ABSTRACT
On a sunny July day I found myself outside Slovakia’s main airport waiting for a taxi that would take me to my hotel in Bratislava. A courteous taxi driver approached my travel companion and me, gave us a big smile that revealed a few missing teeth, dropped a low bow and pointed to his car. Luck, then, was with us: someone was available for the much-needed lift despite the traffic. Naturally, we smiled back and using the essential paralinguistic signs, we asked for the price. The man however, had already extended his hand to me. How civilized, I thought: here is a stranger who does not forget his manners and treats tourists like human beings. The aura of the whole performance had worked its charm on me, and smiling back I gave him a firm handshake. It was only when his fellow taxi drivers laughed and he grabbed my rucksack to put in the taxi that I realized my misreading: he only wanted to get on with work and move on to the next customer. He had certainly recognized a romantic fool in me: upon arrival at our destination, he asked for what we found out to be double the amount of money for the designated distance.
