You do indeed, have to be VERY careful in Amsterdam when R.e Street dealers ''Putting it on you.''
Now, depending on how you are as an individual, what I will say is you need to be firm & DIRECT when approached by such people. let me elaborate a little, First time I visited Amsterdam? was end of 2012 I think? Night time back then, In my experience, WAS CRAZY! I am talking about being offered coke 10+ times a night, easy.
What you need to be really careful of is ''People you may meet.'' who seem, in fact genuine or decent people, you may have slight things in common and likewise become friends in a sense. Haha!! :D I know this all too well, as I have grown very streetwise and am fully aware of a Hustle or when someone is trying to ''put it on'' and Hustle me.
I have met 2 ''Friends'' whilst in Amsterdam, these are folk I recognised & they recognised me vice-versa and acknowledge the kind of ''street'' sense about one another. I can spot a Hustler very easily, usually wherever I go, but especially in Amsterdam, it's so obvious. I made a bit of a friend, I was sat next to in a Coffeeshop, starts with general chit-chat, had things in common etc, that kind of thing.
The first guy I met, he was smaller than me, yet in attempting to build up friendship & conversation with me, mainly ''Trust'' (Bigger picture is Trust, with these people.) eventually.... attempted to sell me weed within the coffeeshop, he told me, if you come this other coffeeshop with me, I can get you this for cheaper etc, he would try & whisper this within the coffeeshop, I told him straight, I wasn't interested! he also informed me he could get me anything else too. by this point, I said farewell and left from the situation & more importantly his company.
The 2nd guy I met, realised he was from a similar sub-urban culture as myself and was in fact very streetwise too, now I liked this guy & he was cool. We had a fair amount in common, we met and we went to a coffeeshop & bought some herbs and smoked together around other strangers in company with. we chatted a lot and I knew straight away, when he ''let onto me'' he seen opportunity, however he was genuinely a cool guy, I was confident in myself, he would not Hustle from me.
We relaxed in this coffeeshop and smoked, me him & a friend of mine and it told me after a while, when I seen multiple phone's he pulled out from his jacket, he was in fact a Hustler, no panic though, I mentioned to him, I knew why he had the phone's ;) and just brushed it of briefly kind of thing, he asked me and a friend ''did we want to make money?'' or ''did we want coke?'' we declined and left.
Now, even though you may stumble across folks who may seem placid, nice, friendly, you have good interaction with them? DON'T BE FOOLED! they see you, they see opportunity & they see they can get paid from you. I never particularly go out of my way to meet people in Amsterdam, however I am not Anti-Social and you just meet people, when on Holiday, it is as simple as that really? but, always have a third eye & have your instincts & whits about you. Physical presence can be a real saviour in such situations, these people know & realise ''who'' they can extort & bully.
Luckily I am actually a Door Supervisor, so I am very conscious of surroundings & people & I am no stranger to altercations. (Which you want to avoid, as you are on vacation for a good time.) but, if approached be firm & direct with these people. I will mention a few tips.
1. Try not to lock eye's with those looking shifty standing back against the wall, if you acknowledge them & they acknowledge you and you make eye contact, they may try & stop you and talk to you and in turn, make you a proposal.
2. If they've acknowledged you and are calling/shouting to you? Keep walking, always keep walking, when you stop they have your attention.
3. A very simple trick, which a friend performed & executed safely & successfully is to mumble in a staged foreign accent ''NO ENGLEESH'' and keep walking, we laughed at my friend when he pulled this off, because he is as English as a cup of tea lol.
4. Be dominant. in conversation or physical presence, always be dominant in these situations, they will think twice about trying to extort or offer you coke, if you hold a confident, strong presence about you. They will realise this person, takes no shit!
5. Avoid confrontation at all cost, no matter what! do not, try to let onto these people, have your third eye about you, glance at who looks ''Shifty' and look well away, walk straight ahead, with your head forward and don't acknowledge or let onto them, because when you do, expect a proposal.
I find with this recent tourists dying from cocaine in Amsterdam? as of right now? it was a HELL lot less volume for the amount of Hustlers proposing, compare to my previous trip? they was like Animals, it gets to the point you want to strike back your fist, because being offered coke, so much in one night, when all you want to do is visit a RLD girl can be rather annoying! but, I feel it's calmer, a lot calmer in at sense now.
1 thing I will say though is? where is the Police? their is never much Police about RLD? I seen someone get punched in the street when I was there and it took a good 30mins for 1 police officer on a bike to arrive lol.
Just trying to give a head's up & a bit of a eye-opener in a sense to my past experiences. I know many of these dealers who they make ''freinds'' with, do in fact take full advantage & vulnerability of an individual and extort them. overall Amsterdam is a Very friendly place/community though, you have nothing to worry about, camera's are everywhere and it is particularly a safe environment. just don't look for trouble and be responsible & sensible.
Just my 2 cents, hope this has been informative to someone.
Thanks
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