Today's Gleaner

[MissBlue]

no it is not stereotyping - we are talking here specifically about the salespeople at dunn's river falls craft area -- that's who i'm talking about.

please to not infer anything more into the statement other than a comment about the specific ones that are being discussed here.

[OUV11112]

no it is not stereotyping - we are talking here specifically about the salespeople at dunn's river falls craft area -- that's who i'm talking about

I was not inferring anything other that to make an observation on your original comment about ``salesman will always be salesman``. Regardless of whether it applies to all salesmen or just the ones at Dunn`s River Falls it is still stereotyping.

Before we made our first trip to Jamaica we had inadvertently ``stereotyped`` it as unsafe place that you could not leave the resort. This is still a perception that is is shared by many people. Now I know that there are parts of Jamaica, and times in Jamaica, where you might not be safe however, we never once felt unsafe or unwelcome in our travels. Granted they were limited to a resort and a few outings in the Negril area, we would not hesitate to venture further in the future.

Before our trip I read many posts and threads about the beach salespeople and the constant harassment of the tourists. To someone that has never visited it could turn them off from visiting this wonderful country. I actually enjoyed interacting with the various vendors on the beach and after the first day they were very in-tuned into what you would buy from them, and what you would not. I always looked forward to `Cigarettes, Cigars, Sunshades.. It`s going to get Hot, Hot' Hot, Hot, Hot, Hot Hotttttttt`. ``You want to buy some smoke and I would reply.. No but I have some great BC Okanagen Valley bud for sale, want some. And although it is against my nature, I could also just ignore them if they were too bothersome.

I do feel for people that get harassed and intimidated into buying things that they do not want and your point about being firm in saying No was a good one. I also learned from this forum to do this and also to not say that you will be back, need to get some money, will do it later in the week .... If you are not interested just say so.