SURESH RAMPHUL
An old woman usually buys two “rotis” with curry at Rs 17.00 each. She orders two “rotis”. The person serving is a young adult. She hands over a note of Rs 50.00. She receives Rs 15.00 in return. Perplexed, she quickly calculates that the total would be Rs 34.00. She asks him how much the two “rotis” amount to. Rs 35.00, he says. She tells him he is wrong. He cannot be wrong, he replies, for he has always been selling it this way. Sensing that he is lying, the old woman shakes her head. She cannot see the young man’s logic. But she decides not to argue. She knows very well that it is a clear case of dishonesty. She decides never to buy anything at this merchant’s place. This is just one example of how old people are victimized.
This time it is an old man who orders two “rotis” at a stall run by a middle-aged woman whom he knows well. Each “roti” is offered at Rs 15.00. She hands him the “rotis” wrapped in paper. “Inn monte aster, Rs 18.00 enn roti”, she announces. The old man is surprised. He protests. She should have informed him earlier, he argues. Besides, a neatly printed piece of paper stuck on the counter, and that is clearly visible to buyers, shows that each “roti” is sold at Rs 15.00. He points it out to her. “Ansien pri sa,” she says. Though embarrassed and dissatisfied, the buyer does not want to make a scene in public. Shouldn’t the woman be selling her product at the price mentioned on the paper? It is certainly not ethical to claim a new price after having served a client. A client needs to know beforehand the exact price of a product that he intends to buy.
Some sellers are leaving no stones unturned to make money. So, it is a good principle to always inquire about the price before passing an order. The price you are requested to pay may not be the one on display.
It was about 10.00 a.m. The supermarket in Rose Belle was crowded. I was about to leave when an elderly woman approached me. I did not know her. Handing me her receipt, she requested me to see the total. She was perplexed about the total having, in her view, gone a bit high. She had bought only six or seven items. I read her the list and the prices. She had bought a spray for killing insects at 89.95. I read it twice because it had been printed twice. “I’ve bought only one!” she exclaimed. I found only one in her bag. I decided to accompany the woman to the counter. We were told that it must have been a computer mistake. The customer said she wanted to see the manager. She refused to pay for two sprays when she had bought only one.
She began raising her voice and said she would go to the police. The woman at the counter decided to give her back the money. Now, suppose the elderly woman had discovered about having paid more than necessary outside the supermarket, her money would never have been refunded. The question remains: was it really a computer mistake?
In Curepipe one seller sells one farata with 3 curries at Rs 20.00. However, one farata without any curry is also at the same price. In one supermarket a soft drink (1.5 litre) costs Rs 51.95, in another it’s at Rs 59.95. Here’s another funny story: one Sunday a cucumber merchant was putting some order in a heap of cucumbers on the table in a market. Three categories were on offer: Rs 50.00, Rs 60.00 and Rs 75.00. A cucumber slips from the table and falls on the floor. It was from the Rs 50.00 category. He picked it up and placed it in the Rs 60.00 category. He did not notice that I had witnessed the scene.
Bananas are becoming rare in Mauritius. They are sold at an expensive price. The other day I decided to buy a “gato-banann” at the market at Rs 5.00. You won’t believe it but there was nowhere any taste of banana in it.