Okay, this gag is actually number 50! (the last one was a premature celebration). This gag was also inspired while traveling in Egypt.
During my solo travels in Egypt, I notice that my question “how much does that cost” is often followed by the merchant with, “where are you from?”. Part of me wants to believe that the question is genuine interest in me as a person, and my goals and my aspirations in life……but another nefarious part of me knows that the real interest in the latter question is to find out if I’m a foreigner or not.
Now, I know this is not a phenomenon that is exclusive to Egypt or Egyptian culture (a different price for tourists than for locals) but it’s still annoying as hell. Sometimes I just wanna buy a bar of soap from the local market and instead of getting a straight-up price I have to prepare for an informal negotiation disguised as small talk. At the end of the day, it doesn’t happen often and the price hike isn’t anything to frustrate over, but it does inspire comic number 50!
