This is probably going to be the dumbest extortion story on here but technically it was. In the Philippines, I was island hopping with a girl I met in Manila but grew up in the province. We go to Palawan and on the last day take an overnight bus from El Nido back to Puerto Princesa to catch a morning flight. We get back at 4 am and I didn't sleep at all on the bus, so I'm dead tired. There are trike drivers waiting at the bus station, so I grab a driver to go to the airport.
All week, I had been paying 20-40 pesos (40-80 cents) for rides. I'm tired enough where I forget to ask about price. We finish the ride and I hand the guy 60 pesos because it's late. He shakes his head no to me and says I need to pay 200 pesos ($4). Now, this is chump change for me, but like the first story, I didn't want to reward deceptive behavior and I'm a man of principle that did not like the idea of being taken for a typical western fool (I ran into tourists that were overpaying all week).
So I try to reason with the guy and tell him I'm aware of how much rides cost in this town, citing prices I got all week. Not surprisingly, he sticks to his guns. About 3 Filipino guys were walking around late and see us having a bit of a standoff by the bike. They all try to get me to pay. I knew this was escalating a bit too much for $4, so I decided I was gonna try one more time and if it doesn't work, just take the L.
The Filipina I'm with even starts whispering I should just pay. I talk to him again separately, but he gets mad I try to negotiate down with him and just screams that he's changing the price to 400 pesos. I knew I pretty much lost there. Or at least I thought.
The girl I'm with hears this in the back and goes into a fucking rage on the trike driver. I think then it finally fully clicked to her why I was originally upset with the guy. 400 pesos is a days pay for her, so she views this as bad extortion even for me. The two start screaming in Tagalog in the middle of the street. 1-2 more guys hear this and my girl actually gets to them first to take my side. No one can speak English well so I'm left standing there trying to figure out what's being said.
My girl suggests to call the cops. I thought this was a horrible idea given the likely corruption that could happen. But surprisingly, that actually resolved the situation somewhat. As I expected, the cops ended up holding the original 200 pesos and said I had to pay since we didn't come to an agreement in advance.
Supposedly they took in the trike because the driver didn't have a real license plate. The Filipina believed that. My take was I just gave the extortion money to the cops instead of the dick that tried it originally. Or at least gave them a cut.
Moral of the story. If it's reasonable money, sometimes it's easier just to pay even if you are getting the western price.
All week, I had been paying 20-40 pesos (40-80 cents) for rides. I'm tired enough where I forget to ask about price. We finish the ride and I hand the guy 60 pesos because it's late. He shakes his head no to me and says I need to pay 200 pesos ($4). Now, this is chump change for me, but like the first story, I didn't want to reward deceptive behavior and I'm a man of principle that did not like the idea of being taken for a typical western fool (I ran into tourists that were overpaying all week).
So I try to reason with the guy and tell him I'm aware of how much rides cost in this town, citing prices I got all week. Not surprisingly, he sticks to his guns. About 3 Filipino guys were walking around late and see us having a bit of a standoff by the bike. They all try to get me to pay. I knew this was escalating a bit too much for $4, so I decided I was gonna try one more time and if it doesn't work, just take the L.
The Filipina I'm with even starts whispering I should just pay. I talk to him again separately, but he gets mad I try to negotiate down with him and just screams that he's changing the price to 400 pesos. I knew I pretty much lost there. Or at least I thought.
The girl I'm with hears this in the back and goes into a fucking rage on the trike driver. I think then it finally fully clicked to her why I was originally upset with the guy. 400 pesos is a days pay for her, so she views this as bad extortion even for me. The two start screaming in Tagalog in the middle of the street. 1-2 more guys hear this and my girl actually gets to them first to take my side. No one can speak English well so I'm left standing there trying to figure out what's being said.
My girl suggests to call the cops. I thought this was a horrible idea given the likely corruption that could happen. But surprisingly, that actually resolved the situation somewhat. As I expected, the cops ended up holding the original 200 pesos and said I had to pay since we didn't come to an agreement in advance.
Supposedly they took in the trike because the driver didn't have a real license plate. The Filipina believed that. My take was I just gave the extortion money to the cops instead of the dick that tried it originally. Or at least gave them a cut.
Moral of the story. If it's reasonable money, sometimes it's easier just to pay even if you are getting the western price.
As far back as I could remember, I always wanted to be a player.
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