I started my new job last week, which is at a center for international students at school. I've met quite a few foreign students since I've started, which can get pretty interesting. On my second day, I witnessed the most pitiful of instances, involving a couple of Japanese kids and a used car purchase gone bad. Apparently, the sales guy at the car dealership smelled naivety all over the obvious out of towner and decided to bend him over and do him dry. Long story short, the Japanese kid bought a car that didn't have one functional seat belt in it. When he noticed (after he got home) he decided to immediately go back to the dealer and bring it to the attention of the salesman, who told him that it wasn't his problem anymore. Unfortunately, our foreign friend bought the car "as is", for a lower price. Well now you can imagine the predicament this guy was in; he was pretty much screwed. He had no one else to turn to but the advising center at his school...who has nothing to do with his problem. And you should have seen the look on his face. When explaining his story, he was so nervous and flustered that he couldn't get out a complete sentence. It was hard to watch. His roommate, who was more fluent in English, had to step in and take over explaining what had happened because it was obvious the other guy was struggling. The saddest part of all: he told the car salesman that he was going to tell his advisor. "I'm gonna tell"; quite the threat. That would surely instill fear into the heart of any car salesman. As pathetic and humorous as that is, it melted me. Poor little guy. The innocence of this kid, exploited and manipulated by some greaseball trying to push bunk cars off his lot. What a way to start his visit here. Welcome to America! We suck young blood! I suppose that's the way the whole world works, not just exclusively the U.S. Every community, whether it be the animal kingdom or human society, is composed of predator and prey. Everybody has their turn to take and be taken. All we can do is try to break even in the end.