Grayson said... I got mine on Saturday, though I guess living only a few hours from Lulu's HQ sped up the shipping a bit! Anyhow, I'm going to get windy here, so here's the condensed version: New prepper or seasoned, or in-between, you WILL find something informative, or at the very least thought provoking. Heck, there's even a part on how to make your kid eat his dinner...!



I'm not a newbie to prepping...but, financial limitations aside, I guess I really could be trying harder. The book really opened my eyes to some flaws, or just things I could be doing better. Like, I wear shades almost all the time. Proper shatter-resistant shooting glasses don't cost much more than the cheap sunglasses I favor (LESS than them in some cases)...so why NOT have a little extra eye protection?



Body armor is something I overlook too, to my detriment given the increasingly-dangerous job of working in a pharmacy. Even if I COULD carry a gun with their blessing, it's very hard to stay in 'condition yellow' in an insanely busy pharmacy.



Also, some GREAT tips on Precious Metals for guy like me that's "late to the party" in that department. Hmm, I do have a question regarding that though...what if you really suck as an actor, like I do? Do you really get that much of a better deal if they think you're selling YOUR wedding ring or your "Grandma's" bracelet, as opposed to just one you had on hand from a pawn shop?

It’s important to learning how to control the image you project.

For haggling certainly, it will help.

A thief selling a snatched chain gets paid only 10 pesos, for example. That’s all he needs for a “paco” (drug) fix and that’s all he’ll get. If I go with the same piece of jewelry I know I’ll get a better price, simply because I’m not some desperate junky.

In general, if you pretend to have a bit of an internal struggle because of sentimental value for example, you’ll get a few more extra bucks if the person is interested.

Not only that, but it ends up looking as if you don’t have a drawer full of stuff, and therefore you don’t attract attention to people that may have robbery in mind.

Look desperate ( even if you really are desperate) and you’ll sure get a worse price.

It’s not that different from real estate business. The guy with the rope around the neck will be offered less money, and he’ll usually accept.

In general terms, it’s good to be able to somewhat control the image you project.

Dealing with people in my neighborhood, I simply don’t care to look particularly wealthy or sophisticated. In my book, the poorer I sound the better, so talking like the poor locals helps. Skipping a final “s” when talking is typical of the local lower class, so I can slip some of it in a conversation.

Remis and taxi drivers will usually ask personal stuff here, like where are you going and what do you do for a living, and its not wise to sound as if you are doing better than the general average.

“I’ve been out of work for the last couple of months” is a good reply here, or at least complaining about hardly being able to pay the bills.

You’d be amazed by the amount of robberies and kidnaps caused by loose lips. People that can’t help themselves and start bragging or showing off.

Then again, when I’m doing business with other kind of people and want to project a better cultural level, I can do that as well, even drop a bit of snob in there if I think the person will relate better to that.

When there’s lots of poverty and you live dealing with these two different worlds you want to be able to speak in both “languages”.

When you visit markets and fairs like “La Salada” where you usually haggle for a better price, again, you don’t want to look or “sound” wealthy. These street merchants aren’t stupid, you have to dress accordingly and talk like someone that is rather poor, even if you had a good education.