Fresh Flowers

Bargaining With the Fresh Flower Lady...

I never buy flowers in the US. They’re so expensive! But, here in Asia you can get bunches of beautiful tulips for $2, pure white lilies for $1 or crazy colored daisies for 50 cents (notice: I did not mention carnations). So, I splurge once in a while. In fact, I have a favorite "flower cart/bike lady." I’ve bargained with her so many times that she knows my prices now.

I’ll give you a (translated) play-by-play of our first interaction.

Me - “Hello, your flowers are very beautiful.” (I like to sweet talk a little)

Her – “yes, which ones do you like?” (she gets down to business)

Me - “How much is the bouquet of orange daisies?”

Her – “One dollar”

Me – “One dollar, oh my gosh, are you kidding me? That’s so expensive.”

Her – “Okay. I give you special price” (She switched to English for that one)

Me – I’m no fool. I ask , “how much?”

Her – “90 cents”

Me – “ Oh my.... I’m a student, it’s so much money”

Her – “you say how much.”

Me – “50 cents”

Her – “55 cents”

Me – “I won’t pay a penny more than 51 cents” (at this point the bargaining is purely for sport and to help me know I still “got it.”)

Her – “53 cents”

Me – “52 cents”

There is no longer a need for words. She starts wrapping those flowers up and we’re good to go!

Just so you don’t think I’m cruel.... my flower lady probably only pays about 5 cents for the flowers and is making a great profit! Also, any East Asian person would get an even better price than I do :)