window shopping

when you go around the mall

looking through store windows
and you stare at things
but you don't actually buy stuff.
 Saying no to salespeople

× Thanks, I’m just looking...

× I’m not really interested in…
× I’m not keen on...
× I’ve got no use for…
× I don’t particularly like…
× I’d really rather not…
× It’s not my idea of...
 Basic Useful Phrases

● Do you have this ... in Small / Medium / Large?

● I’m looking for ….
● I wear size Extra Small clothes.
● I wear size 6,5 shoes.
● Can I try it on?
● Is it pure/artificial wool/cotton/leather?
● Where are the changing/fitting rooms?
● Where is the cashier desk?
● How much is it?
● I’ll take it
● Can I pay by credit card/cash?
● I’d like to make a refund.
 Haggling

× HOW MUCH?!?! I’ll pay 70 € and nothing

more!
× I can’t pay 100 €. How about 70€?
× That’s too much. Is 70 € OK for you?
× I’m not made of money! I’ll give you 70 €.
× You can’t be serious. I can afford 70 €.
× No way! I can’t give you more than 70 €.
 To haggle

To try and convince someone

to make whatever they are selling a lower price.
They'll suggest a price, you'll suggest a lower one,
and each of you keep on suggesting prices
until you are willing to pay.
 Haggling

× 80 €. I can’t say fairer than that.

× I don’t have that kind of money to
spend. I’ll give you 80 €.
× Are you trying to ruin me? I’ll pay 80 €
and not a penny more!
× That’s a daylight robbery! I won’t pay
any more than 80 €!
× Make it 80 € and you have a deal.
 Made all purchases in cash. In the US credit cards rule. In Russia,
cash is king. Before going to Russia I don’t know when I ever saw
cash. I used my credit or debit card for pretty much all purposes, paid
rent and utilities with a check, had my paycheck directly deposited into
my bank account, etc. But in Russia I always carried cash and bought
everything using it.

https://interculturalist.wordpress.com/2010/11/30/10-things-i-never-did-until-i-lived-in-russia-part-1/
 Got paid in cash. As I mentioned above, my paycheck was directly
deposited into my account. Before that job, I received a check and had
to cash it. From what I observed, getting paid in cash isn’t universal in
Russia, it was just the nature of my job as an English teacher and our
company’s policy. Still, it was strange to be receiving handfuls of
money twice a week. Even stranger, carrying that money around in my
purse on my way home.

https://interculturalist.wordpress.com/2010/11/30/10-things-i-never-did-until-i-lived-in-russia-part-1/
 Read cheesy books. The selection of books available in English in
Russia is often quite limited, even in big bookstores like Dom Knigi and
Biblio-Globus. This meant that sometimes when I was so desperate to
read something in English, I ended up reading books that I can only
describe as cheesy. Books that I would never read if I was in the
United States and had more variety. But sometimes you just need to
read a book in English!

https://interculturalist.wordpress.com/2010/11/30/10-things-i-never-did-until-i-lived-in-russia-part-1/
 Bought milk in a bag. For some reason this was
one of the things I constantly found amusing as it
made no sense to me. How do people use this
product? Some bags had nozzles that could be
re-capped but others didn’t. Do people pour milk
into a separate container or drink the entire bag in
one sitting? So baffling!

https://interculturalist.wordpress.com/2010/11/30/10-things-i-never-did-until-i-lived-in-russia-part-1/
 British Advertising

There is a distaste for the ‘hard sell’, for

‘pushiness’, ‘boasting’, for brash,
in-your-face approach to advertising and
marketing that the English describe as
‘American’.
 “some people eat this stuff
but a lot of people can’t even bear the smell of it”