I'm going to build on tinmac's story....
We were on a
Royal Caribbean cruise that stopped at
RCCL's private beach....Labadee.
This is a very nice beach but nothing like
Castaway Cay.
Labadee is on the island of Hispanola and is part of Haiti.
On the beach, there are a couple of buildings that house local merchants. They sell the usuall island ric rac and supposedly it's "hand made".
Bob and Majk (pronounced Mike...dont ask) and John and I decided to walk through the shops.
For some reason, Bob decided to ask how much a "hand carved" chess set was. The gentleman said $55. Bob said "i'll give you $5". The man prtested and explained to Bob that he had to make a living and his kids were hungry and the materials alone were more than $5. Majk (pronounced Mike....dont ask), John and I backed away a bit. Bob said "I bet that guy over there will sell me one."
We moved on to the next vendor. John and I were explaining to Bob that while they expected us to haggle over the price, you cant drop from $55 to $5 in one swoop. Bob was unfazed.
This went on throughout the shopping hut. Bob would say "I had that guy over there down to $40.00.....will you go $35.00?" The vendor would say yes and Bob would move to the next guy.
"How much for the chess set?"
$50.00"
"That guy is sellig his for $35.00. Will you take $30?"
"OK"
And Bob would move on. We kept asking him why he wasnt taking the deal for $30. He told us he wasnt done.
This went on for quite a while.
After talking to almost every vendor (and there are many) Bob finally got a man to agree to his $5.00 price. Now keep in mind that the vendors are now fighting amongst themselves. We can hear tham arguing...."why are you selling your chess sets for $25?????"
The three of us are hot and tired and ready to get back on the ship and we're waiting for Bob to buy his $5.00 chess set and
Bob walks away.
Yes....Bob walks away from the man offering to sell him the chess set for $5.00
When we asked, incredulously, why he wasnt buying the chess set he says...."oh...I didnt really want it. I just wanted to see if I could get it foir $5.00. Did you guys think I really wanted it? If I really wanted it...I would have paid the original $50 and gone back to lunch. Geesh....are you guys crazy?"
He walked away with the three of us standing slack jawed and ready to beat him to a bloody pulp.
True story and John and Majk (pronouced Mike...dont ask) will back me up.