I'd like to buy a product you say doesn't exist...

I'd like to buy a product you say doesn't exist... This feeling is rather familiar for any tech geek who's recently been to Fry's or a market in Bishkek. The salesperson will try to simultaneously try to sell you something else while informing you - no no this product doesn't exist. If you keep insisting they will reluctantly agree - yes in fact it does, but I don't have it. If you keep talking, somehow it magically comes to be and you end up buying exactly what you wanted. It works everytime. At Fry's it usually means it is one aisle over. In Bishkek one display case to the side. Occasionally they will in fact not have the product you want, but one stall over the competing vendor will.

Once you've found the product which 30 seconds ago did not exist, you will be offered a price. Resist the urge to convert the price into dollars and quickly accept! Whatever the price is - waiting for a few seconds, shaking your head for a moment and then paying will lead to saving roughly 10%. And even then you're not getting the local price. This was made evident when one of the girls in the office mentioned buying a USB cable for 100 com (a little over $2) and then the next day having the vendor say the true cost was only 50 com. Today when we went to buy identical cables we knew to start with 50 com, and of course only paid 40 com. (For those of you trying to convert to western prices $1 = roughly 46 com)

Sadly the act of bartering the price down doesn't work as well at Fry's as it does in Bishkek - but the service and the denial of the existence of the product you want to buy is a common trait it seems. And like geeks everywhere, I thankfully know this and am persistent enough to walk away with the cables I need.