Natural born sellers

One of the few downsides to Cambodia is the constant harassment by the local kids selling stuff, particulary at the Angkor temples. Each and every time anyone emerges from a ruins they are met buy anything from 1 to 6 kids heading towards them fast. Instantly they go for the kill and you'll soon find yourself surrounded with handfulls of bracelets, books and postcards blocking your vision with the constant calls of "One dollar, one dollar. You want? One dollar, one dollar" going through you head. A simple no thanks and speedy direct walk away will not be enough to detere them either, they're hard little people to shake. I heard of one couple buying something so the kids would leave them alone, but actually it just made the rest more determined and even attracted more. Driving away in their tuk-tuk, the only way the extra children could think to get the couples attention was run after them throwing things at their vehicle, no doubt shouting "One dollar, one dollar" as they did!

Match that with the adults sales technique. Whilst the kids are spread out doing their thing, the mums are based at their bamboo shack stalls. Approaching a row of stalls you'll enjoy silence before getting within a 10 metre radius of a women will snap her into action. "Lady! You want cold drink?! One dollar lady!". A few more steps and you enter into the action zone of the next stall and the two voices begin drilling into you. Continue walking and easily you can set 10 women off all at once. It's only worse when you do actually need a drink and have to face them. They all compete to practically put the water in your hand and take your money before you understand what's just happened. Indeed, walking past a food area, I'm instantly surrounded and handed about 5 menus all at once. I feel like a teacher grading each one, asking who's it is and feeling as though I should make a positive comment about it before returning it. "Who's is this one? It's very good. And this one? Who's is this? Very nice..." Stupid thing being I didn't even want food, just was in the wrong place at the wrong time. One lady knew exactly how to deal with the sleepy sunrise tourists. Somehow she'd got me to agree something I liked in theory, then instatlty put the shout through to the cook. I'm left conpletely dazed sat at a table waiting for a breakfast I didn't realise I'd ordered or want. Other tourists smiled with empathy as they sat eating meals they probably hadn't planned on either.

The kids however are something else. Having woken up a bit I'm ready for them, and on the most part the hassle I get doesn't last too long per child. But every now and then one will surprise me. Asked if I want a bracelet, then postcards and then cold drinks, I respond 'no thank you' each time. "So you want nothing?" she says, and I agree wholeheartedly. "Nothing costs 10 dollars". Damn it! She made me laugh so now I'm in trouble. She reals me off a pile of facts about London that I didn't know. Things like the population and such. I'm holding steady though and am not happy to enter into a repour with her, it's a trick. Next she hands me a bracelet that I refuse over and over insisting I have no plans to buy from her. "If you don't take it, it means you don't like me". Damn it again! She's tugged on the heartstrings and now I have to take it. Finally she leaves me be for half hour on the agreement that if suddenly I do feel the need for postcards, bracelets or cold drinks, she's the first person I'll go see.

Unfortuantly, my attempts to sneak back to my tuk-tuk are scarpered as she spies me. She turns up the sales patter and I'm left apologising again and again for not wanting anything. It was horrible, she really guilt tripped me with "Sorry isn't going to help me go to school" and insisted she understood that I didn't need a drink so encouraged me to by for my driver. I'm walking away as fast as I can making pathetic excuses to the 10 year old like "my driver's waiting for me" rather than being strong enough to just be blunt. She hits back with "He can wait. You're paying him". Damn it once more! She's right. I'm nearly running by the end as she accepts I don't want postcards but tells me to buy for my friends. Eventually I escape but feel terrible about myself. I'm a bad person because tomorrow she won't go to school (but she will, she's smarter than me already), I didn't get my driver a drink (but I was already paying him too much and I gave him half a pack of cookies) and because my friends don't mean enough to me for me to buy them a few postcards (but my friends don't want postcards...I don't think). Anyway, that girl was good.

In the city their tact is simpler. In a cafe, they'll just pull up a chair right next to and repeat over and over and over "Buy a book. Buy a book. Buy a book. Buy a book and I'll go away. Buy a book..." whilst sometimes squeezing your arm with each repeat. This is followed by them personally reccomending each book in their basket before getting frustrated and not excepting that simply not wanting a book is a valid excuse, unless they do, in which case they switch to "Buy me food. Buy me food. Buy me food." Grrrrrrrrrr!