You're Too Old to be This Foolish: An Expat Gets Injured Over a Thirty-Cent Bus Fare
You're Too Old to Spend the Rest of Your Life on the Couch: Let's Adventure!
The cost of being right and possibly ending up dead right
The photos showed a mean bruise on a shoulder. Apparently the Original Poster (OP) had taken a fall, and landed hard. That was the least of his troubles.
The OP has lived in Ecuador for more than ten years. He’s now a pensioner, over sixty-five, speaks the language and professes to love the country and its people, according to his story.
There are all kinds of elder-friendly rules for folks over 65. Among them, plenty of discounts on things like bus fare.
He got on the bus, and when the driver asked him for full fare, the gringo stood his ground. I think the difference was thirty cents.
A gringo, in a developing country, getting pissy about thirty cents.
White immigrants take advantage of these laws because they can. They are, by and large, the least needful of those discounts.
Thirty cents. The driver refused the half-fare. The OP didn’t explain further. Since it’s his story we will never know if the bus driver had a valid reason. (By the way, the story has since disappeared from FB, or at least I sure can’t find it again or I’d link it)
It got unpleasant. The gringo capitulated, at least for the duration of the ride. Then, on his way out of the bus, he pulls a privileged Western expat card.
In Spanish, he informs the driver that he’s going to go inside and report him to the authorities.
What on earth did he expect to happen?
These people are very, very poor. If the bus driver loses his job, he could lose a lot more than that.
Our privileged gringo marches into the building, full of self-righteousness. The driver is right behind him. The terrible story about being charged an extra thirty cents is delivered, then the bus driver attacks the gringo.
The gringo is 72, my age. He didn’t handle the altercation well.
That’s a high price to pay over half a bus fare. Was it worth it?
I’m sorry he got injured but the way I see it, the entire exchange was not only wholly unnecessary but it had Ugly Westerner written all over it.
Maybe I’m wrong. I often am, but stay with me here.
The way that we are showing up on the world stage today isn’t likely to make us any friends. Ecuadorians, along with plenty of others, legal or not, are being booted out of America, if not summarily jailed.
This bus driver might have a relative who is cooling their heels in Guantanamo. Maybe his wife was just diagnosed with cancer. We can’t possibly know what he was carrying on his shoulders that day.
Maybe his wife works for a gringo family and got stiffed for her salary. Maybe a string of gringos had been rude to him and this was the last straw.
Does it matter?
If you’ve ever had a brutally tough day and had an exchange with someone who clearly suffered from self-importance, chances are, and I’ve been there, you’re not feeling very charitable.
The point is that whatever was going on with the driver, it sure as hell wasn’t worth threatening his job over. Most gringo expats make an income that most Ecuadorians can’t even imagine.
Is it that important to be right instead of letting it go? Are we willing to risk serious injury if not a deadly attack over thirty cents?
This guy complains he may now need surgery to fix his shoulder. I read the responses. Some were instructive of Western attitudes about their host country.
Of course the driver shouldn’t have physically attacked him. No argument there. My point is that the whole thing was avoidable.
One guy, risking the ire of many of his fellow Western expats, pointed out with kindness and patience that the law wasn’t established for us, once again. I suspect his response made the post lively and it got taken down.
Our OP knows the rules better than most. He’s lived there a decade. Speaks the language.
He appears to have not fully understood the culture. He hasn’t taken into account how he is perceived, and even more so, how current events are affecting local sentiments towards gringos, whose riches are only too obvious.
I am deeply sympathetic to the physical injury and the perceived threat. Someone else I like very much had her Ecuadorian campo home broken into twice and her life threatened- but it wasn’t over thirty cents.
The thieves believed she had scads of money hidden away. She didn’t but they just knew she was uber-rich and had money in a mattress somewhere.
She knew how to handle that situation and is still alive.
This guy put his body and potentially his life in danger over half the bus fare.
You can argue that it’s the principle of the thing.
Yeah you can, while someone buries you. Or a gang decides to take out its ire on America over something utterly inconsequential. You’re just handy.
Was it worth it?
This story caught my eye since I am seriously considering moving to Ecuador. It’s highly instructive if for no other reason than it emphasizes my responsibility to show up as respectful in a country where I am not a citizen.
You may not agree. You may feel that being a Westerner, or an American in particular, affords us lots of extra rights over Brown folks. Or wherever we are.
I respectfully disagree. Rather vehemently, in fact. That’s neither here nor there. That is, unless you’re considering becoming an expat in a developing country.
You will likely have options the locals will never have. Having greater empathy, especially in the Time of Trump, will go a long way towards better ensuring our safety.
We expect immigrants to be respectful of our laws and understand how they are perceived here, fairly or unfairly. Same goes for us.
Respect and good will are earned. Let’s earn them. Pay the whole fare and be thankful there’s a cheap bus.
Then live to ride another day, without bruises, broken bones or worse.
Let’s play, respectfully.
For my readers: my stories show up on the Facebook expat page. This morning I got a rebuttal from someone claiming to be an Ecuadorian taxi driver who made all manner of ugly accusations about this story, which I won't honor by quoting. However. The poster's English was better than most Americans, using words that the average American doesn't use, which was a dead giveaway. The poster may well have been the guy who got angry about the thirty cents and didn't appreciate the characterization in the story. I stand by the story- it was drawn from the expat's own words on Facebook, as well as the ensuing comments. My opinion stands. As a very well-traveled writer I have the right to that opinion. I also said in the article above that I could be wrong, which is something I accept as part of life. That of course was missed entirely by the pissed-off commenter. And how ridiculous it is to try to make a public comment as an "Ecuadorian taxi driver" whose English clearly speaks to extensive Western education, and who would most assuredly NOT be driving a taxi in Ecuador with those skills. This speaks to me of just how far someone will go in order to be right, instead of simply accepting that sometimes we show up as assholes and learn from it. The story remains as is. Whoever the commenter may have been he’s now banned for life. Thank you Substack for that option.
Thanks for reading my work. I hope the perspective is valuable and that it makes us all think. Above all, please be safe, be grateful and leave a trail of joy behind you.
So many examples like this seen in my years as an expat in Asia. The lack of empathy and the sheer entitlement were cringeworthy. Often displayed when bargaining over a few cents on a purchase. And then people wonder why there’s a backlash. Good story. Good reminder.
I appreciate your point of view, Julia, and having lived and studied in Europe while I was in college, have interacted with and developed friendships with many people of many different cultures, languages and ethnicities. Americans would be very wise to adhere to the old adage: when in Rome, do as the Romans do. Which, sadly, very few did even in the fairly well-behaved 1970s, when I was there. But consider: in the 1970s Americans had not accumulated the very poor reputation that certain members of our current government have been studiously curating over the past couple of decades or so. Thus, it is even more important that Americans try hard not be Ugly. Your well-written article illustrates this brilliantly.
The only thing that kind of bothered me in your article is the use of the name "Karen" as a stand-in for an obnoxious, overbearing, caustic person, which I presume was male since he is referred to throughout as "he." I have a dear sister-in-law with that name, and it hurts her deeply every time she hears her name used as an insult. And "Karen" was apparently used to refer to an obnoxious, overbearing, caustic American man. I truly wish we could get to the point that we could discard personal names and gender when describing irritating people. It would be my fondest wish that references to the poor behavior of privileged, self-centered people could be made without injuring persons fully innocent of that behavior.