Evicted From Eternity_ The Restructuring of Modern Rome - Michael Herzfeld [156]
Others observe this interaction; they, too, understand. There are models aplenty to fuel their interpretations. A restaurateur gives his customers his visiting card so they can display it on their illegally parked cars; the policeman on the beat sees whose customers they are and looks the other way-no doubt, according to locals, in exchange for free meals. An elegant woman of militantly left-wing persuasion, and active in the Rome pedestrians' rights movement, complained to a second restaurant owner that he, too, was allowing cars to park illegally in front of his establishment; he had previously put up a sign offering to pay two hours' worth of parking on meters that had temporarily been placed there, but, after these were taken away, he made other arrangements. This was what the activist now discovered; as if by way of answer to her complaint, and seizing what must have seemed like a heaven-sent opportunity, the owner looked out beyond her and hailed a passing city policeman, "Come in and have a coffee!" The implications were clear and needed no further explanation. Coffee, at such moments, is not just coffee; and the kindly invitation to his dear friend also carried an unambiguous boast-and perhaps a threat-for the benefit of the interfering activist as well.
Acting out a role in this sense is not a performance merely in the sense of staged roles; it is performative-it has practical effects on the immediate relationship, sending a clear message to bystanders and reinforcing a wellestablished set of social rules and understandings. But there is a price to pay for such power. The bar proprietor, for example, is confident of being protected from parking fines when he leaves his car outside the door of his establishment. The price he pays is one of fear. He is not only afraid of the police, with their power to ruin him economically. He also fears what would happen if their extortion increased to the point where he would feel he had no choice but to file a complaint; the social damage that reporting their extortion would generate might well be greater than the security he would temporarily gain from further harassment. Going to the legal authorities with a complaint about police bullying is itself "a sign of weakness," something no active local merchant can really afford-but the failure to lodge a complaint is also attributable to fear. The butcher mentioned earlier for his pleasant and polite manner is furious with the vigili because, he says, they always take his best cuts; it is clear that he feels unable to complain. So the advantage remains largely with what may be only a crooked minority among the officers, even though the available sanctions are now somewhat more effective than before the Clean Hands movement of the early i99os.
Moreover, the coffee or the pair of Camparis becomes a metonym for the more substantial levels of extortion to which victims feel their tormentors may graduate. The only time I ever directly encountered this use of "coffee" occurred when a young woman delivering telephone directories told me, as I turned away from her with my directory in hand, that I should make a "contribution" (contributo) for, as she said, "a coffee." I gave her 5,ooo lire and she seemed satisfied; a neighbor then told me that I should not have given her anything as she was already paid by the phone company-but this was a common pattern, whereby employees of official bodies would try anything to intimidate people. This very minor example was little more than