I'll probably get in trouble for saying this, but here goes anyway...Egyptians are the best & worst sales people.

In the last two weeks, we've gotten more touts and sales pitches here than anywhere else we've been. We do realize that here, like everywhere else, people are just trying to make a living. That said, we've probably been asked 100,000 times whether or not we'd like to buy a miniature granite replica of the sphinx or pyramid. And while a mini sphinx might look nice over our future mantle, these budget travelers would need to take our new little sphinx on a grand tour of Asia before it made it to it's permanent home in the states. Perhaps sphinxy wouldn't mind seeing a bit more of the world, but quite frankly, we're just not willing to carry him along for the ride. Touts are particularly bad at touristy spots like the pyramids of Giza or Luxor. Below is a typical daily interaction between a man selling such item & myself.

A man approaches me wanting me to buy his little sphinx. As tempting as his offers are, I quickly mutter a "No, thank you" or in Arabic, "La shukran." But the interaction is far from over. The nice man joins us in our stride, walking right alongside us, asking where we were are from and telling Adam he is such a lucky man (Good of him to acknowge that, I've been telling Adam that for years!). How nice, right? So I start to feel a little bad and ask our new friend, "bikam or "how much?" to appease him. That's when things start to go ary. He mentions some outrageous price, as if this sphinx he is holding is a one of a kind masterpiece designed by King Tut himself and there are not 300 more in the stall behind him. No, thank you I say in English & repeat "La shukran." He quickly begins to sputter off lower prices and with each of my head shakes, cuts his price in half until his one of a kind masterpiece belongs in a vending machine. At this point, I've had enough and begin to wonder how I manage to put myself in these situations. As we begin walking farther and farther away from his booth, my new friend makes it very clear he is no longer my friend and that I have deeply disapointed and even angered him (both of which I'm not quite sure how I've managed to do). As he returns to his booth, he continues to glare at us until we no longer look back. Confused and befuddled, I try to process the interaction, just when I hear another man shout, "Hey pretty lady, you look, you buy?!" holding a brand new, shiny little replica of the sphinx. I take a deep breath, smile, try my hardest to find humor in the situation and prepare myself for round two.