Thoughts on Turkey 3/4 : How to Stop Me Purchasing Your Goods or Services

When I went to Amsterdam about 18 months ago we had a simple rule about where we ate : if people hassled us to go inside, there was absolutely no way in hell we were going to.

Applying this rule in Turkey is a lot harder because everyone hassles you. Refusing to eat in any restaurant that tried to force you inside would result in not eating out all holiday.

However, I have my limits. Anyone who reads this probably already knows me and, as such, can guess my reaction to the following sales pitch:

“You! You play basketball? Please you come drink in my bar? You play basketball?”

To say I gave him a dirty look is an understatement. To say that Ellie had a fit of hysterics is also an understatement. But, hopefully, some good has come out of this exchange. Because now the erstwhile proprietor of a middling bar in Çeşme, Turkey, knows never again to try and entice a very tall man into his bar by suggesting he plays basketball…

One Response to “Thoughts on Turkey 3/4 : How to Stop Me Purchasing Your Goods or Services”

  1. JC Says:

    Slightly better than the comment I got in Mexico. I went into an internet cafe and the guy behind the counter asked me where I was from. When I said Ingleterra he said ‘ahh hooligan’
    Having said that his tactic worked as I went back there another time, I was impressed by his indepth study of my nations psyche

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