Currency exchange outlets in Amsterdam won't to trade US dollars for euros because the value of the dollar is dropping so quickly they're afraid of losing money, even with the outlandish vigorish the sleazy little joints usually tack on.
The U.S. dollar's value is dropping so fast against the euro that small currency outlets in Amsterdam are turning away tourists seeking to sell their dollars for local money while on vacation in the Netherlands. "Our dollar is worth maybe zero over here," said Mary Kelly, an American tourist from Indianapolis, Indiana, in front of the Anne Frank house. "It's hard to find a place to exchange. We have to go downtown, to the central station or post office."
Remember, you can't control what happens to you, but you can control how you respond. I was in Amsterdam late last year and I experienced exactly the same phenomena. However, there are cash machines that dispense and your own bank in the US calculates the exchange rate and spit out euros.
I learned to do this years ago, instead of trying to change our dollars in foreign currencies, as ALL countries, hotels and such make money off the exchange of currency.
Use your credit and debit cards, take an emergency fund and make sure you put your money in different places. I save my passport and some money because i carry stuff in different pockets...read what happened to me and my wife Laura on our first real date as fiances here.
This particular musing is set up from a real experience that happened to me in Bogotá, Colombia in 2000. I had been going back and forth to Colombia for some time working and playing with a group of entrepreneurs who were trying to find ways to get Americans to spend more money in Colombia. On my last scheduled visit, my Colombians friends introduced me to Laura. 22 hours later (I did sleep on it!), I asked her to marry me and without a doubt she's been the best companion I've ever had...and some people would say I'm lucky.
After Laura and I decided to get married, we had a special date on Saturday before I was to leave Colombia on Sunday. She took me to Zona Rosa, a part of Bogotá that is filled with upscale clubs, restaurants, shops and fun. We went during the afternoon because neither of us are particularly fond of wild night life, or at least that's what I think.<G>
To make this rather long story shorter for the musing here, this is what happened.
While we were walking around, a man approached us from the opposite side of the street to ask us directions. Of course, Laura tried to accommodate him as I pretty much did the American without a lot of Spanish does, nod your head a lot and smile.
We thought nothing of it and continued to enjoy window shopping, after all, we were in love and when you're in love, well, nothing else really matters does it?
About 10 minutes later, we were approached by a nice looking man in a jacket and tie, who--as I remember now--introduced himself as "security" and flashed a badge and ID, although I admit, I didn't take time to look at it--do we ever? [Remember, this is stage 1 of the con--credibility and trust.]
He was very cordial and indicated that they were part of a drug task force trying to stop the flow of drugs into Zona Rosa. He THEN, pointed at a policeman with a dog (who was real by the way) walking about 30 feet away from us on the other side of the street. [Remember, this is stage 2 of setting up the con, appearing legitimate.]
I mean who would think a criminal would be using the police? Well, I never gave it a second thought, now he had my attention and he was speaking Spanish, and while I understand and speak Spanish, it's not the kind of Spanish that allows you to be calm while talking with security, if you know what I mean.
Laura, as I came to find out later (this took a couple of years) is pretty high tranquility (although you would have never guess the way she handled me in the first few days of our relationship<G>), which means when she's anxious, she wants to get away.
So, she wasn't listening well at all either because I later found out, she was petrified, as an upstanding, law-abiding system (she was a lawyer in Colombia!), and as a young lawyer had not as of yet been schooled in the ways of the con, so she was taken as much as I was.
What happened next was interesting...
As soon as he realized I wasn't doing real well with the Spanish and that she was suspicious, he started talking to me in English. Now, we're getting somewhere, right? What he did (smart guys are always involved in cons!) was immediately negate her by working with me, as she spoke NO English. [Third stage of the con: put the idiot in charge.]
What he told me is that they suspected and had been following the gentleman who asked us for directions a few minutes ago. Remember, he's part of the con.
They knew this gentleman had been suspected of transporting drugs into Zona Rosa and asked me if I had received anything from the man. I told him no, remember, the person is developing this in a calculated manner, so I'm not really thinking at all, I'm reacting and I'm scared. [Remember, in a con, the con people are banking on you relieving your own anxiety by some action, therefore they want you willingly to participate, otherwise it's robbery not a con, right?]
The security officer, who had gained my full faith asked me to come to the station, now I was flat scared. I had visions of spending the rest of my life in a Colombian detention center, or worse not being able to spend the day with my fiancé! After all we were going to Mission Impossible with Tom Cruise in a couple of hours (we both love movies by the way<G>)!
Now, remember con people watch you. They know what you're thinking and feeling by the way you behave, look and act. I know he knew I was fully vested in this thing and I don't know how he knew I was "expedient" (impatient), but the next thing he did was to say this..."you know I don't have to take you to the station (by the way, a person had driven up in an unmarked Mercedes to the curb on the cue and point by our con man, again building credible threat, at least to me.)
Frankly, I had suspicions at that point and I looked at Laura and that's the first time I've seen her terrified.<G> Her legal duties had her working with prison inmates on appeal cases, so she knew what the prison's were like in Colombia (another story--they don't do it like we do, let's say).
He then said, "Mr. Jay," I had showed him my passport, but not let him take it (I'm not totally an idiot.). "We can do this, in order to clear you and to assure us that this man didn't give you any money, if you give me your money, we can check it against a database at our police station here in Zona Rosa." Now he switched back to Spanish and started talking to the man who was approaching us from the car and beckoning us into the car. [Remember, the pressure...what do you do under pressure?]
I reached into my pocket...I didn't carry a wallet, just my passport, and I had stashed money in three pockets, like you should always do when you travel abroad, or to New York. Just kidding NewYorkers, it's very safe now thanks to Juiliani.<G>
And I handed him a wad of Colombian bills, about $200 American, so it was a pretty big wad. He didn't really snatch it from me, he carefully took it and looked at it...paused, and said something in Spanish to the man who was approaching (this all happened in less than 15 seconds, so I'm slowing it down to give you the effect of the amygdala attack I'm having!
He showed the money to the man, the man approaching stopped approaching, returned to the care, got in and drove away at the same time the security officer turned and said that the station was right around the corner.
So, there we are, groom and bride to be, standing on the corner with relatively no one around, watching a man who we thought was a security officer walk across the street and start to disappear around the corner. He has asked us to stay here, while he checked.
Right as he walked around the corner--Laura breathing a sign of relief--he glanced back at us. At that very second I could see in his face that he wasn't coming back. "It's a con, I laughed out loud to Laura." Laura was now crying and pretty freaked out and her new husband to be was roaring out laughing. "They got me," I shouted, literally.
I think this was the point that Laura wondered whether or not, her wine and steak induced (she loves steak like I do, sorry vegetarians!) love reply the night before was actually sane, or not. [I will tell you, I'm sure that Laura has often wondered about that over the past 5+ years--she no longer drinks wine, if that tells you anything.<G>]
Yes, we had been conned and it was done WELL.
When I think of that day, and replay all the events like I've just done, it's amazing to me at some point, I just didn't go up the police officer with the dog across the street or start making a lot of noise, or turn and walk away, like I do now when I'm approached....
But they had my confidence and that's the name of the game.
I know this story has taken too long to tell, so I can't tell you how this applies to leadership, but I will next week, so tune in and I'll show you how Leadership cons you every day. That you are conned out of your resources everyday by friends, well-meaning relatives, even your spouse, your children and your boss.
While more than 70 percent of economists now believe the nation is in a recession, President Bush continues to insist the foundation of the economy is solid. He spoke on Friday at the Economic Club of New York.
President Bush: “I’m coming to you as an optimistic fellow. I’ve seen what happens when America deals with difficulty. I believe that we’re a resilient economy, and I believe that the ingenuity and resolve of the American people is what helps us deal with these issues, and it’s going to happen again.”
Also on Friday, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson defended the Federal Reserve’s efforts to bail out Bear Stearns.
Henry Paulson: “I think we made the right decision. I think the Federal Reserve made the right decision here. And again, I don’t know what to say other than what I’ve just said, is we’ve got strong financial institutions. Our markets are the envy of the world. They’re resilient, they’re innovative, they’re flexible. I think we move very quickly to address situations in this country.”
What's key in the quotes above is the use of the term resilient and what words are use with and to modify, or that are modified. Clearly, resilience takes some kind of action and you need to read the Upping the Downside model to understand what action you need to be taking based on where you are. Don't wait too long, until your resources are gone. Act now and become more resilient daily--- that's the key.
Now that you've read the book, I want to help you work through the content so you gain a rock-solid understanding and put these concepts to use in your life. Over the next few days, I'll tell you how. Now is the time to buy the book if you haven't already http://www.upping-the-downside.com/booksale/.
Upping the Downside: 64 Strategies for Creating Professional Resilience by Design is the second in a series of resilience formats that are created to give domain-specific instruction to aspiring professionals. Over time, I've discovered four essential domains: personal, professional, business, and network.
These four domains encompass large amounts of territory and create very specific challenges in designing resilience. In personal resilience, though the domain is personal, it extends into family and relationship webs that also encompass professional services and business, given that everything is also connected to everything else in a network of intended and unintended effects. Yet, there is some reason to draw these artificial boundaries and work within domains. By bounding the territory, we can create workable practices that then can be tested in the whole.
In large part, the domains signify boundaries that are phase transitions. Just like water becomes ice or vapor at specific points on the temperature scale, our focus moves from personal to professional and into business at times, while still being a single person. I believe this is what makes it difficult to teach resilience across a system.
I've therefore created four different but interconnected, and certainly intersubjective, modes of working in resilience. Each is designed to improve the other, but stand alone if necessary. So it was with that charter that I embarked on putting together the team for this book. My coauthors each took it upon themselves to share unique and distinct areas of concern. I wanted to open the door to people who were in various stages of practicing resilience to write about their experiences, while also sharing with you their thoughts about the experience.
I do not consider resilience to be good or bad, right or wrong. I‘ll leave that judgment to you and your maker. Yet, I will state emphatically that you have choices—that your life is not just a clock or machine, but a canvas on which you have the opportunity to paint your own picture, albeit in some cases limited by nature‘s lottery.
Because of the myth of life and living, resilience is often relegated to a place beyond our choice. I‘m here to express another viewpoint about resilience, its effect and affect in our lives, and the amazing journey possible.
NEWS ALERT
from The Wall Street Journal
March 13, 2008
The U.S. has finally slid into recession, according to the majority of economists in the latest Wall Street Journal economic-forecasting survey, a view that was reinforced by new data showing a sharp drop in retail sales last month. The survey, conducted March 7 through 11, marked a precipitous shift to the negative from the previous survey conducted five weeks earlier.
For example, the economists now expect nonfarm payrolls to grow by an average of only 9,000 jobs a month for the next 12 months--down from an expected 48,500 in the previous survey. Twenty economists now expect payrolls to shrink outright. And the average forecast for the unemployment rate was raised to 5.5% by December from 4.8% in the previous survey.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, see: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120534519452630845.html?
or buy my new book called Upping the Downside: 64 Strategies for Creating Professional Resilience by Design.
http://www.upping-the-downside.com
The book comes with the most advanced self-guided survey that not only scores your resilience in a particular area, but provides you with a priority score which helps you determine what to fix first to become more resilient.
Today, March 14, the book is for sale at $30 off the retail price and you can collect a free membership to our club where I'll personally lead teleclasses in April to walk you through the use of the model live.
PLEASE pass this around to your friends, resilience will NEVER be this economical again.
http://www.upping-the-downside.com
Think about it:
In a complex world, we are bombarded daily from around the world by people largely engaged in one thing...commerce. As the information society reaches it's upper limits, more and more "innovation" is going to occur around the sale of information. However, it is knowledge in the end, that produces wisdom, NOT just information.
Subscribe at http://www.an-ti-dote.com/ to learn more.
And be sure to order my new book, Upping the Downside: 64 Strategies for Creating Professional Resilience by Design.