An upsetting experience at the market

When I was much younger, I rather sweep the whole compound instead of following mom to the market place. This is because mom could spend hours moving from one shop to another just to get a particular item, and even if each shop she'd visited had what we were looking for, she might end up not purchasing it, after all the time spent on haggling with a seller. I find this very frustrating, especially when I am missing out on compelling TV drama that other kids are already indulging at home.

Things might get worse for me when mom bumps into an old friend. It's most likely that they'd spend nothing less than an hour gisting while I continually Shift my weight from one tired leg to another. Most times, Mom often fathoms that I was angry with her, judging from the frown on my face. "What would you like to eat bilqees? " Mom would ask . Moments later, we would already be on our way out of the market with a half-eaten cob of 🌽 in my right hand which i plan to use in teasing my siblings at home.

Thanks alot 🙏

As I grew older, I completely understood that mom was trying to manage her resources by not always buying at the shops we visited. From the reserves in her purse, she could be able to purchase earrings, necklaces and new dresses for her daughters. These are little but important things that Dad would always forget after paying school fees and rents. May God bless all of our mothers 💖 🤗

Pulling your arm and almost dragging you into their shops is something that most traders are fond of doing in a typical african market. Even if they don't Know what you came to the market to buy, they would still beckon on you to come take a look into their shops while screaming "customer, customer"!

Sometimes it could be embarrassing, it could also be very annoying. There was a time a sales girl came outside and grabbed me by the hands because I had took a brief glance at her shop. Before I could protest, another apprentice from the next shop quickly stood up and grabbed at my other arm. She warned the other girl to leave me alone as she claimed I had looked at her shop first and was about to go in before the other girl snatched me away from her. An argument broke out which I quickly interrupted by screaming at them in a very angry tone before they let go of my arms. Later, I felt sorry for them, these are young ladies within my age group trying to heck out an honest living. Probably they have been given a daily target by their boss or madam . Failing to make an expected number of sales per day might cause an impatient boss to be unsatisfied with their efforts and this might also lead to a delay in the payment of their meager salary. But that does not mean that they should be dragging me the way two policemen drags one thief 😠

It's also not uncommon for a male apprentice to address a young woman with statements like "fine girl, come enter my shop, I fit reduce price for you o, you know say you be my wife" and other traders would laugh at the silly jokes 🤦

I would never forget a very embarrassing incident that happened to me two years ago. I was admiring an handbag from the corner of a shop, for fear of been caught by an overzealous sales boy/girl. But unfortunately I didn't know that the boy had been outside. He silently stood up from his sitting position and kept pushing me gently into the shop. Since I had been bursted, I had no choice and I reluctantly dragged my feet towards the shop. " Welcome customer", he said with a big smile. He quickly brought down the bag which looked beautiful at a closer look. I asked him more about it and he mentioned a staggering amount. I wasn't surprised when I heard an outrageous price. Ofcourse I couldn't afford it and that was why I never wanted to come close. The young man kept raving about how the bag would look good on me and if it were at another shop, the price would be higher and bla bla bla... I told him ok, I have heard as I tried to find an escape.

I just have to lie that I would come back to buy the bag on my way out of the market after I was done with buying the foodstuffs that brought me to the market. Wether he believed me or not, I didn't care.

Few minutes after I left his place, I bumped into an old friend and we kept talking for almost half an hour. I had totally forgotten about the fake promise I made to the bag seller as i begin to walk on thesame street in the market where his shop was located. As soon as I remembered my error, I have was already within the limits of his shop. I immediately tried to duck and quickly move into a narrow alley by the right. But it was too late to for me to see a hawker who was also coming out from the alley at that second. We stumbled upon each other and I upset the tray of oranges that was well balanced on her head. The tray fell to the ground and oranges scattered all over.

The bag seller came closer to see what has happened and I felt as if the ground should swallow me up 🤦😭.

@Kushyzee , have you ever bought a shoe of one thousand naira and forced to pay one thousand five hundred naira for shoe nails that you never asked for? 😆😆Pls write an article about that . 🤣

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Thanks for reading 💖💖