I get mad every time I go to a supermarket and Im given sweets as part of my change. I swore sometime back that Ill go shopping with them sweets one day. So a few minutes ago I felt thirsty and as it happened that I was passing by Ukwala Supermarket next to Afya Centre, Nairobi, I decided to go for bottled water. My thirst was huge so I went for the Quencher 1.5ltrs which goes for 58 bob. The young lady cashier hands me two twenty bob coins (40 shillings) and two sweets as change for the 100 bob I gave her. I tell her NO, I dont take sweets for change. She tells me, I dont have coins, and gets ready to call the next person in the queue. I demand my two shillings change, she stands her ground she has no coins. Then why do you put coins in your prices if you dont have coins to give change? Im now almost shouting. I dont wish to cause a scene over two bobs so I take the sweets and walk away fuming...not because of some useless two bobs but because of the thievery that goes on in supermarkets, especially Ukwala Supermarkets and other small supermarkets, with the cheap 10 cents sweets they give away in place of shillings. I swear to teach them a lesson--not tomorrow, now! I walk to the left-luggage counter located just at the entrance/exit, leave the water, and walk back into the self-service store. I remember just in time that I actually need toothpaste. So I go and voila! theres a Colgate MaxFresh that is going for 53 shillings. I pick that and walk to the cashiers, making sure to go to the same one who gave me sweets. She punches the Colgate into her cash register and I hand to her 51 shillings and the two sweets. She looks at me and asks whats this for? referring to the two sweets. You gave me those, remember me? Since you guys seem to have made sweets a currency, I can as well pay with them! With the most serious expression she could muster, the girl who doesnt look so young now, tells me: we dont take sweets from outside. The shop manager who just happened to be passing by heard the exchange and stopped to find out what was happening. This girl gave me sweets as change a few minutes ago in spite of my protests that I dont chew sweets. I went back to the shop and took this toothpaste and added the sweets to the money that I have but she will not take the sweets saying ati they are from outside. If you can give sweets as change, and therefore a form of currency, why wont you accept them as such? The manager just smiled, perhaps concluding that Im either a nutcase or a smart-aleck, said to the cashier Its Ok, chukua (its Ok, take the sweets), gave me my toothpaste and I left the shop. The people in the queue almost cheered.
Posted on: Tue, 19 Aug 2014 09:07:27 +0000
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