Show SHOPPING IX TURKEY Though the Turks cannot be called lazy yet they like to take their time Patience they say belongs to God hurry to the devil Nowhere is this so well illustrated as in the manner of shopping in Turkey This was brought particularly to our notice when we visited the Sivas bazaars to examine some inlaid silverware for which the place is celebrated The customer stands in the street inspecting the articles ar-ticles on exhibition the merchant sits on his heels on the booth floor If the customer is of some position in life he climbs up and sits down on a level with the merchant If he is a foreigner foreign-er the merchant is quite deferential A merchant is not a merchant at all but a host entertaining a guest Coffee is served then a cigarette is rolled up and handed to the guest while the various social and other local topics are freely discussed After coffee cof-fee and smoking the question of purchase pur-chase is gradually approached not abruptly as that would involve a 16ss of dignity but circumspectly as if the buying of anything were a mere afterthought after-thought Maybe after half an hour the customer has indicated what he wants and after discussing the quality qual-ity of the goods the customer asks the price in an offhand way as though he were not particularly interested The merchant replies Oh whatever your highness pleases or I shall be proud if your highness will do me the honor to accept it as a gift This means nothing whatever and is merely the introduction to the haggling which is sure to follow The seller with silken manners and brazen countenance will always name a price four times as large as it should be Then the real business begins The buyer offers onehalf or one fpurth of what he finally expects to pay and a war of words in a blustering bluster-ing tone leads up to the close of this everyday farce The Century |