Commerce and Customer Service in DR -- A Reality Check
Since I mentioned it briefly in a past post, let's go ahead and talk about customer service and how commerce works in the DR.
As one American businessman that lives here put it, you will not find a hardworking Dominican man or a hardworking Haitian woman, and you will not find a lazy Dominican woman or a lazy Haitian man.
Now... I think I've come across plenty of lazy Dominican women and Haitain women who are trying to make a buck out here. But I thinj the point he was trying to make was you have to be very selective in who you do business with and who you hire.
I want to touch on the subject of the Haitians real quick. To me, the Haitians are the secret sauce in this country. Due to historic resentment dating back to the 1800s, language differences, and outright racism, they are heavily discriminated against. And I mean heavily. It's somewhat similar to how Central American migrants are treated in the US. But fact is, the Haitians are the real hustlers out here. They stand under the hot sun and walk the streets endlessly selling avocados, phone covers, and other trinkets. They know English, French, Spanish, and Creole (whereas the average Dominican knows only Spanish). They will even build you an entire home from scratch for pennies on the dollar. If you meet the right Haitian connections, you can actually excel here.
With the Dominicans, though, do not be surprised if you go to a bank or a currency exchange or a phone store and the person working behind the counter is disengaged, no eye contact, slow moving, explaining things in a lazy manor, or even distracted by something on their phone. The labor laws here favor the worker in such a way that it is hard to dismiss them once they've been on the job a short while, so they just kind of do the bare minimum. Food here takes forever to prepare so go to the restaurant in anticipation of hunger.
And as far as money, once it leaves your hand, that's it. The other day I ordered pancakes and they were a complete, uncooked, doughy mess. The restaurant folks recognize me, I've been there a dozen times at this point, even stayed in an apartment upstairs on a visit last year. But they made no effort to offer me a discount on the meal. That would have been unheard of! Another example: the guy I'm renting my place from, I asked for a weeklong trial to see if I even liked it. He wanted to charge me 10,000 pesos, basically a full week penalty if I decided not to keep the place for a month. So I just said screw it, I'll take the place. Now... if I wanted to leave today, he would never even consider giving me a prorated refund. That money is spent as far as he's concerned. I've confirmed this mentality through my expat network. You hand someone money in this country and it vaporizes. You do not even pay a whore in advance.
All of these observations are simply that. This is not an indictment on the Dominicans, it is just a piece in the puzzle of their overall culture and society. In some ways, their relaxed mode is refreshing compared to the US. In other ways, it can be unnerving. When you really need something done quickly and efficiently, you have a very low chance of it being accomplished in this country. The bureaucracy is immense! Anyway, I have to frequently remind myself of where I'm at because I'm a very driven person that expects certain results. This island teaches one patience and acceptance.
As one American businessman that lives here put it, you will not find a hardworking Dominican man or a hardworking Haitian woman, and you will not find a lazy Dominican woman or a lazy Haitian man.
Now... I think I've come across plenty of lazy Dominican women and Haitain women who are trying to make a buck out here. But I thinj the point he was trying to make was you have to be very selective in who you do business with and who you hire.
I want to touch on the subject of the Haitians real quick. To me, the Haitians are the secret sauce in this country. Due to historic resentment dating back to the 1800s, language differences, and outright racism, they are heavily discriminated against. And I mean heavily. It's somewhat similar to how Central American migrants are treated in the US. But fact is, the Haitians are the real hustlers out here. They stand under the hot sun and walk the streets endlessly selling avocados, phone covers, and other trinkets. They know English, French, Spanish, and Creole (whereas the average Dominican knows only Spanish). They will even build you an entire home from scratch for pennies on the dollar. If you meet the right Haitian connections, you can actually excel here.
With the Dominicans, though, do not be surprised if you go to a bank or a currency exchange or a phone store and the person working behind the counter is disengaged, no eye contact, slow moving, explaining things in a lazy manor, or even distracted by something on their phone. The labor laws here favor the worker in such a way that it is hard to dismiss them once they've been on the job a short while, so they just kind of do the bare minimum. Food here takes forever to prepare so go to the restaurant in anticipation of hunger.
And as far as money, once it leaves your hand, that's it. The other day I ordered pancakes and they were a complete, uncooked, doughy mess. The restaurant folks recognize me, I've been there a dozen times at this point, even stayed in an apartment upstairs on a visit last year. But they made no effort to offer me a discount on the meal. That would have been unheard of! Another example: the guy I'm renting my place from, I asked for a weeklong trial to see if I even liked it. He wanted to charge me 10,000 pesos, basically a full week penalty if I decided not to keep the place for a month. So I just said screw it, I'll take the place. Now... if I wanted to leave today, he would never even consider giving me a prorated refund. That money is spent as far as he's concerned. I've confirmed this mentality through my expat network. You hand someone money in this country and it vaporizes. You do not even pay a whore in advance.
All of these observations are simply that. This is not an indictment on the Dominicans, it is just a piece in the puzzle of their overall culture and society. In some ways, their relaxed mode is refreshing compared to the US. In other ways, it can be unnerving. When you really need something done quickly and efficiently, you have a very low chance of it being accomplished in this country. The bureaucracy is immense! Anyway, I have to frequently remind myself of where I'm at because I'm a very driven person that expects certain results. This island teaches one patience and acceptance.
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