Another day, Another Story to Tell

Some time ago, I made a blog talking about how my years spent here has taught me that most people from the Igbo tribe are not to be trusted, compared to people from the hausa tribe, and this is because I came to realize that an Igbo man will always look for ways to exploit and take advantage of you every opportunity they get.

I also made it clear that I came to this conclusion based on my own personal experience and of course, I could be wrong and there could be the possibility that I just have badluck and have only just encountered the bad guys...whatever

But something happened yesterday that just made my stance on what I said a lot more stronger. About three weeks ago, I had gone to this shop where they sell and rent powerbanks (they do this thing where you pay them money and they give you one powerbank to make use of for twenty-four hours) and had made enquires about a particular powerbank that I had earlier rented from them.

_{photo by Markus Winkler}

At the time, I wanted to buy that exact powerbank (the one I had rented) but the lady at the store had asked me to wait so that she could call her boss on the phone and tell him about my offer, which he had refused but promised that he would be going to the market in some few days time and was going to get that exact power bank for me.

He had told me the price for the powerbank, which he said was around N22500 (twenty-two thousand, five hundred naira), which I had immediately agreed to pay him the moment the powerbank was available.

About two weeks went by and everytime I went to ask about it, I was told that they haven't gone to the market yet, blah blah. At this time I still had my old powerbank that I have been using for the past four years, so I didn't pressure them into getting the new one, although my powerbank was beginning to show serious signs that it could give up at any minute.

Fast forward for some few days ago, my power bank eventually got damaged, which at this time made it about three weeks since I first requested for a new one. So, all of sudden, the powerbank situation went from being not urgent, to being my number one priority and I immediately went back to that shop yesterday to ask them if they had gotten new powerbanks..

The only difference though between me going there now and all this while I've been going there was that I was now more desperate and needed it urgently, and the boss at the shop, the same man who had earlier told me that that powerbank was being sold for N22500, saw that desperation in my eyes, and like the Igbo man that he is, he capitalised on it.

When I enquired about the new ones and he told me that they still haven't gone to the market, I had gone back to my first offer to buy the powerbank they had earlier rented out to me. I was willing to beg him to sell it to me, but it turned out that I didn't have to, the man had other plans for me.

The moment I mentioned my interest on that first powerbank, he had immediately hiked up the price, from N22500 to N29000 (twenty-nine thousand naira), adding an extra N6500 (six thousand, five thousand naira) to the first price he had told me that the powerbank was being sold for.

Mind you, this wasn't even a new powerbank anymore. It was a powerbank that he knew, I knew has been used by a lot of people for the past three weeks since he last rented it to me, if not more, and yet, somehow, it was going for a far more costly price than a new one would go for.

We ended up bargaining to the price of N27000 (twenty-seven thousand naira).

Now, a lot of you might blame my desperation for what happened to me, and you might be right, but I have a question for you all.. Did he do the right thing?