Digital Young

Just some impressions, as I really don’t want to say that I know now everything about Istanbul, after staying there five days. But as anthropologist, and a cultural one, :-p, I cannot be a passive thinker without having although some questions. I found that traditional commerce in Istanbul, and I think it is the same thing in all Turkey, is really aggressive. Meaning that the relationship between the salesman and the buyer is governed by cultural norms and differences.

My first observation: in Turkey, commerce is really an art. It has became like this because Turkish people have a tradition for already centuries in doing this their main activity. They sell all and everything; this means also that, in their representation, delivering a service means receiving money. If for a Western individual, it is a normal thing to ask for information or directions without giving money, well, Turkish salesmen see the fact of giving information as a service that they deliver to you. So be really informed when you arrive in Istanbul.

Commerce is really aggressive in Turkey, would say again a Western individual who is used with the freedom of choice and the liberty to have his/hers own will. In Turkey you just might forget about them. Why? Selling practices are extremely different from Western ones: they start by seducing the buyers. What a Western guy would call harassing, a Turkish guy says it is just his way of doing things. And he is right. All the streets are filled with little boutiques selling all sorts of things: food, fresh fruits juice, icecream etc. Salesmen start to shout after you and they praise their merchandise. I saw a guy who was selling icecream pulling in people’s faces his merchandise.

If you want to buy something, here it comes the second practice: you have to negotiate. And I really accentuate have to, because otherwise they will rip you off. Even if they give the impression of not understanding your language, it’s only a commercial strategy. They understand really well English, Russian, Italian, French, Spanish, Romanian. Also, they will ask you “where are you from”. That is for them the first clue that will lead them to set you a price. So, they will make the price in that moment in function of your nationality. Second of all, negotiate everything: taxi course, the coffee you buy etc. If you don’t do it, they will really set you a very high price and they will take you for a fool for accepting that price. So, be very careful. And also, do not fall for the thing that they accept all sorts of money. Yes, it is true, they do it, but it is always in their advantage. Why? Because they will put you the price in your money (euro, dollars etc) and they will gain far more at the exchange course. So, it is better for you to know very well the report between your money and Turkish new lira.

Regarding restaurants, when you walk on the little streets in the old part of the town, Sultanahment, every restaurant has its group: waiters, maitre who are all there to bring you at their tables. They start by being charming, presenting you their dishes, that you can look at them by going inside where they have a display little scene with dishes. After that, if you are looking at the menu, that means that you are interested and even more than that. It happened to me that I was looking at the menu, a waiter who was explaining to me that I can go and look at the dishes, that they have a very good food etc, and I left, because I didn’t want to stay. He got angry and he called me I don’t know how in his language. So they really do not understand very well the right of a buyer to choose.

If I forgot something, I will really complete this part later.