Reciprocity

In Psychology the principle of reciprocity states that it is "The social expectation that people will respond to each other kindly by returning benefits for benefits, and respond with either indifference or hostility to harms."

J & I experienced it this weekend whilst shopping at the old market in Siem Reap.

J was looking for a gold Buddha pendant & necklace. The first stall we stopped at she was told it would be $55 - this is unusually cheap as a solid 18c Buddha is generally in excess of $100. She felt the pendant & it was also unusually heavy. Is it gold plate? she asked the seller who had relatively good English.

No, no, no she was emphatically assured this was a solid 18c gold pendant & for her she could do a special price of only $55. 

We were both skeptical. 

Whilst J continued to negotiate the authenticity & price of the suspiciously heavy & cheap Buddha I was distracted by the sellers young daughter playing with her friends near by the stall. I nudged J mid-haggle & pointed to the T-shirt the 7 year old child was wearing. J instinctively gasped & covered her mouth - the universal body language for embarrassment, so the seller asked her what the matter was.

J pointed to the girls T-shirt & asked the mother if she knew what it meant. The seller shrugged & said it was just a cheap T-shirt she had bought from the market & although she couldn't read English she knew that it had Siem reap written on it.

Tell her in khmer what it means - J asked me. I am an expert of Khmer swear words!

Its a very bad word - I explained to her in khmer - Con Doi.

It was then the seller & her sister's turn to gasp - both horrified.

She was very shocked & all flustered, immediately telling her confused daughter to remove the T-shirt.

She then turned around to us with a completely changed expression & countenance saying earnestly- to be completely honest with you, you were right, this is just gold plated Buddha - I can give it to you for $10. Sorry that I lie to you before. Thank you for telling me about my daughters T-shirt. If you really want a real gold Buddha you should go to that stall over there, but currently a pendant of this weight if it was solid gold would cost $160. 

So in the end J got her lucky gold plated Buddha, which if she is really lucky may even stay a gold colour until she leaves Cambodia in 3 months time, the seller got to know her daughter was playing in public with a anglo-saxon profanity for female genitalia emblazoned on her T-shirt & I got a good story to tell, as well as a bonus lesson in reciprocity.

Relaying the story to some friends in the pub later that same day one of them nonchalantly nodded & told us his friend actually produced these T-shirts & there was in fact a whole range of them available - english literacy clearly not necessary for purchase..........

The back of the T-shirt says - in here is a ****

J with her Reciprocity discounted gold plated Buddha - another happy customer!