16:08:00 +07:00 Give and take - I appear to have rustled some feathers with yesterday's note about, what I would characterise as my somewhat strange experiences with milk. In the bottom of the bag that I was given with my breakfast today was transparent milky looking liquid substance, dispite the breakfast not containing any milk. How odd. In the cafe I've gone for lunch, the chairs and tables were all moved around with a mega delivery of chocolate biscuit milk smoothies.
A literal wall of the stuff, almost taking up 1/3 of the seating area. Also almost every place I have bought something today has tried to force me to buy something without waiting for me to say what I wanted. That or they have simply called me a liar just for existing and turning up at their shop. It's been one thing escallating to another. Oh yeah and a whole lota 'you learn'. I've mostly kept quite quiet today.
In life it's often said that there should be a balance of give and take. Well here in Vietnam there are days when if you cede and give in to force once, giving what is demanded, then immediately afterwards in every location they try something similar again and again and again. That's been my experience so many times I've lost count. I guess this note will cause more of the same, I wish that it didn't.
Rather than give and take, it's you give and then they will do take take take take take take take. And with huge righteousness. That's how it feels from my perspective. In the world of regexes it would be described as a greedy algorithm. And of course should you speak up, it's you that is to blame. Each time I was just buying something totally minimal and normal to eat.
That's how it is sometimes, it's difficult to not get angry. And it's difficult to not let it shape your interactions because you learn to pre-empt it. You know when it's coming. I'm mostly a peaceful person, I try to be, but I also won't be trodden on without reacting. It really amounts to anger goading because guess what happens then, they break out the its-the-crazy-foreigner-it-again sad face.
And you know sometimes it's kind of funny. I mean the wall of chocolate biscuit milk smoothies was pretty funny. But it's still difficult because it's not a thing you can laugh at, and you are never really sure if it's some kind of threat. Likely it's a bit of both.
And of course it's probably all bizare coincidences...that happen again and again and again every single day. #