Bargains

I remember when I was really small, I dont remember the year(ha ha...thought you could deduct my age did you ?)...anyway I digress. I used to go to the market with my parents for picking vegetables, and end up staring with awe at my mother when she employed her bargaining tactics. Infact both my father and I used to slightly distance ourselves from this woman, who with a multilingual flair (hindi/tamil/malyalam and english) used to convince the shopkeeper to bring down his rates by atleast 50%.
Well after so many odd years, even after I have graduated to a status of motherhood, I am pleased to note that nothing has changed ! Yesterday while trying to get myself a pair of shoes from a streethawker (thats one thing in Mumbai that you can never have a dearth of !) here I was very meekly asking him to quote his best price and my mom without batting an eyelid asked him to hand it over to us at less than half his asking price ! At that instant my thoughts were - "Oh no...we need to check out more shops for something I like" and my instant sympathy was with the poor chap. But by then my mother had started dragging me and my feet out of there with a stern no-no. Guess what ? to my amazement, the shopkeeper not only gave in but promised a 3 month warranty as well !!!
Moral: The art of negotiating cannot be taught in classes...needs to be learned first hand from the yesteryear moms.