Family: Scams....

So. jim's dad had to leave early (@ ~1:30am cause he needed to work the next day), and he was fairly angry @ having to stay late to drive his ma back home. so my ma volunteered to take her home, and he take us + my dad home early.



he said this in the car: "我唔明舅父lum mut ye [i don't understand what uncle is thinking]...he's a very intelligent man. how can he dig himself such a big hole?"



the time he went back to china: he was led away from the taxi area to get back to toi san (the countryside where my grandparents are from) b/c he met this guy that was also going the same route, and offered to give him a ride. so he was led away into a parking lot. where there are no people. then he was tricked of his money b/c the guy had this 'valuable' turtle that was worth lots of money, and he offered it to him at a 'very low' price of a couple thousand. he fell for it.



when he went to a 海味铺 (seafood specialty store: abalone, gensing, black mushrooms--dried goods), he saw that the abalone was very 'cheap': only ___RMB!!** which was a lot cheaper then those chain stores where the stores are bright, they do clean business, and the stuff is more expensive. so he bought them. they needed to be cut up. so it was. when it came time to pay, it was 10x more!!!

**rememer: there was no unit attached to the price: the jars have small signs in which the price per ___ is labeled. it is most commonly per kilogram (斤), but the trick is this: it was labeled per lerng (兩), which is 1/10 of a kilogram.
so you would think that the abalone was, for example, say, $300/kilogram. when you ring it up, it would be $3,000! and b/c the store guy already cut it up and can not sell it to anyone else, you HAVE TO PAY. scam.

gum guo's visit to china w/ winn: they went to a secluded attraction w/ caves, and they rode a public bus on the roads. but to get all the way in, you have to take a taxi. it was only $1 to get in! so of course they did. but to get out, the only way was to take a bus, which was $100!!! and it was already nightfall, so you either take the bus, or you walk through the forest.

how my dad was almost scammed: one time, he went to sum tsunn (a popular countryside attraction close by hong kong) w/ a couple of his friends. they lost some luggage at the airport cause he thought he was getting it, then somebody else thought some other person would get it, then it was lost cause no one actually got it.
exchanging currancy: RMB & the HKDollar are different; so they had to exchange their money. and people who did it on the streets had higher exchange rates. (for example, 1 HKDollar=8RMB @ the currency exchange. BUT, on the streets, it is 1HKDollar=10RMB, and lots of people did this, and fake money was not yet a big issue back then)

so he got it done on the streets. he had to exchange $500HKD for $5000RMB (example), and they guy shorted him $10 b/c it was so many ten dollar bills and counting for so long. (the highest dollar bill was $10 back then--there were no $20 or $50 dollar bills) so he told him that. the guy re-counted, and was like, "yea! i did shortent you $10!"
so he reached into his pocket, and put another $10 bill on top. "here!" but then, my dad noticed that the thick pile of money actually got thinner! so he wanted to re-count it again. but the guy was like, "no! you can not count it again! i already let you count it once!" but my dad was like,"i have 3 buddies waiting for me downstairs, nei sun m sun ngo dup nei a luh? (you think we won't beat you up?) so you either let me count it again, or give me back all my money."

i actually don't know what happened in the end. but the point was that he didn't fall for it. he probably lied. he said he's never been tricked before.

my grandma: back in toi san, it's the country side. the toilets are not european styled (meaning they are similar to a hole in the ground), and the napkins @ the tables were toilet paper. (my uncle dan hated that). the mosquitoes out numbered the human population.

one day, she lost $300 from her wallet. but then, a little afterwards, after they went to a fourtune teller, who knew she had lost money, but will get it back, she found a wad of $300 on the floor.

so. one day, they were eating dim sum, and some one just snatched her purse. right off the chair. and the bag's handle was around the back of the chair too! (so you would have to lift the bag up off the back of the chair)

over here in the US. working in restaurants, all of us have at one time handled fake money.

keni's ma: one time, they recieved a big order that was a couple hundred dollars. the guy paid her in $50 dollar bills which she later found out were all fake.

my ma: we as a restaurant have never had people give us fake money (we take larger bills to the back to inspect and to get more change).

maggie's ma or keni's ma/ keni's ma's friend: they came into a casino, not knowing that what she had were fake bills and they got arrested.