Episode Summary
In this episode, Johnny Mueller discusses a Gallup poll revealing that only 13% of adult workers in the US and Europe love or like their jobs, with 90% of software developers falling into this category. He highlights the contrast with the majority of workers, who are described as 'sleep workers' who feel detached from their jobs. Johnny also touches on the issue of workplace fear, particularly towards bosses, and comments on gender dynamics in the workplace. He connects these findings to Latin America, suggesting that the job satisfaction levels there are different from the first world, with workers resembling the previous generation who valued job stability over job satisfaction.
Johnny then discusses the concept of a gold watch, which is no longer common due to the rarity of staying in a job for 30 years. He contrasts this with self-employed individuals who might earn such recognition. He then shifts to discussing a Gallup poll that revealed job satisfaction is more about having control and autonomy at work rather than pay or environment. He explains how this shift in worker attitudes led to the introduction of suggestion boxes and company psychologists in the 1960s and 1970s. Johnny highlights the difference in job satisfaction between first-world and Latin American workers, noting that many Latin Americans value job security and steady pay over job satisfaction. He concludes by contrasting the attitudes of American workers with those in Latin America, where minimum wage jobs are often seen as respectable and desirable.
In the next segment, Johnny discusses the differing attitudes toward certain jobs in the United States and Latin America. In the U.S., having a college degree and working in a job like Starbucks or McDonald's is seen as a temporary step, while in Latin America, where fewer people have college degrees, such jobs are more common and seen as a practical way to earn a steady income. He also explains the unique payroll systems in Latin America, such as the quinceana (every 15 days) and extra months of pay in December and July, which can be confusing for expats and gringos. Johnny notes that many Latin American workers prefer to be paid in cash rather than being on the books due to the deductions and complexities of the system.
Johnny then discusses the legal and practical implications of employing workers off the books in Latin America. He highlights the administrative burden and potential legal risks of not officially registering employees, especially in areas with a high concentration of expats. He contrasts this with the more lenient laws regarding household help, such as maids and gardeners, and notes that many expats and government workers still use off-the-books help. Johnny also touches on the enforcement of labor laws in areas with a significant expat population, where workers are more likely to hold employers accountable for violations. He then shifts focus to a new article about expat safety and security, mentioning a doctoral thesis from the University of Edinburgh that examines expat experiences in Ecuador, Costa Rica, Panama, and Spain, noting that expats in cities are less vulnerable to crime than those in rural areas.
In the next segment, Johnny discusses a study by Fowler on crimes against expats in Ecuador and other Latin American countries, highlighting that many crimes go unreported. The reasons for underreporting include fear of retaliation, the victims' own illegal activities, and the involvement of other expats in crimes. Johnny shares a personal anecdote from his time in Costa Rica, where he witnessed expats scamming other expats, including a case involving the resale of the same property multiple times.
In the final segment, Johnny recounts a story about a con artist in Costa Rica who scammed expats by offering land options for $5,000. The con man would take expats to look at properties that were never actually for sale, and the victims would often not realize they were scammed until months later. Johnny also mentions that the con man was a regular at a bar owned by a Canadian expat who had also been scammed by his girlfriend. Johnny reflects on how expats, especially those who are new and don't speak Spanish, are vulnerable to such scams and how the cycle of exploitation continues with gringos ripping off other gringos.
In the final segment, Johnny discusses a study highlighting the risks expats face in small communities due to their visibility and lack of integration with locals. The study points out that expats often live in gated communities, making them targets for crime. Additionally, expats who don't learn Spanish or mingle with locals are more vulnerable. While the study notes that petty crimes are more common in cities, it also highlights that expats in rural areas may experience fewer serious crimes. Johnny emphasizes the importance of learning Spanish and building relationships with locals to avoid being seen as outsiders.
Topics
Job satisfaction, Workplace dynamics, Gender in the workplace, Latin American work culture, Gold watch, Job satisfaction, Workplace control, Latin American labor, Minimum wage jobs, Job attitudes in the U.S. vs. Latin America, Payroll systems in Latin America, Expats and legal employment issues
Chapters
00:00:00 Opening 00:00:25 The 13% of Workers Who Love Their Jobs 00:01:03 The Sad Part: The Majority of Workers Are Sleep Workers 00:01:52 Fear of Bosses and the Impact on Job Satisfaction 00:03:25 Connecting Job Satisfaction to Latin America 00:04:59 The Gold Watch and Job Tenure in Modern Times 00:05:29 Job Satisfaction and Control Over Work 00:06:30 The Evolution of Job Satisfaction in the 1960s and 1970s 00:07:14 Job Satisfaction and Cultural Differences in Latin America 00:08:40 The Value of Job Security and Steady Pay 00:09:37 Education and Job Perception in the U.S. and Latin America 00:10:03 The Impact of Education on Job Attitudes and Expectations 00:10:40 Payroll Systems in Latin America: Quinceana and Extra Months 00:11:56 Legal and Practical Considerations for Hiring Latino Workers 00:13:12 Legal Obligations for Employers 00:13:30 Expats and Legal Risks 00:14:19 Government Hypocrisy and Labor Laws 00:15:47 Expat Safety and Security 00:17:40 Why Expats Don't Report Crimes Against Them 00:18:29 Is Stealing from a Thief a Crime? 00:19:03 Johnny's Expat Experiences in Costa Rica 00:20:44 The Con Artist's Scheme Begins 00:20:53 The Cost of an Option 00:21:22 The Con Man's Deception 00:21:40 Costa Rica as a Target for Expats 00:22:03 The Financial Impact of a Scam 00:22:15 The Emotional and Practical Consequences 00:22:56 The Chinese Saying on Scams 00:23:08 The Owner's Perspective on the Con Man 00:24:16 Expats Vulnerable to Crime in Small Communities 00:24:45 Study Highlights Expats' Lack of Integration 00:25:09 Rural Expats Face Fewer Petty Crimes
Transcript
Automatically transcribed from the original recording; names and wording may contain errors.
[00:00] Hey, how about this for some bad news? According to a Gallup poll that just came out covering 20,000 working adults in the US and Europe, turns out in the poll, 13% of adult workers like or love their jobs. In fact, they say when they're at work, it doesn't even feel like a job. And as you might have guessed, a good percentage of those people are nerds working from their houses without an office to go to. In other words, they found their money-making niche on the internet. All right, so 13% like or love their jobs. Oddly enough, something like 90% of software developers love their jobs. Hey, to each his own, but to me, that's got to be one of the most boring jobs in the world. But really, thank God or Buddha or somebody for software developers, huh? We wouldn't have the internet without them. Oh, and as a corollary to that, 90% of that 13%, those people who love their jobs so
[00:50] much they don't consider it work. Well, they indicated in the poll that they were their own boss or had their own companies. Makes sense? In other words, they had no boss above them to lord over them, give them orders or give them grief. However, the real sad part of this poll is they found out 63% of adult workers are what they call sleep workers. That is, they kind of zombie out, do their jobs like good little robots. And when they're done for the day, they can barely remember what transpired. Sleep workers, great term, huh? It's sort of like when you do a long distance drive and you end up at your destination and you say to yourself, wait a minute, that whole drive went down like automatic pilot. I hardly remember anything about the road. In other words, the majority of people, that's 67%.
[01:36] They don't exactly hate their jobs, but they'd much rather be somewhere else. Meanwhile, on the other end of the spectrum in that poll, you've got 27% of people, that's more than a quarter, one in four working adults, either hate or fear their job or both. Oh, and when they talk about fear, they don't mean fearing your job, they mean fearing your boss. In other words, they mostly hate their job because they hate their boss. Wait a minute, wait a minute, you mean some bosses are dicks? How's that happen? Anyway, we're talking about slightly over a quarter of all workers. These are people who actually talk about fearing their boss, he's such a jerk. Oh, did I say he? Well, in the case of my early days as a company man, yeah, when I first got out of engineering school, I actually worked for a very big company, maybe I'll tell you about
[02:23] it sometime. You'd know the name for sure, especially guys who like to work on cars. Anyway, back then, when I worked for the man, it was always a he I had as a boss. Never had a woman boss. Though I understand I saw some data on this too. Men usually don't mind working for a woman boss. It's women who more often than not don't like working for a woman boss. I wonder why that is, though I do know the more women you have in a company or in a particular department, the more it resembles a soap opera. Hey, wait a minute, Johnny, you're treading on thin ice there. That's sexist, Johnny, I just might switch to dial. Well guess what? I don't have any advertisers to please or suck up to so I can actually tell the truth. Isn't that refreshing? No fake news here. No matter how it might hurt people's feelings.
[03:10] Boo hoo. So then what do all those stats about people loving and hating their jobs have to do with Latin America? Well, it's directly related to the so-called happiness factor that seems so prevalent here in Latin America. I mean, really, how can you be happy when you hate your job or you end up zombying out at your job eight hours a day and not to mention you have to drive an hour or two just to get to that crappy soul deadening job that sucks the life and the energy out of you. Now to my mind and a lot of other people, I think, that's the true definition of hell, driving an hour or two each day for years on end to a job you hate or just zone out it because it's totally unfulfilling. Now as for Latin America, you got to wonder, are those numbers the same? Do the same 13% more or less of working Latin Americans love their jobs so
[04:01] much they don't consider going to work work? Well, you know, if you think those Gallup numbers are universal, you'd be dead wrong because the difference between the first world, that is the US and Europe and Latin America is rather stark. Turns out present day Latin American workers are much like our parents' generation. For example, for us boomers anyway, our parents were the ones that grew up in the 40s and 50s. And the general attitude was that it was a generation happy and grateful just to have a steady job. It didn't have to be interesting or mentally satisfying. It just had to be steady with the checks coming in every week and have some benefits attached like health insurance, whatever. Now, if you're old enough to remember or you heard the stories, that generation who came of age in the 40s, 50s, even the 60s, the great
[04:49] majority stayed at the very same job or at least within the same company for sometimes 30 years. Where do you think that old cliche came from? Get your 30 years and out and get a gold watch. Fact is, I don't think anybody these days gets a gold watch anymore because no one stays at a job for 30 years. That's almost unheard of. Not if you're working for the man anyway. Of course, if you've got your own company or your own little business, you may put in that 30 years, but no one but you is going to give you that gold watch. Oh, and as far as that Gallup poll goes, there was some general and socio psychological conclusions tagged onto the results of that thing. It turns out after hacking through all that data, the key job related factors that cause depression and actual physical loathing of a particular job. Surprisingly enough, it's not about the pay nor the work
[05:36] environment or even your coworkers or the management unless your boss is a real a-hole. Turns out your state of mind at work and whether you hate, like, or love your job has everything to do with whether you have some kind of control over your workplace or are you just a cog in the machine. So it's not the work itself that's depressing. It's not having any control or any say in that job you're doing eight hours a day. So if you have no voice in the decision making process, eventually it'll wear on you and you're going to get depressed. Why do you think in the sixties and seventies companies, especially big companies with a lot of factories started putting in suggestion boxes around the plant because it was right about then there. It was a shift in workers attitudes towards their jobs. That's when a certain awareness started creeping in
[06:23] and people started realizing just having a steady job and going to work every day. Didn't cut it in the job satisfaction department. In fact, in my dad's day, the term job satisfaction hadn't even been coined yet. So it was back in the sixties and seventies when big companies first started hiring so-called company shrinks who had nice little offices in the human resources department. Also a newly coined term in first world companies. That stuff's mandatory, but believe me down here in Latin America, that stuff's still mostly unheard of except with first world franchises like McDonald's, Bayer, Walmart, Nestle's and Costco. Why? Because the vast majority of workers still believe just having a job where they're assured a steady check that
[07:08] won't bounce and they get some kind of workers benefits. That seems to be enough for the vast majority of the Latino population. For the average working class Latino, that's life. And why when adult Latin Americans are asked about whether they like their jobs or not, they almost never tell you they hate their work or their job sucks. Even if it's a job, us gringles and expats would never consider doing because it might be, you know, quote, beneath us. Oh, and how about this for a grim statistic? According to a January 2019 report from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, that is provided you trust US government statistics. Anyway, it says the average American changes jobs an average of 12 times during his or her career or
[07:55] lifetime work experience. That means the average American these days changes jobs every three to five years. Now, the fact is here in Latin America, there are lots and lots of Maquilas, that means factories. They don't pay much, the legal minimum wage plus some benefits, which don't amount to much either. The fact is here in Latin America, there are virtually millions of people working in those factories, people up north by you like to call sweatshops. It's a 44 hour work week and the workers make on the average of three to $400 a month. But still, every day you drive by those factories and you see a line of 20 or 30 people applying for those so called sweatshop jobs. Even at three or 400 bucks a month, there's never a shortage of laborers. Sure, it's about the money, but more than that,
[08:40] it's about the steady paycheck and the job security. So let me ask you this, how many people do you know up in the states making minimum wage actually like their jobs? Chances are if you know anyone that's over 20 working such a job, they're embarrassed to admit that they work at Starbucks, Wendy's, or Taco Bell. That, as opposed to here in Latin America, or the average person working for minimum wage at a company that pays out regularly, they're happy to state that fact. No embarrassment at all. Believe it or not, and you probably won't believe this, but though they may not be considered prestige jobs, they're considered very desirable and respectable jobs. And not, as we like to say in the states, the low rung on the ladder, the so called entry level job you take as a teenager, because you absolutely need the money, and you know,
[09:27] even though you're never gonna get a date with the homecoming queen or king, it's temporary. It's called paying your dues. One of the reasons for that attitude up in the states is, of course, and you heard me mention this in last week's show, that fully 40% of all adult males in the states by you have a bachelor's degree or better. And to end up working at Starbucks or Mickey D's with a college degree, and here, you are gonna conquer the world? What a mental letdown and a kick in the ego. Meanwhile, here in Latin America, where you've got only two to three percent of adults with a bachelor's degree or better. Well, that makes all the difference in the world. In attitude, goal setting, and what you'll settle for anyway. Because you know, the other 97 or 98% without degrees
[10:13] absolutely know their job prospects are limited, but they can get a job, and they're ready and able to work hard at it too. Most are just hoping to work at a factory or in a fast food franchise, because then they can count on a steady check. And even if it's a couple hundred bucks a month, if they're working for a big company that allows them to get credit, they'll qualify for time payments at the local stores. So they can buy furniture, appliances, et cetera, on time. Oh, and you know, here in Latin America, people get paid every 15 days, every quinceana, they call it. Now, if you look at the word quinceana, it's got the word quinceana, and quincea means 15. By the way, that quinceana thing always confuses gringos and expats, because most gringos up north get paid weekly. At least that's what it was like when I lived in Chicago way back when.
[11:00] But what's even more confusing is the fact that Latin Americans get two extra months pay a year, that is, if they're working on the books. They buy log in an extra month's pay in December, and that's usually spent on Christmas stuff before they actually cash their checks. You know the drill, we've all been there. It's like gringos and tax refund checks. So anyway, by law in most Latin countries, around December, they get an extra month, and around July, they get an extra month too. In some Latin countries, the extra month at Christmas is called alginaldo. There's a tongue twister for ya, alginaldo. Sounds like a fatal disease. Poor kid's in the hospital, he's got alginaldo. Anyway, the extra salary in July is called bono catorce.
[11:46] The whole thing is very confusing to fresh green gringos and expats, especially gringos and expats who start a business and hire Latino help legally on the books that is registered with the government and the decrepit social security and national healthcare system. Which is why so many gringos and expats are advised by their lawyers and accountants to hire their Latino workforce as independent contractors if they can. By the way, most of the time when you're hiring a guard, maid, or maintenance guy, when you're having that little discussion about what he or she is gonna get paid, you can put the matter to them two different ways and let them make the choice. Though it seems the farther you are off the gringo tourist trail, the more they're likely to ask to remain off the books. They'll say, just give me the cash.
[12:31] Because they know when they're on the books, there'll be some deductions for the government every month, just like what happens to you up in the States. Of course, compared to the US, the percentages are really small. But still, when you're only making three or 400 bucks a month, a four, five, six, or seven percent deduction means a whole hell of a lot. All right, full disclosure now. I've been down here something like 30 years now, right? I've had numerous gardeners, maintenance men, and cleaning ladies. And I've never had one on the books yet. They almost always wanna get paid in cash. Of course, technically, that's against the law. They're all supposed to be on the books and they know it. But believe me, it really makes life a lot easier when you pay them in cash, for both of you. Otherwise, your lawyer, accountant, or his accountant will get involved because you'll have to submit quarterly
[13:18] and monthly statements to the government, withhold the deductions, turn them over to the government, and on and on. Almost all gringles in excess would rather skip that. And the workers would rather skip, given that four, five, six, or seven percent to the government every month, since most of them know they get absolutely nothing in return. Hmm, sound familiar? However, if you have a regular business, even a little storefront, and you hire two or three people, you'll wanna have your workers on the books. That is, unless they're working part-time. Then, you could skip it and it's totally legal as long as they're working part-time. However, if you have more than one full-time employee, I highly recommend you put them on the books so you don't run afoul of the law. The thing is, if you have an employee off the books who gets pissed off at you, they can put the finger on you to the government
[14:03] and cause you some real trouble. However, when it comes to your household help, like maintenance, gardeners, maids, et cetera, et cetera, the laws are extremely lax. Not to mention practically everyone who has a decent job in government has a maid or a gardener off the books too, if you know what I mean. Yep, governments everywhere are full of slugs and hypocrites. Then again, that's part of the job description, isn't it? All right, little disclaimer here, I'm not advising you do anything illegal. I'm just giving out the information and letting you know what most gringos and expats do. You do tune in to find out that stuff, right? Meanwhile, when you're smack dab on the gringo tourist trail like Costa Rica, Panama, et cetera, almost all the help will demand to be on the books. Because you see, when gringos are everywhere, workers know that if you commit any little infraction,
[14:51] they can really stick it to you. In other words, in gringoized areas, they really enforce the labor laws. For example, if you fire someone for stealing or for not showing up, drinking or sleeping on the job, whatever, you have to give them severance pay and vacation time. And in some cases, you even have to kick in to their retirement fund. That's right, even if you fire them because they stole from you. Believe me, in countries where gringos have flooded in like Costa Rica, they've enacted some pretty tough labor laws. Hey, I'm not saying that's a bad thing. Only workers aren't stupid and many of them have figured out the hacks. Hmm, that sounds familiar too, huh? All right, now let's switch gears a little bit and talk about gringo security and safety. I get lots of emails about this and I talk about it sometimes. Now, I just ran across an article
[15:37] came out a couple of days ago that gives us a pretty good overview of what it's like to live like a gringo or expat here in Latin America, both on off the gringo tourist trail and out in the county in the boonies and in the cities. It's all about safety and security. Now, this article comes from a brand new doctoral thesis paper from the University of Edinburgh. The author is Kelly Fowler. And here's what she found, though she may be a he, I don't know, talking about Scotland now. Anyway, this research about gringos and their safety in Latin America focuses on expats living in Ecuador, Costa Rica, Panama, and Spain. Now, I hope you notice too, all those places are on the gringo tourist trail. So as we go through this, I'll be making some of my own observations about gringos and expats living off the trail.
[16:23] So anyway, the article starts off by saying, quote, what we've found in our study is that gringos and expats living in cities among the local population are far less conspicuous than those living in the countryside and thus are less vulnerable to crimes. This is true in Ecuador as well as in other major expat destinations, talking about on the gringo tourist trail. The study shows it says city expats suffer far fewer cases of crime, such as home invasions, kidnappings, and physical attacks, including household break-ins. Then it says, while in Ecuador, Fowler's work looked at crime against expats in Cuenca, Vilcabamba, Kodakachi, and Quito, as well as several small coastal communities. Then it says, she was assisted in the project, oh, so it is a she, in the project
[17:11] by a former criminology professor and part-time Cuenca expat, Martin Simmons, who interviewed more than 100 Ecuador expats, most of them from the US, Canada, and the UK. One thing we found, it says, that a surprising number of crimes against expats go unreported. And this is true in Ecuador as well as other Latin countries. Oddly enough, her investigation shows that only half of the serious crimes against foreigners were reported, with victims telling us, she says, they don't report crimes because the perpetrators tell them they will take revenge if they do. And it says, some of the expats that they interviewed said they didn't want to attract attention to themselves by reporting the crimes. However, and this is key, she says, in some cases, the expat victims themselves were involved in illegal activities
[17:57] or were in violation of their visas, et cetera. So naturally, if they're involved in illegal activities or are in the country, quote, illegally, because they're past their visa date, they're not gonna run to the police if their iPhone gets stolen. Then she says, oddly enough, sometimes the bad guys are aware of this, that the gringos have overstayed their visas or doing something illegal themselves. They know those victims will not make the report. It's like crimes committed between drug dealers, she says, which begs the question, meet Johnny here again, by the way, is stealing from a thief a crime? You know, when I was young, I used to think the world was black and white, but it sure ain't. Now let this sink in. She says, one of the more surprising findings of the whole study is the involvement
[18:43] of other expats in crimes. She says, we went into this project thinking that almost all the perpetrators of crime would be locals, but found that other foreigners were often involved. In fact, she says, in most of the crimes that were not reported, victims often suspected other gringos and expats were part of the plot. All right, meet Johnny again, piping in. You long time listeners have heard me tell stories about when I used to live on the tourist trail in Costa Rica, I lived there two and a half years. I witnessed many such cases of gringos ripping off other gringos, and that happened in the early 90s. In fact, if you go way back in the expat files, you remember me telling a story about a guy I watched resell the same piece of beach front property in Costa Rica at least six times.
[19:29] Now, I know, I know, you're wondering, how was I able to see that? And why didn't I blow the whistle on the guy? Well, briefly, it was like this. My gringo music party rock band used to play at a place called The Beetle Bar, right off the Central Park in San Jose, Costa Rica. We were sort of the house band there for a year or so. That was a bar that was very popular with gringos. I mean, it was called The Beetle Bar, and it was beetle themed. And it seemed every gringo that landed in the country eventually ended in that place for a drink or two or to party or watch the band, whatever. So it was loaded with gringos. And when I was sitting at the bandstand, I noticed there was a gringo with a big ring binder with lots of photos in it. He must have had 50 photos of 50 different properties, and nearly every one of them had a little sticker on it that said sold, or pending a deposit or something like that, always in English. So he'd sit at the bar and slowly thumb through it.
[20:17] Naturally, newly arrived green gringos would sit next to them and say, hey, are you a realtor or something? Whatcha got there? He said, yeah, this folder's full of choice properties, but they're all sold. And then the gringo's curiosity would be piqued and he'd want to see. He'd look through the folder and all the sold stickers on them and all the ridiculously low prices they were going for. And the gringo marks eyes would bug out with excitement. He'd say, yep, they're all sold except, wait a minute, I've got two that I haven't got the deposits on yet. And to make a long story short, he'd end up not selling but optioning the same pieces of land over and over again for around 5,000 bucks. In other words, you could buy an option for a year for 5,000 bucks. In other words, you had to come up with the money within a year, that was his spiel. And the next day he'd be there again to meet the guy,
[21:05] all the paperwork and order. The idiot green gringo would write a check or do a wire transfer for five grand and he just bought himself an option on a beautiful piece of beachfront property that's been sold four or five times. Actually not sold, optioned. You know the difference, right? Turns out everything was phony about this guy except the property. He'd take you out there to look at it but they weren't his to sell. However, he was a great con man and could spot a fresh green gringo with great expectations and rose-colored glasses a mile away. Because you know, for ages, Costa Rica has always been the first stop for gringos and expats in Latin America except for Mexico. Why? Because they heard it's safe and it's got no army. And yet never read anything in the papers about narcos or gangs or anything like that. But believe me, they've got plenty of petty crime
[21:50] and it's almost always against clueless gringos who come down and see the beauty of the place and are hit with that tropical breeze as soon as they get off the airplane. They're thinking, I'd like to get a piece of this but it's probably way too expensive. But a $5,000 option on a piece of land they're selling for let's say 25 grand. Now that's manageable. At least that's what's going through their minds. Let's put it this way. If you lose five grand in a scam like that, it's not gonna put a dent in your lifestyle. It'll piss you off and make you feel like a jerk and chances are you're not gonna go to the cops because you don't speak Spanish and they're just gonna laugh at you. Anyway, you won't know you've been ripped off for months and months once you're back in Cleveland or Chicago and you try to email what's up or Skype with the guy and he doesn't return your messages. So what are you gonna do five months later
[22:36] when you finally figure out you've been had? You gonna fly back down to Costa Rica and get a lawyer and try to take it to court? You kidding? You won't get to court for two years and that's bound to involve many trips back and forth and many postponements and cancellations. By the time you're done, it'll cost you five grand a couple of times guaranteed. In other words, as the Chinese say, once you realize you're in a hole, quit digging. And as for me, seeing that guy come in every week sitting in the same place, roping in clueless gringo after clueless gringo, I finally said to the owner, a Canadian guy, and that's another story. He didn't really own that bar because he got scammed too. In his case, by his Costa Rican girlfriend who lied to him about the paperwork on that bar. Anyway, I said, man, how could you let that happen? You see what's going on. And he said, Johnny, I've warned that guy,
[23:23] even threw him out a couple of times. But you know what? In the end, I thought, why not let him stick around? Someday, one of those pissed off gringos gonna walk in here looking for him and we'll all get to see him get his ass whooped from here to Panama. So payback might be coming, maybe. And he's right. If I was a gringo who'd got scammed for five grand and I came back down again, I'd certainly go back to the scene of the crime. Only I'd probably have someone with me in a roll of quarters in my hand. After all, I am from Chicago. But that's the perfect example of gringos ripping off gringos. Why? Because fresh green gringos are very susceptible. Besides, they don't speak Spanish. And who are these green gringos attracted to? Who do they gather around? Why, of course, gringos at the gringo expat bars. And you know, every expat gringo bar
[24:09] has a con man or two hanging around. So there's another good reason to learn your Spanish, huh? All right, so then the article goes on to say, expats in small communities often make themselves vulnerable to crime for two major reasons. First, they are highly visible, which means they make themselves targets. It's hard to miss the big look at me gringo houses perched on the best spot in a small town. And many of the locals find luxury gated, guarded communities. Kind of offensive because they can't afford to live there. You see, if you live in a community of mostly poor people and advertise your wealth as gringos tend to do, you'll make yourself a target. And secondly, the author of the study says, we found that many expats in small communities make little effort to get to know the locals. They prefer to be segregated with other gringos and expats.
[24:56] And many of them told us they have no intention of learning Spanish. And then Fowler says, she's amazed at the discrepancy in serious crimes against expats out in the country or the boonies in contrast to the cities. The study also finds good news for those living on the country or the boonies. She says that petty crime is far less common out in the countryside than it is in the cities. Turns out she says small crimes against foreigners like pickpocketing and theft of your bags and purses and belongings on the street is much higher in the cities. Then she makes the statement that people talk about murder and homicide rates all the time. Though one important thing the study points out is that a high homicide or murder rate is not an indication that there'll be high petty crimes and misdemeanors too.
[25:42] Bottom line, if you refuse to speak Spanish, you don't mingle at least a bit with the locals and you hang out strictly with gringos and gated guarded communities and that gringo and expat bars. Though you may be spending your money and in the long run helping out the local economy. Nevertheless, the locals will not view you as a friendly neighbor. All right, me Johnny here, if that isn't reason enough to try to stay off the gringo tourist trail or at least try to mingle, make some local Latino friends. So there you have it and she makes a very good case. Oh, and by the way, I know about living in the boonies and I found the people out there are friendly and nice but you have to make the effort to meet them because they're a little shy and timid of gringos. Especially gringos and expats like me, dog lovers with Dobermans and Rottweilers.
[26:29] All right, we're near the end of the show now, just a couple of announcements. Number one, this is seminar week. So the following two expat file shows will be repeats pulled from the archives. You know, Johnny's greatest hits or misses. Secondly, I just completed a new revision of my Latin American healthcare report. It's easy reading and fun, more than 100 pages including the latest greatest stem cell information too. To pick up your copy, your PDF, just go to www.theexpetfiles.com and click on the healthcare report.