Notes from the culture divide: Quotidian economics
An ad you would never see in SA:
"FREE CAR* REMOVAL. This is an absolutely FREE service. There are NO HIDDEN CHARGES."
Not because people wouldn't be willing to perform this service for free. You just wouldn't ever require it. Leaving the car unlocked on the street would do the job just fine (yes, even if the car was officially deceased).
It's just a completely different set of problems here, isn't it?
_____
* Similar ads exist for furniture. Similar oddity.
7 comments:
I will spend the rest of the day wondering what that asterisk next to "CAR" is for...
Oops. Sorry Omar. Thought now completed.
Damn, in the neighbourhood I come from, leave your car in the wrong place for too long and it'll be gutted for spare parts.
You an SA girl?
*extends hand*
Kitwe, ZM. Nice to meet you.
---X
free car removal b/c when you take a car to the scrap yard you make $$ on itanwhere from $50 for a Fiesta on up - depends on weight...
X: Nice to meet you too. But "Kitwe, ZM" means zero to me. I'm pondering the possibilities: (1) SA means different things to us (I'm from Cape Town, South Africa); (2) you're just trying to confuse me (not a challenge, if you only knew, I'm very easily confused); (3) I'm a remedial Saffer. Help me out?
Fidget: See, that part I understand. What's odd to a South African is that anyone would *not* understand that, and hence, consider an unwanted car to be a problem they are happy to have taken from their hands at *no extra charge*! See X's comment. In SA, *everything* has a monetary value to somebody; in UK, plenty of stuff seems to be not worth the bother of trying to sell. It just highlights the very different economic realities of the two countries.
Kitwe, Zambia. My bad for not clarifying; just got a bit excited to have discovered another Southern African in London on the Internets.
---X
Ah! Zambia! Howdy, X. I think there's a fair few of us around, actually - there's certainly a huge Saffer contingent in London, and increasing numbers on the Internets. Anyways, good to cybermeet you. Let's shake our heads sorrowfully together at the glories of Africa left behind, shall we? [shake, sigh]
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