Travel Tips: Taking a Taxi in Ghana
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So it’s Sunday and I’m in bed eating a very large mango and thinking about taxi drivers, waiters and bouncers. I have no patience for any. And my current impatience has developed as a result of my very many experiences with them. Let me start with the taxi drivers.
Here in Accra my usual routine is to walk down my street to the side of the main road and wait for a taxi to approach. I live on the busy part of town so getting a taxi is not a problem. The problem is the taxi drivers.
The usual thing is to stop a taxi driver, tell him where you are going and ask him how much he will charge for the distance; depending on his mood he will either smile at you, look away or give you a monkey face and tell you a figure, (sometimes reasonable, sometimes not).
Unspoken Agreement: Always Bargain
In Ghana taxi drivers (and in fact all business people) have this unwritten and unspoken agreement that the buyer must always bargain with the seller. So you either ask for a reduction or tell him how much you are willing to pay. If he accepts you get on board if not you look for the next taxi.
But make sure you act confident about getting another taxi with the rate you are offerin
g. This can actually make him accept your offer. See, taxi drivers in Accra are not very logical in their approach to their work. Maybe I just can’t figure out how they reason, but i think they operate on emotion: greed and pride being dominant.
Some taxi drivers would rather drive around empty (and waste fuel) than take your offer which may be a few pesewas short of the rate they’ve become used to. With the bargaining process a driver may give in to your offer because you raised a good argument to beat his own or through the exchange you showed that you know the taxi driver-passenger system. Read the rest of this entry
A Commuter’s Guide to Playing Guitar
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Every one hates long commutes. If you are traveling with friends or co-workers people often try to find ways to keep themselves busy. some read books, some play with their mobile phones, some listen to music.
Imagine if some ones in the pack knows how to play guitar. the whole boring commute turns into a picnic party. The guy who knows how to play guitar becomes and Icon, a rock star for everyone else. Imagine the attention and respect the guy gets.
Now Imagine that guy is you! yes, you can also play guitar. It’s not that difficult. I learned it over a weekend & I now practice it during my 2 hours long commute by train. I have become a rock star for the fellow commuters in that 7:20am local. people smile at me when I play a nice piece. I have made quite a lot of friends too.
It all began with this e-book a friend of mine sent me via email and few You Tube videos and free guitar lesson websites. do check them out… Read the rest of this entry
How to save money by reducing the commuting cost
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Indeed there are difficult times ahead. Gas prices are going to hit $5 a gallon any day now. This will have an inflationary impact on everything that moves as transportation costs will go up… In fact all business costs will go up as a result of higher fuel prices. The businesses will have no other alternative but to pass these costs on to consumers. It is fair to say that It is not the gas prices that have gone up. It is our salaries that are shrinking. Each dollar today buys us less amount of goods then this time last year.
Higher oil prices are also a threat to American way of living. they infringe our freedom of movement right. Middle class city workers living in suburbs, commuting daily to work are the real victims of this Oil saga. They own a overpriced home at high mortgage rate, they are also making payments on their car. Only reason they moved to suburbs and are enduring the bashing of long daily commute is that they want better life at a lower cost.
Lost Cat!
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A man absolutely hated his wife’s cat and decided to get rid of him one day by driving him 20 blocks from his home and leaving him at the park.
As he was getting home, the cat was walking up the driveway….
Perfect way to launch a good sale
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While commuting to my office I came accros this very interesting banner. It says in Urdu “Shop is sold : business Gone Broke” It also hase a line “selling every thing below purchase price”
I am impressed; this is a great copy. I could not resist entering the shop and buying something before all is sold out. but I decided to wait till my next salary day…..
In the Image: Shop has been Sold: Business gone Broke: Last Chance
