I work at a touristy place in a market in Florence. We offer a lot of tourist guides in several languages for all visitors to the market for just a few Euro. A couple speaking Spanish walk up and pick up the Portuguese guide.

Me: *In Spanish.* “Excuse me, that’s not the Spanish guide.”

Tourist: *Annoyed.* “I can read the cover so it’s the Spanish one!”

Before I can explain he throws a couple of Euro coins at me and wanders off. About half an hour later they’re back, both with a ಠ_ಠ look on their faces.

Tourist: “You ripped us off! You sold us a fake Spanish guide!”

Me: “That guide is in Portuguese.”

He looks at it more carefully and sees the Portugal/Brazilian flag represented in the corner of the flag.

Tourist: “Then give me the real one! Stupid Italians can’t write Spanish properly!”

He snatches the Spanish guide this time, still complaining that Portuguese is some form of Italian-Spanish. 

Related:
Totally Estúpido! Part 33
Totally Estúpido! Part 32
Totally Estúpido! Part 31
Totally Estúpido! Part 30
Totally Estúpido! Part 29

I was a horticulture student on a botanical tour of Europe in 1979. I was at a flower market in Munich and saw a plant I didn’t recognize. The lady working at the booth didn’t speak English; I didn’t know any German.

I saw a plant I did know, so I touched the leaf and said the Latin name for it. She nodded and smiled. I named another plant I knew. Her smile got bigger.

I pointed at the unknown plant and looked at her with an expression that I hope said, “Your turn.” She told me the Latin name.

We didn’t speak each other’s languages, but we could communicate in a language that has been dead for over a thousand years. Cool.

This story is part of our Highest-Voted-Inspirational-Stories-Of-2025 roundup!

Read the next story!

Read the roundup!

I’ve set up a stall in a flea market with a friend, mainly selling old video games that we don’t want anymore. A woman approaches with a couple of kids.

Customer: “How much is the PlayStation 3?”

She gestures vaguely at the table. I have a few PS and PS2 games scattered about, so I assume she is referring to those.

Me: “Oh, the games are [price] each, but those are for PS2. I assume they can run in a—”

Customer: “Not the games! The machine!”

She gestures again, moving her hand over the entire table in an even more vague manner.

Me: “The… machine? What machine?”

Customer: “Are you stupid?! The PlayStation 3 you have right there!”

She finally points at what she is talking about: a big and colourful box on one side of the table, somehow outside of the range she covered with her first two gestures.

Me: “Oh, that? That’s not a PlayStation.”

Customer: “You think I’m stupid?! I know what that is! I was going to give you $100 for it, but now I’ll just pay $80!”

Me: “Ma’am, that is a DDR mat. Y’know, for dancing?”

She just stares at me blankly. My friend and I take the mat out and unfold it on the ground to show her that it is not, in fact, a PlayStation. She stares at it, then at us, then back at the mat.

Finally, her kids seem to have had enough embarrassment for a day and drag her away. Even as they leave, she is still staring at the DDR mat with a perplexed look. 

What amazes me the most is not that she apparently had never seen a mat before, or that she confused it with a PS3. It’s that she somehow expected to find one in a flea market by $100… which was about ten USA dollars back then.

And the console had barely been announced.

I’m selling art by local artists, and one of my larger pieces is an interpretation of Adam and Eve. I grew up in a very strict religious household and was able to escape that particular religion. As a result, my Bible knowledge is quite strong. Also, as the owner of my own market stall, I can be honest with customers who irk me.

Customer: “Why are they Black?” 

Me: “Because the artist chose to interpret them as Black. But to be fair, it’s a pretty fair interpretation considering where most events in the Bible took place.”

Customer: “But that’s blasphemous! Adam and Eve weren’t Black!” 

Me: “What were they, then?”

Customer: “Well…”

Me: “You think they were white?”

Customer: “All the pictures I’ve seen of them they’re white!”

Me: “You mean paintings? As in artist interpretations? Like this one?”

Customer: “But they weren’t African!”

Me: “They weren’t European, either. And it’s the general consensus that all of humanity originated from Africa anyway.” 

Customer: “You mean that evolution bulls***? No. I’m gonna stick with the Holy Bible on this.”

Me: “So, you’re going with the Garden of Eden? Which was located near the Tigris and Euphrates River? So, the Middle East? Yes, lots of white people from there.”

Customer: “I thought you were trying to sell this painting?” 

Me: “Were you ever going to buy it?”

Customer: “Adam and Eve weren’t Black!” *Storms off* 

The painting was eventually sold to a church for their Sunday school! I hope that the next generation of Christians does better.

I overheard this at a market stall as I was browsing the next stall over.

Customer: “Oh, what lovely earrings! How much?“

Stallholder: “They’re £12.“

Customer: “£12? That’s far too much. I’ll give you £6.“

Stallholder: “No, those are £12.“

Customer: *In a withering tone* “Don’t you understand how haggling works?“

Stallholder: “Wait, we’re haggling? Oh, in that case, those start at £20.“

Customer: “£20? You said £12!“

Stallholder: “£12? That’s an acceptable offer. Done!”

Related:
Can They Haggle? No Or No?, Part 5
Can They Haggle? No Or No?, Part 4
Can They Haggle? No Or No?, Part 3
Can They Haggle? No Or No?, Part 2
Can They Haggle? No Or No?

This story is part of our Editors’-Favorite-Stories-Of-2024-(so far!) roundup!

Read the next story!

Read the roundup!