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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Aggressive hustle hack: “Where are you from? / I’m homeless”

When the aggressive hustle progresses to “Where are you from?” (universal language for “I’m determined to hustle you despite your repeated ‘no thank yous”) we deliver “I’m homeless”.

“I’m homeless” disrupts the aggressive hustler’s hustle rhythm; they don’t expect it. This reliably works for us in the most hustle-heavy locations (Morocco, Egypt, Nepal, India, D Republic, etc…).  Caveats are the obvious: you aren’t wearing a hotel wrist bracelet, displaying wealth, etc...
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I really recommend instead to do one of two things depending on the situation/hustle:  1) either don’t make eye contact and completely ignore (or shake your head, and ignore), and keep walking, or; 2) if you want to be friendlier; say firmly “No, thank you!” +/- smile, (bonus points if you can say this in their local language)!

Those options are much, much better!  Why?  Because it is so blatantly obvious that you are NOT homeless!  And you are also giving away you are American.  So it’s either very silly and dumb, or it’s like a slap in the face offensive, and unnecessarily rude.  Yes, these hustlers either want to take advantage of you, or at minimum solicit you as a customer - but that’s just how they make a living and depending where you are they might be actually homeless.  By trying to ask where you are from they are seeing which language they should to switch to, and if they speak it - and you would be surprised, how many languages some of them know sometimes. 
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