1 post tagged “counterfeiting”
Today I finally overcame my laziness and prepared a list of the main possessions in my apartment for shipping purposes. The packers need to know what goes into which shipment (luggage, air shipment or sea shipment), the insurers want to know the replacement cost of everything shipped and customs want to know whether I bought things within 6 months and their value. It took 2 hours and I'm glad it's done.
I also replied to the email from the woman at the removal company who had written to me saying that she was 'excited' that they had been awarded the contract. But could she really have been that excited? It is more likely that she has been doing the job for a while and is sick to death of it and hates all her customers with a vengeance. Even if she liked her job and was pleased to encounter each new customer, wouldn't it be a bit of a stretch to describe it as excitement? But I thought that her statement, while implausible, gave a very positive message of an intention to provide a good service, so I guess I was pleased even though I also groaned a bit inside at the corporate insincerity of it. I replied to her saying that I was 'equally excited' that they had been awarded the contract (it wasn't my decision who won the contract). This was what I call a 'Clinton Truth'. It conveyed a message that was false (I couldn't care less which of the two excellent removals companies who quoted were awarded the contract) but on a strict interpretation of the wording it was true, on the assumption that she isn't excited either (so we are equally excited). But according to my personal moral code, a Clinton Truth is still a lie, so I lied. And I did it purely for my own personal amusement, so it is rather shameful.
I went for a stroll to South Street Seaport later in the day which is something I've done hundreds of times before, and as usual I passed the long line of sellers of dodgy Prada bags and Rolex watches who are almost always there. But I only noticed for the first time today that they were all French-speaking Africans. This struck me as odd given that crime in New York is not exclusive to blacks or Francophones. But when it comes to these counterfeit items at South Street Seaport they appear to be the only show in town. This ties in with an article in The Economist ('Europe's Senegal Connection', Dec 19th 2006 - viewable only to those with on-line subscriptions I think). It said that there is an organisation of Senegalese Sufi Muslims called the Mourides who do this throughout Europe. So perhaps the New York contingent are part of the same group.
