PCV: Paid Caribbean Vacation

Something strange and at this time unique to India is its system of kickbacks. Everyone gets a kickback on everything. Trust no one that is taking you anywhere. They are making money off you as you travel. Beware of them taking you to places you didn’t ask to be taken to silk shops and emporiums of all sorts in the hope that you will buy something. The crazy thing is they don’t even care if you buy anything. They make money just by bringing you there. It’s a terrible waste of time for us since no one ever buys anything and they make us more frustrated along the way and lose money from people that may tip them later.
There are so many people in India that in order to make sure everyone is doing something productive they are extremely inefficient. They get the job done faster perhaps but the job can always be done with less people. For example, it was not uncommon to walk into a restaurant (not top of the line by any means either) and have 1 man outside the door greeting you as you walk in. Another person would hold the door open for you. Another person would seat you. Another would bring you drinks. Another would get the order. Another would bring the food. Someone else gave you the check and then you had to take it to someone else to pay. In some instances, there was even an extra person giving out mints as you left. A restaurant that would take 5 people to run in American would easily be manned with 10-15 people. Most of them were standing around doing nothing most of the time, but they all had work. They had no shame in this as long as their fellow man made a living. They were selfless in the sense they would do anything to look out for one another. It was common for rickshaw drivers to stop on the side of the road and split a large group up for less costs because they were trying to help their friend make a small bit of money. Once again, frustrating, but admirable on how little they seemed to care about themselves.
All in all, India is a country of kickbacks. They look out for each other and have no problem making an inconvenience to the foreigner they are trying to make money from. I can’t blame them; they are trying to make a living just like the rest of us. The only difference is they seem to look out for their fellow friend before themselves, something we need to stop getting frustrated by and give them a hand because unless us, they care about more than the money they are making that day.