Being a rube

Sept 12^th, 2012

Most of our experience so far has been interesting and fun. Or at worst, mildly annoying. But I have had several experiences that cross the line into something worse. 

Yesterday evening I picked Bill up after work and we drove down to the Boston Public Library in Copley Square for an interesting talk (see next blog for details).  We could have taken the T but given the time constraints of when Bill was done with work and when the talk started, we decided to drive.  We expected to pay for parking, of course, since that is the nature of the time vs money tradeoff.

As we approached the Library, we saw a sign for parking that said prominently – Parking, $5.  That sounded really good to us and we dove underground.  As we passed the sign more closely, Bill noticed that in small print it said ‘per half hour’.  Misleading and annoying.  But we didn’t want to be late and figured that it was the type of area where they could get away with high prices for parking.  As we walked out of the garage, I looked at the sign more closely.  In even smaller print, it said that after 6 p.m., parking was $12 for the entire night. 

After the talk was over, we returned to the parking garage where they charged us $20 for parking from  6 – 8 p.m.  I challenged them with the info about the $12 nighttime fee and they refunded $8.

I resent being treated like a rube.  In particular, I resent needing to be on guard against being treated like a rube.

Perhaps it is inherent in living a dense urban environment.  The likelihood of repeated interactions is lower so people are more likely to try to cheat you.  At least that’s one of the patterns of behavior suggested by a book I read recently: ‘The Evolution of Cooperation’.

In a small town, all businesses assume you are a likely repeat customer and they treat you accordingly.  Similarly, everyone you meet you are likely to interact with again (or with their children, siblings, parents, cousins, friends).  So there is a strong incentive to be fair and honest to avoid developing a bad reputation.  None of those things is inherently true in a city.

Most people have been very friendly and most businesses have been fair but this experience wasn’t the first time that we have been taken advantage of.  We can, of course, always be on the lookout for that kind of behavior.  But I really would rather trust that people and organizations are fundamentally fair and take these type of transactions at face value.

Not a huge deal, of course.  Just one aspect of living in a city.