shopping

The second day in Bahir Dar, I had some time in the afternoon, so our
driver, Dereje, took me to some
souvenir shops on the side of the main road. I walked up to one shop and
took a look at what they had to offer: belts, coin purses, wallets,
leather keychains, t-shirts, etc. The person running the shop was a boy
of about 12 years of age, but he looked fully confident to run the shop
by himself. I asked him how much one of the items cost and he told me it
was 40 birr. I expected that he would give me a higher price than usual
so I offered him 5 birr. Dereje laughed a little and I said, "I know
he's only 12, but I have to try and bargain with him, right?" The boy
refused my bid and again stated his original offer, so I tried a
different tactic, showing him the flaws in the craftsmanship. They were
nothing more than pen marks where the leather was measured to be cut,
but I said I would give him 20 birr. He said I could have
the smaller item for 25 or the larger one for 35, and eventually I
talked him down to 30.
Actually, I'm not very good at negotiating, and felt a little bad trying
to negotiate with a little kid, but he seemed satisfied with the
price he got and I was satisfied with how much I spent, so I figure we
were square. Afterwards he agreed to pose for a picture with me, so I
got the item plus a little something to remember the moment by.