You never listen to a word I say pt 2

I am thinking of employing a new coping mechanism for tiresome situations when one would like to explode in a ranting tirade but it might not be wise to.

I call it smile and walk away. For those of us who watch too much television and remember silly advertisements it’s a variation of the ad where a cheery Chinese chap gets rid of pesky moss with “spray and walk away.”

 I first thought of this technique a few weeks ago when I was not getting my own way in the market. Shop keepers appeared to be asking a ridiculously high price for items simply because of my skin colour. I know that could be a little harsh but that is what it looks like.

In such a situation it can be tempting to rant. I do not remember ever resorting to this kind of immature  behaviour before although I have been with friends who have given shop keepers a lecture on how it is not good to cheat people. Unfortunately a shop keeper does not see it as cheating. From my observation he has no concept of paying a fair price according to what the item is worth. A fair price is as high as he can get or whatever a sucker will pay. Foreigners are obviously rich because they are here and so are fair game. I dare say if a rich foreigner was willing to pay me too high a price for something I was selling I would take it also.

 However, as I discovered yesterday when I had a pretend rant, it is a highly dissatisfying way to behave. If you completely lose the plot and shout at someone you might feel better although I would likely have a pressing need to go back and apologise. Pretend rants are just hopeless though. It is hard work trying to rant authentically. And rants whether authentic or not do not actually achieve anything.

So that is why I think I need to work on smile and walk away.

If I was really spiritual I would pray and walk away.