Hello Sarah,
Fixers - A person who help fix problems, and is paid
in unclear ways, sometimes is the problem. A fixer is a wanna be best friend
guide, who will help, fix, solve, show you how to get around in a
city.
This is Andy of HoboTraveler.com in Badou,
YOU WROTE and I will answer after the
letter:
Name: Sarah Skibitzke Country: USA
Message: Hi Andy, I came across your post about
hiring a fixer in Togo. What more can you tell me about fixers... 1.
How do you find one you trust if you don-t speak the language? word of
mouth? 2. What can I expect to be able to get from a fixer? not
get?...in terms of service? 3. Can they be dangerous, put me into dangerous
scearios? 4. What kind of connections can i expect a good one to have?
power in their community? 5. Can you write about me about other experiences
you-ve had with others in other countries? Anything would help!
Cheers! And good luck out there! Sarah
ANSWERS
What can I tell you about fixers, there is normally a
fixer hanging around or near every hotel, in many ways this could be the
Concierge in a Five Star Hotel, or the Bellman.
This is not easy to answer, there is so many shadows
and nuances to this type of person. I will try.
1. How do you find one you trust if you don't speak
the language? word of mouth?
Note: A fixer will always speak your
language and be personable, this is how they get the in, they are you answers
when you feel weak, need help, and this person walks up and speaks you
language.
Answer: I would say, I never trust them, they may earn trust,
you may find this fixer or a recommendation from the Hotel Owner of Manager.
However, you should not trust a manager of a hotel or the owner either. This is
a confidence game in many ways, they try to gain confidence and the better they
are, the more money they make. This is not a scam, although it can be, hotels do
not like scammers hanging around. Therefore, the Hotel more or less gives and
implied warranty to the person, saying he or she helps the clients more than
hurts. However, will not claim any association with the fixer, a built in
deny-ability of responsibility because the man or women YOU met in the street
close to the hotel. The fixer will give money or help, many times the fixer is
the person that meets you at a train station, bus station and wants to take you
to a hotel. He gets a commission from the hotel, I will say he, because 95
percent are men.
2. What can I expect to be able to get from a
fixer? not get?...in terms of service?
Answer: The fixer will
indeed fix your problems or help you do what you want. A fixer is a sweet
talker, they make you feel good, and for women, they are often the new boyfriend
who lives by some strange help of the woman. In the Caribbean there are men who
help women. There is no contract, this is a caveat emptor, beware, you are at
risk situation. A fixer uses you to make easy money, and the client or you, me
must be very strict and harsh, only paying for service rendered and the proper
amount of money. You cannot pay a fixer what they want, you must pay them what
is the real value. The fixer loves Americans, as an American is a soft target,
we tend to trust and tip big. The American values services in terms of American
money.
Example: Here in Togo, a fixer isperson who is
not easily employed in normal ways, if they got a job, they would make about 2-5
US dollars per day. This is normal pay here, and the fixer would be doing good
to get the 2-5, normally they know, they would get the 1 dollar per day. So,
when a soft target enters their area, they love is. One many in Togo a fixer in
Lome, was offering up his friend, a girls for the night to me, he lived in the
same area. He says to me, she will come to my room and sleep with me, for 15,000
CFA, maybe 20,000. He says this with a straight face, sociopath in a way, I was
having fun, and said, "Who is getting F---- ck, me, or the girl, how much do
you get. And he says, "I get nothing I am helping you, as your
friend."
Well, the long and short of it, the going price for a
boom boom Cadeau girls in Lome, is about 5000, and I suppose if you are ugly and
old, about 10,000, if the girl is exceptional, in a wild amount of money I would
think 15,000. This is for the French or American idiot, who thinks he is in a
candy factory.
A fixer always has an agenda, and I get many people
very mad at me, when I tell them their fixer is taking them. A Fixer does
somehow earn the naive loyalty of his clients, and people will recommend them
forever, they are not to be trusted, they are personable. My friend one times
told me this person running for office was very personable. I said, "So, all
politicians are, why would that make them good or trustworthy. this is what the
do, they are personable."
3. Can they be dangerous, put me into dangerous
scearios? Never trust a Fixer, this is caveat emptor.
Yes, the can be
dangerous, I guess in about 1 in 500 times,especially if you meet a fixer
away from the hotel. If you want to know if the fixer is semi-safe, you need to
take the person to the hotel and show him or her to the owner or manager. Do not
trust people you meet in the street, your best friend, the person you just met
in the street is a fixer. Note, for women, in Mexico, I call them the ponytails,
they are the hippie dippy, pony tail, I am Mexico person, they get to bang the
girls, supported by the girls and will have up to five to ten girls on the hook,
sort of a gigolo of sorts. A fixer is not going to kill you, they are going to
get way too much money, hit a home run off your naive nature, and with women
they get laid.
4. What kind of connections can i expect a good one
to have? power in their community?
Answer: Hehehe, they are
connected, they have no respect, but either does the mayor, I trust a policeman
less than a fixer on the planet, in 80 percent of countries a policeman is more
dangerous than a fixer, and the mayor is worst. Power in the community, I would
say to make changes on a big level about zero, if you want a passport, if you
want the customs officer to look the other way, if you want the permit for
something, then the fixer is the person in between the corrupt official and
you.
5. Can you write about me about other experiences
you've had with others in other countries?
I suppose I could, but as I wrote this, I thought
about the hundreds of fixers I meet, I have two boys, and the sister here in
Badou who are outside my room all the time. The girl wants me to Cadeau lover
her, and take here to America. The two boys want to supply me with how to meet
their sister information, and to take me to the Water Falls, help me get around
in the city,etc. Their payment is to get beer, too much money, a small cadeau as
much as they can convince me to give. It started to rain last night, they came
to my hotel, the girl says, buy us an umbrella.
I will say, in Istanbul, the carpet salesmen are the
smartest and most fixer I have met, they can speak up to 5-10 languages, and
Japanese or Chinese can be on the list, they are amazing, I enjoy talking with
them. In many ways, I am a fixer, I remember selling a home to Doctor who moved
from another city. About a year later, he had some very important friends coming
to my city of Fort Wayne, Indiana. He calls me up, and wants recommendations for
restaurants as he is an awkward and socially inept type person. I was more than
happy to explain all the fine dining places in my cities, and to help him match
the personalities up with the restaurant.
However, I think you know what you are doing, your
questions are worded too organized, I think small agenda in the background, so
go to Istanbul, Turkey and talk to some of the best. I was having fun in Turkey,
the fixers wanted me to come along and chase girls. I turned them down, they
were just takers and users, they knew I had their number, but in a Arab, women
are for toys type of brain cultures, they enjoy showing off their skills.
As you talk with a carpet person, at any give time,
they may be working and solving problems for about 10-30 girls, and wives, and
the husband does not see that this sweet talker is working them. When the fixer
is done, everyone is happy.
A good deal is what a fixer gives, however a good
deal is a perception, and most, the majority of tourist pay twice the going
rate, to ten times the going rate, and go home and tell all their friends what a
good deal they got. The illusion is more important than reality on a trip, if
you stay to long as I do, the mask, the illusion of people and their great love
for me, or how they are trying to use me is exposed.
How you use this information with good fun, and take
care, a fixer is you best friend and your worst enemy, this is John Steinbecks,
Cannery Row type people and humanity at its best and worst. It is the first page
to David Copperfields book a Tale of Two Cities.
Sarah Under the Hood.
Andy of HoboTraveler.com in Badou, Togo West Africa
May 2007
