggle" prices.

We invite you to read the following account of Phillips' day-to-day experience on the car lots. Doing so will broaden your understanding of the dealership sales process. It will also cast a new light on the role of the car salesman

excerpt:

http://www.edmunds.com/advice/buying/articles/42962/page004.html

Since I was still a "green pea" the other salesmen tried to push me to wait on undesirable ups ? the undesirable customers who the salesmen thought wouldn't or couldn't qualify to buy a car. My manager had, at one point, described the different races and nationalities and what they were like as customers. It would be too inflammatory to repeat what he said here. But the gist of it was that the people of such-and-such nationality were "lie downs" (people who buy without negotiating), while the people of another race were "roaches" (they had bad credit), and people from that country were "mooches" (they tried to buy the car for invoice price).

I'll repeat what Michael, my ASM, told me about Caucasians . He said white people never come into the dealership. "They're all on the Internet trying to find out what our invoice price is. We never even get a shot at them. I hate it. I mean, would they go (to a mall) and say, 'What's your invoice price on that beautiful suit?' No. So why are they doing it here?"

This is an excellent article and I read it last year while contemplating purchasing a new car. The article is really eye opening and illustrates the fact that if you don't do the research ahead of time you are probably getting ripped off. After reading it I decided I'd try to apply some of what I learned in everyday situations. Now, when I walk into a Compusa or Best Buy I do the research ahead of time. Also, now that I know that in most of the world prices are set with the expectation of bargaining I'm trying to practice this more often. Otherwise I feel like I'm getting ripped off.

I mean, really. If I pay someone money for a service or product and then I see them hop in their Mercedes, Lincoln, or HumVee with a big smile on their face. I can't help but feel a bit ripped off.

 

[LocutusX]

Looks like (some) Indian immigrants in America are still currently going through the "self-loathing" phase that some Jews went through in the 50's to 70's.

I have to say that I'm completely unaware of Indians in Canada behaving the same way(w.r.t. haggling while shopping) ... basically when Indians in Canada go shopping, they behave like Russell Peters (the Indo-Canadian comic whose main skit is based on a shopping experience at a major Toronto Chinese mall). While he does haggle, it's a lot more polite than what people in this thread describe and plus he's at a Chinese mall so it's a little more appropriate.

I think the only accurate comment in this thread is the following:

Mani to Kpshah:

Face it, if you were not so fvcking insecure, you wouldn't give a sh*t about the representation of your race or what the hell tamilians and gujus may do. Instead of being such a toolbox, realize that a big percentage of what drives this thread is chump-ass retail employees complaining about Indians because they are frustrated about the fact that they work at circuit city and are taking it out on an ethnic minority they lack basic the communication skills to deal with properly.

:wine:

 

[Descartes]

An Indian buddy of mine does that all the time. He's been in the US for a year or so, but he'll still try to negotiate a deal with the "Geek Squad" at Best Buy. I would mostly find it funny if it didn't take forever for him to realize that he can't negotiate.