Why bother with that if you feel perfectly self-entitled, judging by the comments, to be aggressive and yell crude language at people who are just trying to make a living in a manner or cultural context you don't understand or want to have anything to do with?
I like where your thoughts are coming from. I also have a solid guess you've never experienced this enviroment. Imagine being swamped by a group of people that physically get in your way, shifting to stay in-front of you when you try and go around. You simply can't progress from people trying to get you to buy goods you really have no interest in. Your stuck for minutes at a time multiple times a block. Now imagine this happening EVERY day when you try and walk down the street outside your home/hotel.
Yes first couple of hours, maybe days, you will be polite and expect these values returned. But they wont be. Anything less than aggressive behavior is taken as sales potential. Quickly you will realise should you want to be able to walk down the street you must get rude fast to anyone that crosses the line. Some previous advice in this thread is good, avoid eye contact. If they respect that they can call out etc. As soon as they physically get in your space you need to let them know this is not acceptable. Polite simply doesn't work. Its not being self entitled. Its the cultural necessity of some countries.
> I also have a solid guess you've never experienced this environment.
Maybe there are worse environments that I have never experienced and where outright rudeness is the only answer, but as described I have experienced it and never had to resort to anything more than:
- keep moving at a firm pace
- avoid eye contact
- hold a hand up, palm outward, preemptively, as you move (I'm not a tourist, I work here)
- as a last resort, speak loudly and sternly in a local language without addressing anyone directly, "No, thank you," or "No!"
It's still rude, but I feel a far cry from defaulting to yelling obscenities and getting agitated.
As I said, maybe there are environments where that doesn't work, or maybe it just works for me. But defaulting to rudeness without even attempting to figure out the appropriate measure of sternness in a place where you are, for most intents and purposes, a guest, is poor form.
Yes, it is annoying, but nevertheless, you are in their country, and they are trying to make an honest (not counting the overpricing of their goods) living. If someone can't handle that, maybe they shouldn't have gone there.
I didn't mean stretch your arm out for pushing, just hold your hand up to create some extra space in front of your face and signal you have no interest and you're in a hurry. It also helps avoiding eye contact.
> to be aggressive and yell crude language at people who are just trying to make a living in a manner or cultural context you don't understand or want to have anything to do with?
You're making a cultural assumption that the locals aren't rude to the hawkers. This is incorrect. The hawkers in fact are taking advantage of your unusual, culturally incorrect assumption that street hawkers shouldn't be treated aggressively, which is why tourists are their prefered market. How do you know the locals aren't quite rude or abrupt with the hawkers as well?
