Saigon Square Ethics 09/06

Scorching hot this morning. So hot I just got up and went straight to the pool to lower my temperature. Its so strange to feel this kind of heat and yet hear an approaching thunder storm. ½ hour later it rains for 3 hours straight. This is a long time for continuous rain here, as the raindrops are about a tablespoon each. Within this time the swimming pool filled to overflowing and numerous leaks showed themselves through out the house. All surfaces in Vietnam and I think just about all Asian countries are highly polished and ridiculously slick. I knew it would happen one day. I went to walk up the stairs, didn’t see the puddle that a leak had deposited on the floor and I did the total banana skin drop. On my way down I thought that if I had been positioned differently I would be about to crash my head into the stone steps and then I would be dead but I knew I was just going to hit the red hardwood floor…rose wood or mahogany something close to stone. I just lay there for a good while. Then I got up and did my daily 10 times up and down the three flights of stairs in this giant house I am house sitting. This is the sad thing about where I live. If I want to go running I have to fight insane traffic and ridiculous heat. So…although I feel silly, I’m totally into the stair laps.
Later today I went to Saigon Square with my niece and brother. We said, 30 minutes then we are out of here.
I went to my favorite stand, where I can get Hollister and A&F shirts for $3.20. As usual it was hard to get to the clothing because the seller was bent over her stock meticulously folding it. This is normal. All Vietnamese clerks are totally OCD on folding their stock. And it doesn’t stop there. If you are in a supermarket you practically have to beg the clerks to get out of the aisle so you can get to the product they are selling. They are always camped out on the floor doing some meticulous daily inventory or taking every can out and lining them up in the aisle to dust them. Completely blocking aisles.
So I’m standing there next to another woman’s stall and apparently blocking a fifth of it by standing there. She keeps nudging me and at first I think she wants me to look at her product so I glance at it and then go back to waiting to try and get a better look at the adjacent stalls inventory. She nudges me again and tells me I cannot stand there and I scoff and say, “ Yes I can.” She says” NOoo.” And I say, “Well, I’m not moving”. Then a few minutes later I decide to give her the benefit of my interest, so I peruse her wares and she says, “No! You go away! No sell to you!
And I practically yell at her, That’s ridiculous! Gosh, Just be patient! First I look at this stall , then this one, then this one!” , I gesture with my arms, “ Just be patient! And I make a big point of being very interested in her skirts and hold them up and examine them and carefully put them back on the hanger while she just glares at me.
I walk back to the next stall and make a purchase but this woman is not too friendly either to me. …She should be, I didn’t even try to bargain down.
A few minutes later I’m feeling kinda gross about it all. Rich snobby American bitch.
I walk back and think…I should apologize. She was just trying to keep her space clear for possible customers. But sometimes it’s really hard to apologize to someone that has just looked at you like they hated your guts.
She was sitting back in her booth.
“Madame? …Xin loi.”
She smiles hugely, warmly and chuckles.
I swear I wanted to burst into tears and hug her. I was kinda shocked at how much I felt. I gave her my biggest smile and knew that we were the very best of friends now. I walked away thinking how worth it it was to clear the air, how easy apologizing actually was and how rewarding. ….Then I wondered if this meant I could get a really cheap price for her skirts now.