Originally Posted by
HadesNL
Ah,
- something hits the ground
out of politeness and willing to help: "you dropped something"
- the dropping as posed as "shoe shine for you?"
ofcourse, S/O is oblivous of current affairs
- it was 700 Try per shoe and not enough Try in his pocket, add €20
S/O " i have learned my lesson now, i see why you put visible evil eye talismans around your neck! "
- Nazar :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazar_(amulet)
Me: "evil itself is afraid for nothing except the evil eye being reflected back at them at magnitude 9.8, it's like a curse that works so efficient that one is never hassled!"
- so if you spot in Istanbul a built ginger redhead with a nazar amulet visible around his neck, that's my beloved
Atacama40 : sometimes its good that S/O is getting a reality check, he was expecting an Istanbul romantic fairytale of 1000 and 1 nights as Sherazade :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scheherazade
Anyway we observed this again and again next to the hotel's street and also to the park adjacent. So it is good to be aware of.
OMG - the shoeshine SCAM is the oldest scam in Istanbul. I once fell for it but in another way. A friend of mine were passing by a shoeshine and he asked for a cigarette. my friend gave him one and as a "thank you" he wanted to clean my shoes - I had flip flops - yes, they can also clean flip flops. then came the story of his poor family with nothing to eat ... and he demanded a hefty fee for the ridiculous flip-flop-shine
- I learnt my lesson.
There are many of these scammers around the hotel. They know where they find their bait easily
- Can't count how many dropped brushes I came across during my frequent Istanbul visits