No. Or No Se

I came here more than 10 years ago and almost immediately started living in Santiago. At that time there was only one decent casino, The Gran Almirante. It was big, well lit, and nicely decorated. From the get go, however, there was something about it that bothered me. I commented on it probably within the first ten times that I went in there, maybe sooner. It didn't take long to realize that every request, whether reasonable, rational, or fair, was always met with the same speedy, unthoughtout response....NO. It didn't take long before I started to refer to this casino as Casino NO. Whatever I wanted. No. And it wasn't just me. It seemed as though everybody that I ever heard make a request was greeted with the same answer. Often the answer came out before the question was completed.
Having now spent 10 years here, I have come to realize that this speed No answer is not just confined to this casino. Go to any store, ask any clerk a question. The answer is always no. Start a sentence with "Do you, or May I" and usually before the sentence is finished the NO is delivered. There is nothing that a Dominican would rather tell you than NO.
The only thing close to it is NO Se(I don't know). You could be asking someones age, if the sun is out, or if the person is breathing. 90%of the time you will get a quick, "No se". It's as if not knowing and telling someone quickly is a good as knowing the information requested. I said in a meeting once that in this country, having a good excuse for doing something poorly is the same as doing it right.