Easter Island and a Lesson in Pragmatism

Easter Island is a speck of land in the South Pacific, about 2,500 miles from either Chile or Tahiti.  I’ve visited there four times, but I won’t be going back.  For good reason.

The last time I was there, the owner of our motel charged me for an extra day, and also for an extra dinner.  I argued the point with him, as I normally would when I feel I’m right.

The argument was not going well.  The man was steadfast in his seemingly flawed reasoning that I owed the extra money.  It was not a small amount.

It was then I realized, like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, that I wasn’t in Kansas anymore.  In other words, I was in a foreign country where I didn’t know either the people or the local rules.  For all I knew the proprietor was also the chief of police who could detain me on Easter Island indefinitely.  And what would I do then?  Call the President of the United States?

I paid the extra money but promised myself I would never return.

You have to choose your battles in life, the fewer the better, and never those you can’t win.

A friend of mine once had a two-hour argument with U.S. Customs.  The result?  He missed his connecting flight and for the next five years, every time he traveled abroad, he was hassled by a U.S. customs official when he returned.  Perhaps there was a note in his file read by every agent he encountered as he passed through customs upon re-entering the country?

Years ago, when I was practicing law, I needed to obtain default judgements every month or two from a specific court clerk in downtown Los Angeles.  I was always very nice to him, and he promptly provided what I needed.  Just as on Easter Island, I did not have a choice of vendor, so I made sure to maintain a good relationship with the clerk.

We’ve probably all noticed over the years that in dealing with people, especially a stranger, it’s better to start out nice.  You can always shift to a hardline later, but that’s a one-way street.  It’s difficult to switch from nasty to nice.  As they say, you only have one chance to make a favorable first impression.

I have many places yet to visit or revisit.  Alas, Easter Island is not one of them.

Alan