Things Ecuadorians Like: Diners Club Cards

Today my classes were canceled because of a bus strike (drivers want a bus ride to cost 25 cents—an increase from the current 20 cent fare).  Since I had a lot of free time I went ahead and wrote what is hopefully only the first part of a multi-part series entitled “Things Ecuadorians Like”.  These are brief observations about Ecuadorian life that don’t really fit in with any other narrative but that I  feel compelled to share nonetheless.

When I read in our orientation manual that the preferred credit card in Ecuador is Diners Club, I couldn’t help but start laughing.  I had literally only heard about the existence of Diners Club about a year ago in a blooper reel for The Office, so the only thing I knew about Diners Club was that it is used so infrequently that acceptance of it has become a joke in itself.  What is really so ridiculous about the whole thing is not that it is accepted, but that it is preferred.  In Ecuador, you’re not a baller unless you have a Diners Club card.  Here you can eat at a restaurant, attempt to pay with a MasterCard, American Express, or Visa, and be told that you can’t use a credit card unless it’s a Diners Club.

Just think, somewhere in Ecuador at a fancy nightclub a millionaire is handed a bill for a wild night of partying with his posse:

- Thank you for choosing our establishment tonight. Your total comes out to $152,500. How will you be paying?
- Put it on my Diners Club (*girls in the hottub giggle and whisper to each other about what a pimp move it is to pay with a Diners Club card*).
- Very well, sir. Enjoy the rest of your night.

So yeah, that’s the kind of stuff I think about when I don’t have work to do.