Greek Trust

Trust.

It allows us to have complete faith in another individuals intentions. It makes us believe that others care about our interests. It is a valuable concept. Trust is something that must be developed between individuals. Usually it takes time, but sometimes it occurs rather quickly. And even then, once a degree of trust is developed, it usually does not cross certain lines.

I was surprised the other day by the amount of trust that a shop worker, Ephi, had in me.

It was potluck night (a topic that I will discuss in another post) at the dorms and I had a good amount of shopping to do. On the way back from class there is a small grocery store that my classmates and I frequent in order to stock up on supplies. The lady who works at this grocery store is named Ephi, and I had met her several times over my various expeditions to the shop. I don't really know her very well, but I know enough Greek to practice saying "Good afternoon, how are you?" or "Kalispera, ti kanete?" everyday that I go into the store. She knows that I am a student at Deree, and is always very kind to me, but I did not expect her to be as kind as she was.

After she had rung up my various food items she told me the total was about 14 Euros. I looked in my wallet, expecting to have a twenty, and realized that I only had a five. Slightly worried, I asked her if they accepted cards. She said that they did, and I took a sigh of relief as she took my card and swiped it. Nothing happened. She swiped my card again....still nothing. I began to worry once again. The potluck was drawing dangerously close and I would have to run back to the dorm, or to the ATM, to withdraw more money so that I could come back to the store and purchase the items that I needed for the potluck. I would be cutting the time dangerously close, but then Ephi made a suggestion.

"Don't worry about it now, you can just pay the next time you come back," she said to me with a smile.

What was this? A store employee telling me that I didn't have to worry about paying up front? This is not something that I had ever encountered before. In the United States most stores demand their money up front. I can't imagine a Publix employee telling me that I could just pay another day. And yet here, in this small family owned grocery store that probably receives far less income than most grocery stores in the U.S., I am being told that I can just pay another time.....and she doesn't even seem upset about it!?

I happily accepted the offer to pay another time, and thanked her again and again, telling her that I would bring the money as soon as I could. I was so concerned about paying her back that I actually ran to the ATM a little ways down the street and withdrew money immediately after leaving the store. She had told me that I didn't need to worry about it today, but I still felt obligated to pay off my debt as soon as possible. I ran back and paid the money, thanking her again, and then made my way back to the dorms to cook.

The whole experience taught me a little bit about the concept of Greek trust, something that we had discussed in class. Since the Greek lifestyle is so centered around social relationships in small communities, a good amount of trust is needed between individuals living in these communities. Ephi knows that I shop at her store every few days, and she knows that I will come back again in the future, so I believe that is why she felt that she could trust me. From the moment that we formally met each other, from the moment we shared names, we became part of one anothers social group in Greek culture. Now that she knows me, she feels that she could trust me, even when it comes to paying her store back for something that I had walked out of the store without paying for. It truly is different from anything I've experienced before.

I was able to witness this trust that we discussed in class firsthand, and I was thankful for the experience. Hopefully I can learn a little bit about trust from the Greeks that I can bring back with me to the states, where our concept of trust is so different.