Not a mzee-like mzee

We were waiting for a friend of my colleagues to pick us up, but he was late. Next to the ferry terminal for Zanzibar, taxi drivers were numerous and eager to get us as their clients. The longer we waited, the more they pestered us, with all kind of stories what could have happened to our expected driver, and the excellent prices they would made us if we took their services instead. They really stood on our toes. One was particularly unbearable, an elderly gentlemen. He went on and on and on until my colleague lost his nerves and told him "Piss off!". A wave of shock went through the younger taxi drivers and bystanders, and finally they shouted out: " He is a mzee, you cannot treat him like this!" Swift was my colleague in responding "Then behave like a mzee!". A mzee is a "an elderly" with much respect in the Tanzanian society - he will respond your greeting with an offer to kiss his feet, and usually tells his younger fellow citizens to behave properly, for example not pestering guests from abroad!