Even though we like to pigeonhole foreigners as either the source of all virtues or the source of all follies, even among ourselves we recognize that if there is a way to bend a law, we will find it.

However, is it just us looking for way to fuck people up? No! Everyone is doing it, or else the system will fuck them up, or so they say.

Every business person in Venezuela says they have to protect their investments and capital and the only way they can do it is by overpricing.

Years of law-bending and ineptitude have led to economic distortions that translate into an official worthless currency (Bolivar Digital) coexisting with a de facto currency (American Dollar) with prices calculated at a third de facto fiat (Euro). There is a Central Bank that theoretically regulates and measures the legal exchange rate (105.4 Bs per $, last time I checked), but there are “parallel” dollar exchange rates anywhere between 10 and 40% over the one indicated by the Central Bank.

The other day, when our friend Michel visited us, she wanted to buy a stuffed capibara for one of her children. We saw one in this store by the Congress building and she asked for the price. An elderly Asian couple (we call them all Chinese, since they rarely get too close to locals as to tell their story and clarify where exactly they are coming from) ran the store and they looked and sounded like they could use a retirement. They answered in broken Spanish (another stereotype all Asians carry here), my friend did not hear them well, she asked again, and then they yelled the price at her.

She was so pissed, she stormed out of the store cursing. The price was good, though and she regretted she did not have the tolerance to face them again and buy the item from them.

I offered to go back in the store and buy it for her. I went in with my daughter (I needed a witness just in case). I asked nicely the price of the doll. The old man came out from behind a counter, opened the show window and let me touch it. It looked good. $6? I asked again. He confirmed. By then the exchange rate was 100, so, I calculated it would be about 600 Bs.

I went to the register to pay. The old lady made a gesture of exhaustion and annoyance when I pulled out my debit card. My daughter looked at me like wondering, why is she unhappy about selling?

She typed some numbers in a calculator and informed me I had to pay 999 Bs. Why? I asked, and then understood why she was upset. It would have been easier for her if I had offered to pay in dollars, cash. Paying with debit card, in Bs, she had to over charge me about 30%, which is the real price of our currency in the dollar market. Why not advertise the stupid doll at $9 then? Well, nine does not look as attractive as six, right?

We wish we could say it is just Chinese or Colombians doing it, but everyone is. We have all become such a stereotype!