A：「ピラミッドまでいくら？」
ドライバー：「−−−」
A：「（そんなに高い値段を言うとは）人の足元を見て、値段をつけるのね」
Ashimoto wo Miru
(Kairo de takushii no untenshu ni)
Wotashi: Piramiddo made ikura?
Doraibaa: "..... "
Watashi: (Sonna ni takai nedan wo iu to wa) hito no ashimoto wo mite nedan wo tsukeru no ne.
(To a taxi driver in Cairo)
Me: How much is it to the Pyramid?
TaxiDriver: "...... "
Me: You're just taking advantage of my helpless condition (by quoting such a high price.)
Ashimoto wo miru means to turn someone's difficulties to one's own advantage, to take advantage of a person's helpless condition.
During the Edo Period, shop owners apparently judged would-be customers by first looking at, not their face, but their feet. Since Japanese people wore kimono and zori (Japanese sandals) at that time, proprietors could judge their customers by checking to see whether their zori were clean and white and of high or low quality. Today this would be like checking to see if people's shoes were polished or not. As in the conversation, the expression today has a "bad" meaning.
Me: I was charged...by a taxi driver to go to the Pyramid.
A friend: Untenshu ni ashimoto wo mirareta no yo (The driver really took advantage of you.)
If one is in a nice country where the taxi meters run properly and one is asked only to pay accordingly, ashimoto wo mirareru koto mo nakatta desho (one probably wouldn't have been taken advantage of.)
In Bombay, India, I found a beautiful marble box that I just had to have. If I'd let the shop owner see just how much I'd wanted it, however, he wouldn't have bargained with me over its price. Soredokoro ka hito no ashimoto wo mite, motto takai nedan wo ittari suru (On the contrary, he probably would have taken advantage of me and raised its price even more.) Being in a hurry, I had no time to shop around for the lowest price and so ended up paying the listed price.
Ashimoto wo mirarete, takai nedan de kawasaremashita (I was taken advantage of and so was made to buy it at a high price.) Imagine how disappointed I was when I found out its real value later on! A few years ago Japan was in an uproar over the actions of a certain Company T and its salesmen who ap- parently collected money by telling customers (especially elderly people living alone,) "We will use your money to buy gold." The company, of course, had no gold whatsoever. The salesmen apparently acted as if they were concerned with their elderly customers' lives. They would talk with them for hours. Their goal, of course, was to get to the old people's savings. Rojintachi no ashimoto wo mite damasu to wa, hidoi hitotachi desu (People who take advantage of the helplessness of the elderly are disgusting.) One can imagine how happy the elderly men and women were to have someone to talk to.
Damasareta hitotachi wa, T sha no shain ni, ashimoto wo mirareta no desu (The people who were tricked were taken advantage of by the employees of Company T.)
It wasn't just elderly who became victims, though.
Not a few greedy people were taken in by the salesmen's claim that, "The price of gold is going to go up." These people had stopped thinking rationally and so ashimoto wo mirarete shimatta no desu (ended up being had.)
How are your "feet" these days? Everything okay?