There is this woman I used to buy foodstuff from in my area, let’s call her Iyawo. At the time, she was my best bet because she was the only one that sold what I needed in that area. And then, even when others started cropping up all over the place, I still stuck with her. We became friends she was my go-to whenever I needed to buy that particular thing.
But then, this government happened and things started skyrocketing at an astronomical rate. It affected Iyawo’s business as well, and buying from her became more expensive. But I understood and continued buying from her, after all, she was my customer.
Then, things changed during the last Christmas when she traveled for the holidays and didn’t come back for about three weeks. It’s a student area and keeping her shop open during the holidays wasn’t going to do her any favors. So, she closed the shop and traveled. And that was when I decided to patronize someone else, I’ll call this person Shima. Matter of fact, Shima was almost in front of my lodge. She had always been there but I never really registered the fact that she sold the same thing I was going far away for.
And when I bought from Shima, I was wowed! It was a major upgrade from my Iyawo. What I used to get before from her, I got double now from Shima at the same price! At that very moment, my allegiance shifted at once and I got a new customer. This one was serving me better, her shop was closer to my home and it was more profitable for me in the long run. I patronized her all through the holidays and when school resumed and everyone, including Iyawo, returned. I still kept patronizing my new friend.
Now that I knew what I was having, I couldn’t go back to the way things used to be. It was much better now. Although this made me feel a bit bad because I had dumped the other woman the moment I saw better options, but then I had no choice. It was my money and I was going to get as much value as I could get for it. That was just the same way she was looking to get as much money from me as she could. We were playing the same game.
Anyway, as time passed, I didn’t patronize Iyawo after that. Although I did see her almost every day when I went to school. She always asked me why I wasn’t coming to buy from her as I used to before, and I was always giving her one excuse or the other. I never told her the truth.
One time though, I suddenly noticed that she wasn’t opening anymore. The first day passed, then the next day, and the day after. I became worried because this was peak student season and if she wasn’t opening, it meant that something was wrong. I even thought that it was my fault, maybe because I stopped patronizing Iyawo her business folded and eventually collapsed. Yeah, can you imagine my effrontery?
Either way, she didn’t come for one solid week. Coincidentally, the woman who sells beside her also didn’t come as well so I didn’t have any way to reach out to Iyawo. But then, this past Monday, on my way back from school I saw her in her shop. She was bigger and she was back! Selling like she never left. I stopped over at her shop and asked her what happened and the sudden disappearance, she told me that she had fallen sick. Like, seriously sick and couldn’t make it. She was forced to stay home and take care of herself, and she was only just getting herself back.
I was happy to hear this. I was happy that her business didn’t fold, and I was also happy that she had taken a break from work to take care of herself. I wished her well and then continued on my journey home. The end.
Is there a moral to this story? Probably a couple, and I don’t think I’m done learning every single one of them. Ever since that Monday, it has been on my mind and I just had to come to share it here. Will I go back to patronize her? I doubt that, I’ll still always go back to where I can get more for my money. The economy is just too bad right now for me to knowingly buy things more exorbitantly. She still sells at the same rate, and Shima is still selling at double. So, it’s a no-brainer.
But then, I did mess up in the area where I felt her business had collapsed and I felt responsible for it. Not that I think about it, it was quite silly of me thinking I was the center of her business and that without me it was going to fold. But then, isn’t this a feeling that many of us are familiar with? We can’t be the only customer that a person will have, if you don’t go, someone else will. Life goes on. But then, that’s life, we’re the center of our own universes, and we’d always be the main character in our stories. Our problems only arise from wanting to be the main character in other people’s stories as well.
Anyway, I learned my lesson. Just because I didn’t patronize her, it didn’t mean that she lost everything. This isn’t some poorly written movie. Everyone has choices to make and each choice is made with the idea that it’s the best one for the individual. We live with the choices. But then, let’s not go about thinking that people were making it because of us. Or the moment we withdraw our support then people will fail woefully.
Nobody is God. Let’s remember that.
Yo! Have you read my new paranormal thriller, Dreamers: The Awakening? What are you waiting for? Hurry on now to begin the explosive ride on Amazon KDP or Selar by clicking the image below!
This post has been manually curated by @steemflow from Indiaunited community. Join us on our Discord Server.
Do you know that you can earn a passive income by delegating to @indiaunited. We share more than 100 % of the curation rewards with the delegators in the form of IUC tokens. HP delegators and IUC token holders also get upto 20% additional vote weight.
Here are some handy links for delegations: 100HP, 250HP, 500HP, 1000HP.
100% of the rewards from this comment goes to the curator for their manual curation efforts. Please encourage the curator @steemflow by upvoting this comment and support the community by voting the posts made by @indiaunited..
This post received an extra 11.47% vote for delegating HP / holding IUC tokens.
Thank you for this.
😅. I understand how you must have felt but it pays to remember that we're not usually the main character in someone else's story.
Yeah... we're not. We must remember that!
It hurts me when I buy from someone and I eventually buy from another person only to realize that my customer has always been selling to me at an expensive rate so I won’t blame you for not patronizing Iyawo again
We should not waste money in this period at all
Yesso... everyone will always do what's right for themselves. That's just natural order.
I think there is nothing to feel sad for not prioritizing her. I believe we should go for what is beneficial for us. This is that reason sometimes I feel we should not create any emotional bond with them. Maybe were gone but someone might come to replace you. It's life and nobody depends on us fully.
Yeah... no one is indispensable. Eventually, someone will take our place, we have to be ready for that eventuality.