Difference between revisions of "Gorroneo (Spain and Hispanic America)"

Asking for a cigarette and never buying any is one of the most common examples of ''gorroneo'' in Spain, but similar practices are observable in every culture. Other examples include consuming food and drink that others bring to office or school; eating and drinking without invitation at a party or celebration ceremony; or at a bar, where a friend works a shift without control by the bar owner, taking for granted to be invited and helping oneself. ''Gorroneo'' can equally apply to siphoning out resources, such as removing or stealing supplies, little by little, usually at work, with the authorities turning a blind eye or being complicit in it.  

Asking for a cigarette and never buying any is one of the most common examples of ''gorroneo'' in Spain, but similar practices are observable in every culture. Other examples include consuming food and drink that others bring to office or school; eating and drinking without invitation at a party or celebration ceremony; or at a bar, where a friend works a shift without control by the bar owner, taking for granted to be invited and helping oneself. ''Gorroneo'' can equally apply to siphoning out resources, such as removing or stealing supplies, little by little, usually at work, with the authorities turning a blind eye or being complicit in it.  

Another common practice of free-riding is associated with ''pagar la ronda'', whereby one would skip paying for a round of drinks for an entire group, normally paid in turns by volunteers. Common among family or friends, ''pagar la ronda'' has no preassigned turns or precise calculations of bills for drinking or eating. Rotation is exercised on the basis of an unarticulated tacit rule that is recognized especially when it is violated. The ritual involves someone paying for the first round and others continuing in sequence, in the spirit of friendship, sometimes enacting a fight over paying ahead of others. The turn-taking is unproblematic until it is broken, just like a long pause in a conversation or other forms of disruptions of the ʻinteractive orderʼ (Sacks, Schegloff, and Jefferson 1974; Goffman 1983). The ''gorrón'' violates the tacit rule by avoiding paying for the round. When people realize that the ''gorrón'' takes advantage of them by not paying while being capable of doing so, they exclude ''gorrón'' from the next meeting or apply other ways to ostracize the offender. The ''gorrón''’s free-riding and subsequent sanctions undermine the circle of trust, sharing and reciprocity and may break pagar la ronda altogether, resulting in members paying for their own drink. In some cases, practices of free-riding are considered to be socially acceptable, particularly in dire economic circumstances, whereby a group of better-off friends allow the ''gorrón'' to be “invited”. However, the ''gorrón'' is at risk of being excluded when circumstances change, or do not change for too long a time, or if someone in the group stops tolerating the ''gorron''’s behaviour.  

Another common practice of free-riding is associated with ''pagar la ronda'', whereby one would skip paying for a round of drinks for an entire group, normally paid in turns by volunteers. Common among family or friends, ''pagar la ronda'' has no preassigned turns or precise calculations of bills for drinking or eating. Rotation is exercised on the basis of an unarticulated tacit rule that is recognized especially when it is violated. The ritual involves someone paying for the first round and others continuing in sequence, in the spirit of friendship, sometimes enacting a fight over paying ahead of others. The turn-taking is unproblematic until it is broken, just like a long pause in a conversation or other forms of disruptions of the ʻinteractive orderʼ (Sacks, Schegloff, and Jefferson 1974; Goffman 1983). The ''gorrón'' violates the tacit rule by avoiding paying for the round. When people realize that the ''gorrón'' takes advantage of them by not paying while being capable of doing so, they exclude ''gorrón'' from the next meeting or apply other ways to ostracize the offender. The ''gorrón''’s free-riding and subsequent sanctions undermine the circle of trust, sharing and reciprocity and may break pagar la ronda altogether, resulting in members paying for their own drink. In some cases, practices of free-riding are considered to be socially acceptable, particularly in dire economic circumstances, whereby a group of better-off friends allow the ''gorrón'' to be “invited”. However, the ''gorrón'' is at risk of being excluded when circumstances change, or do not change for too long a time, or if someone in the group stops tolerating the ''gorron''’s behaviour.