I was in Ho Chi Minh City for work for a few days, with a colleague. Our return flight was on Saturday, in the early afternoon. Having to leave the hotel around noon, this gave us enough time for a visit to the Independence Palace. We took a taxi there and spent a couple of hours. When we were ready to go back to the hotel, we noticed a group of rickshaws close by. We went up and had a negotiation (as best we could, given the language barrier), and settled on a fare of one thousand Vietnamese Dong, at the time about equivalent to one US dollar. The man we spoke with then talked to another driver, and we ended up each in our own rickshaw. The ride to the hotel wasn’t very long, perhaps 10-15 minutes. As we arrived, I took out a thousand-dong note and gave it to the driver. To my surprise, however, he demanded two thousand dong. I refused to pay two thousand and continued to offer one thousand. The issue seemed to be that he wanted one thousand per person – whereas I was certain that we negotiated a thousand in total (and from trips earlier in the week I knew that five hundred per person was indeed the going rate). When he continued to refuse to accept my thousand-dong note, I gave up and went inside. Both my colleague and myself went to our rooms to finish packing, as we needed to leave for the airport in the next half hour or so. After about ten minutes, the phone rang. It was reception, calling to let me know there was a gentleman who claimed I owed him money. I mentioned I would gladly pay him, and went down with my thousand-dong note. The same thing happened: he refused to accept, and I went back upstairs. A little while later, my colleague and I checked out, and left the lobby to get into one of the taxis waiting in the driveway. However, as we were putting our suitcases in the trunk of the car, the rickshaw driver came running from the street, holding a metal pipe in his hand, ready to strike… Luckily, some of the hotel staff intercepted and restrained him, while others ushered my colleague and myself back inside. After the guy was safely pushed out of the driveway onto the open street, we had a second go at getting into the taxi. Better luck this time. However, as the taxi driver exited the driveway and entered the street, there he was again! Threatening to damage the car with his metal rod. The taxi driver spoke with him and ended up giving him the two thousand dong he demanded. I ended up giving the taxi driver a five thousand dong tip.
Why did I do this? Why didn’t I just give him the money he asked? Clearly it was not the amount – one US dollar really didn’t mean anything to me. And it was equally clear that a thousand dong did mean a lot more to him. But it was the principle. The principle of not being taken advantage of. If he had accepted the thousand dong I gave him, I might have given him another thousand as tip. But trying to cheat me? No way. On the other hand, I’ll forever be nervous walking around Ho Chi Minh City…