Tourists for a Day

Sometimes when we go to various places maybe the mall, a car shop, a boutique, etc sadly we tend to feel some employees tend to judge based on our appearance, language, clothing, accessories, it all depends on whom. It may be a cultural practice, maybe just made up. I’ve heard all sorts of stories of these sorts, so as a cultural and social experiment, I decided to pretend to be a tourist to perceive the reactions and the different treatment people experience when “they don’t belong”.

Before I narrate my experience I feel the need to explain that for several years I worked at boutiques and never felt the urge to judge or see people as a dollar sign, nor differentiate. For me everyone was equal and I only did my job and wanted to help him or her find what they were looking for. So I understand how being a seller works and how the job goes.

My best friend decided to visit for the weekend with one of her roommates and so we decided to be tourists and speak English. We had backup and validity since my best friend’s roommate is American. We decided to take her to the Bacardi Distillery and take one of the tours. The reception was so nice, the guides explained everything to us, they were so attentive, and they even gave us free drinks and tastings. It wasn’t hard to pull it off, we were a little loud, took photos of everything even with the selfie stick. We even befriended one of the bartenders from the mixology course. But we always felt and knew they were trying hard. After it all we had a good laugh and I started reflecting upon the events.

I concluded that its ironic people from my own homeland tend to treat better tourist than people from their same island. But it’s also great to see people trying to promote our tourism and our island. Overall it was a great experience and we learned a lot while having fun.