WOMEN AND LOCAL MARKET

 

On Saturday morning I was in a local market to get some foodstuffs.

Chai!!!!! Women can haggle prices eh. They negotiate on virtually every price tagged by the seller. Egusi for one De Rica, half De Rica, garri for half pent, and one pent etc.

When I got to the okporoko (stockfish) section, the seller swore to me that she had bought them for #950 but because I would be buying from her for the first time that she would give it away for just #960 last, so I can become her customer. There was no reason not to believe her or so I thought. Quickly I reached into my pocket and handed her a #1000 note with a charitable instruction to please keep the 'change'. She thanked me and added "please come back next time". I left her section and yes I did come back not next time but same time though behind her shop for I needed to buy chicken too. As I waited for my chicken to be cut into sizes, a lady approached my 'honest' stockfish seller and after a little haggling handed her a #500 note for the same type and size of stockfish I just bought. Was she selling this time below her cost price? 

I bought my chicken at whatever the cost was and left for the ice fish section (yeah, I love my egusi heavily 'animalized'). A woman just walked away with a squeeze on her face and ostensibly pursed lips from the ice fish point. An indication that the price didn't go down well with her. Then it was my turn; "madam how much?". The woman probably a mother and in her late 50s began her show: " kote #300 for the smallest size. Titus #250 last price. The cost of fishing and buying from fishermen is now high. Buhari has changed everything. Buhari e buharigo ife niile my son". I looked at her innocent face for some seconds and then asked her if I could get two kote for #500. She heaved and continued ; "my son, you don't understand. Normally I would have even given you 3 for #500 mana ochichi Buhari adabaro chaachaa (Buhari's regime just doesn't fit). The cost of keeping these fishes refrigerated is high. No light anywhere (ebekwanu ka i furu oku?)" I stepped aside not wanting to rush the ice fish buying like I did with my 'honest' stockfish seller. Light has always been a problem in Nigeria. I know Buhari hasn't gotten it right either but.... 

I left her shop and went to another seller. This time I decided to implore the help of another woman. So I approached a beautiful looking lady. Probably she just came for weekend to her fiancée's residence and needed to impress with her cooking and cost-effectiveness mastery. I pleaded with her to help me bargain for 2 kote for #500. She smiled and took the #500 from me. I waited and watched. She approached the fish seller. Picked the kote fish and looked at them as though they weren't worth her buy. Dropped them and then asked the woman something I wouldn't hear. She then shook her head and wanted to leave. The fish seller called her back. She paid and brought my 2 kote fish to me with a #100 change. My eyes opened in surprise and I recognized her: she was the lady I saw handing over #500 to my 'honest stockfish woman. 

Choi!!!!!!! With mouth agape I asked her: "How did you do that? Not even the Buhari effect could affect your price haggling method". And she replied with a tone somewhere between sarcasm and comedy: "NEVER MIND, THE FOODSTUFF MARKET IS FOR WOMEN. AIN'T YOU MARRIED YET?"
Quickly, I switched from being thankful to defensive and I replied "Are you still searching?"

She gave me a wink as she walked away albeit slowly. Whatever that wink meant, I'm really not interested in buying. She knows her prices very well. Thank God that was my last item for the day. Leaving the market, I swore never to come or stop by again.

FOODSTUFF MARKET IS OF THE WOMEN, BY THE WOMEN AND FOR THE WOMEN (BE HER YOUR WIFE, YOUR GIRLFRIEND, YOUR FIANCÉE, YOUR NEIGHBOR OR JUST A FRIEND).