A Greek thing?

[Risto the Great]

I was talking to a Greek guy sitting on my table at a wedding recently.
He was proudly telling a story that went as follows:

- He went on holidays to some Greek island (one of the more well known ones).
- He was at a hotel but liked the look of another one better.
- Ho goes to the other one and tries to sound like a mainland Greek instead of a Diaspora Greek and demands a great price on a room. The manager/owner walks from out back and tells this guy he used to live in Melbourne. (Not sure what gave it away for this guy) Anyway, for argument's sake, the manager says I will give you the room for EUR100 instead of the regular EUR150. Everyone was happy and this guy stayed in his existing hotel for the final night.
- The following morning this guy goes to the new hotel and finds the manager was not there, only the receptionist. She ask for the EUR150 and he says he had a deal with the manager for EUR90 a night. She says that is a very good price and is not confident that it was offered.
- This guy jumps up and down and gets the room for EUR90 a night.

He almost got a round of applause from the rest of the Greeks on our table for recanting this story.

I was horrified .... I am the kind of guy that shakes a hand and stands by my commitment. I will hold the other party to their commitment with vigour and expect nothing but full reciprocity.

It left me wondering, would Macedonians in the Diaspora do this? How about Macedonians in RoMacedonia? Is it a cultural trait amongst Greeks only?

The mind boggles.

[Bratot]

I don't think it's a cultural trait amongst Greeks only, it's general Balkan cultural trait to do haggling on every price, but maybe the Greeks show more progressiveness

It's a offense for the merchant if you refuse to bargain on the price and you accept his first offer.
The merchant want to "earn" the deal by this whole bargain proces.

[Rogi]

Risto, when you find some time have a read of this (it is fairly long)...

http://www.vanityfair.com/business/features/2010/10/greeks-bearing-bonds-201010

But I would say, it is not a Greek thing only - in all places where corruption and disorder is rife, you will see no respect for commitments and agreements, including in Macedonia.

But take the point about the culture of corruption and read the bit about receipts (which would have solved the story you gave above) in the link I posted above, I find it quite insightful.

[Makedonetz]

Thats quite funny RTG....he swindled the hotel managment down to 90Euros from the original offer of 150Euros. He must own a business himself to be that sly

[vodenka]

In Greece is a common practice to over-charge for a hotel room and after to "bargain" the price with clients. But this is not a very wise attitude as many times clients of the same hotel that chat among them, find out they are paying different prices with no real reason. I do not wonder why tourism in Greece is going from bad to worse.

[vodenka]

Risto, when you find some time have a read of this (it is fairly long)...

http://www.vanityfair.com/business/features/2010/10/greeks-bearing-bonds-201010

But I would say, it is not a Greek thing only - in all places where corruption and disorder is rife, you will see no respect for commitments and agreements, including in Macedonia.

But take the point about the culture of corruption and read the bit about receipts (which would have solved the story you gave above) in the link I posted above, I find it quite insightful.

The kind of corruption in Greece that is described in the mentioned article is a solely greek phenomenon, believe me! It was exported to Macedonia in some level, too, when the only investors in the republic were greeks.

[Bij]

Macedonians from Macedonia are too humble to bargain with locals. Macedonians from Australia will bitch and whine about prices but pay anyway. I'd rarely see a sneaky Macedonian like this but they do exist... Usually ohrigjani :-p

[Risto the Great]

Seriously, I would have bargained for the price to be EUR75. But after agreeing to it, I would stick to it and not lie to the receptionist. It would appear that this mentality is not limited to just Greeks. As Rogi put it, perhaps it is more to do with the places where corruption and disorder is rife.

[Risto the Great]

Risto, when you find some time have a read of this (it is fairly long)...

http://www.vanityfair.com/business/f...g-bonds-201010

An absolute shocker of a country.

[George S.]

i don't think greece will ever pay off that debt & they will probably asked to sell their islands etc & treasures to pay for their debt.This could really spell the end of greece & it's medling in macedonian affairs.

[DirtyCodingHabitz]

they will probably asked to sell their islands

How is it possible for "ancient people" to sell their "ancient islands"???

I guess it shows how much they care for "their land".

[Onur]

How is it possible for "ancient people" to sell their "ancient islands"???

I guess it shows how much they care for "their land".

Mate, those islands was Greek as much as the Aegean Macedonia was Greek.

At 13th century, when the crusaders occupied Byzantine Empire, they took over all the Aegean islands and massacred all the few 1000 orthodox christian population in all of it. Then after the crusaders gone from Istanbul with the help of Turks, Venetians took over all the islands and they completely latinized all of it. They were using those islands as a base for catholic missionary and they were trying to convert the orthodox people in the mainland Anatolia.

Then Ottoman Empire took all of them at the start of 16th century. For example, when the Turks captured the island of Rhodes, there was only ~100 orthodox people in it but over 10.000 catholic Venetians was defending it. These ~100 orthodox people helped the Turks with the call of the patriarch of Istanbul to be able to save themselves from catholic tyranny. The patriarch was giving extra importance to get rid of all the catholics from Aegean sea and he was personally joining the Turkish naval campaign to those islands by blessing the Ottoman soldiers with holy water. All the orthodox inhabitants of these islands settled there after 16th century Turkish conquest(as well as the Turkish settlers). There was no orthodox people in any of it during the Frankish and Venetian reigns.

After ~450 years of Turkish reign, Italians occupied all the islands except Cyprus(Brits occupied that one) in 1914 and after the WW-1, all these islands has been awarded to Greece at 1919. I think ancient Hellenes ruled in those islands for few 100 years and then Byzantines for few 100 years too. Longest ever was ~450 years of uninterrupted Turkish rule.

[DirtyCodingHabitz]

those islands are Greek as much as Macedonia is Greek.

If I only knew where you lived... or

Macedonia will never be "Greek" because modern greeks are a artificial nation and they are land, history and identity stealers.

[Onur]

If I only knew where you lived... or

Macedonia will never be "Greek" because modern greeks are a artificial nation and they are land, history and identity stealers.

Mate, read the rest of my message and get the irony in that sentence.

[DirtyCodingHabitz]

Mate, read the rest of my message and get the irony in that sentence.

1. I'm not your mate.
2. I didn't like what I read on your comment.
3. I replied to what I didn't like.