BROADCASTS.com

b'

The Flying Carpet  

Omar T. Tentmaker had immigrated from Iran shortly before the fall of  the Shah. Persian money was difficult to take out of the country. Omar  purchased an entire inventory of Persian rugs and shipped them, with the  rest of his household goods, to the United States. On arrival he rented  a small shop in Beverly Hills, California and began selling the rugs at  retail.  

Omar had purchased nothing but the best. He sold the rugs to his  American customers at a profit. He made a fair living but had difficulty  turning his inventory into sufficient cash to live in the manner he had  grown accustomed to when in Iran as a Minister in the Shah\\u2019s  government.  

Within six months of his arrival, living in a small apartment in West  Los Angeles, Omar met a fellow immigrant who explained insurance to him.  Insurance was a wonder of American society with which he was totally  unfamiliar. The immigrant informed Omar that for $500 he had purchased a  policy to insure his household goods. When he was the victim of a  burglary, his insurer, with apparent glee, gave him a check for $20,000.  It seemed the insurer paid merely because $20,000 was the first value  he put down for his goods.  Omar and his fellow immigrant both knew that in their tradition one  never opens a negotiation with the number one wishes to receive. His  acquaintance informed him that he had demanded, for his small prayer  rug, $20,000 from his insurer. He expected the insurer to negotiate the  price down to its true value of $2,500. To the great surprise of Omar  and the acquaintance, the insurer paid the amount demanded merely  because a rug dealer had given the acquaintance an appraisal stating  that the value of the prayer rug was $20,000.