Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Night-time National Museum - Prague (April 2004)


I'm reminded of a story today. This happened to one of my Czech friends. He was walking down the street one day, minding his own business, when a car full of Italians pulled up beside him and said something to the effect of "Psst! Wanna buy a cellphone?"

My friend, being the curious individual he was, walked over to them and looked at the phone they were flashing in his general direction. It was a brand new phone with all the fancy gadgets: camera, GPS, etc., and obviously stolen. He asked, "How much?"

"2000 Kc," they said.

"I don't have 2000Kc with me, I'll have to stop at the bank and then get the rest at my apartment," he replied. 2000 Kc at the time was equivalent to $80. The phone was probably worth $400.

"Sure. Ok. We wait for you," these considerate individuals stated.

So he went to the bank, or a bankomat, and then went home to gather the rest of the money together. Shortly thereafter, he met up with the Italians again. They showed him the phone once more, then put it in a little cloth carrying sack and set it down on the center console of their car so they could count up the money he was handing over. As soon as they had the full 2000 Kc, they grabbed the carrying sack, handed it to my friend, said for him to have a good day, and then pulled away.

My friend then went back to his apartment, where he opened the sack to find, not the precious cell phone, but a rather expensive bar of soap. A classic bait n' switch.

"I hate Italians," is how he concluded his story to me.

3 Comments:

Blogger batool said...

Interesting story! In my country Pathans are generally considered the equivalent to the italians you mentioned. No disrespect to the Italians but Pathans do hand over the goods after a good bargain:)

Thursday, December 01, 2005  
Blogger jerry said...

Marty - was that Zele? He seems like one to get into that situation.

I don't know which is worse, getting tricked on the street or mugged on the tram. Both options are available in Prague.

On a similar note, I don't want to think what would have happened if I had tried to buy those leather jackets in Maryland last week. Come to think of it, those guys were from Italy.

Friday, December 02, 2005  
Blogger An Enlightened Fellow said...

Yep, Zele was the one.

Friday, December 02, 2005  

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