The Bargain | Episode 16

Linh grew up in Vietnam, where the first price wasn't always the final price. Bargaining wasn't rude. It was simply part of buying something. Then she moved to Australia. A supermarket cashier was confused. A pharmacy wouldn't negotiate. And at an Apple Store, one innocent question — “What’s your best price?” — left Linh and the employee wondering whether the other person was joking. It’s a funny story about shopping, but also about something much deeper: the invisible rules we inherit from home and only discover when we move somewhere that plays by a completely different set of them. Sometimes immigration doesn’t just teach you how another culture works. It teaches you that your own culture was never the default. It was simply home. 🎙️ Between Passports — real stories about immigration, identity, belonging and everything that gets lost in translation. Share your story at betweenpassports.com