Nice Guys Finish Last

NICE GUYS FINISH LAST

‘Nice guys finish last.’ Kamau let out an audible sigh. ‘What do women want?’ he wanted shout from the sandy valleys of Lake Turkana to the sandy beaches in Mombasa, but he knew the answer to that, they wanted a man, tall dark (not as dark as him), handsome and rich. No woman wanted to date nice guys such as him, they didn’t care that he was a doctor, a young and successful doctor who had his whole life ahead of him, like that lunch time he had finally mustered the courage to speak to the girl of his dreams…literally, they kind that left him feeling like he was in heaven, the girl in his dreams every night. That event had taught him a lot of things he should NEVER say to a girl. Like, there are some late night fantasies that they may never want to know that they are part of.

Anyway this girl, he knew her by her first name Andrea, another lesson that life changing event had taught him, never to date girls with fancy names, next time he was looking for a Mary, Jane or Mercy, from the first day he had laid his eyes on her he could not tell whether she was a really light skinned Kenyan or a point-five, but she was beautiful, even when he took off his glasses, for he was indeed short sighted, like three of his siblings, and his father, as if that was not enough, he had asthma, well it ran in the family…bad genes as his ex-girlfriend had pointed out, the only girl to have agreed to date him, only to dump him a couple of months later, another life lesson he had learnt, never tell a girl you are dating that your family has some defective genes added to a lack of height and good looks.

‘Asthma is genetic.’ Anne his then girlfriend seemed puzzled. ‘So that means if we get children, they might be asthmatic.’

Yes that was a turn off it seemed.

‘Why do you cross your legs like a girl?’ she asked. ‘Oh my God you are going to cry!’

Anne seemed to have a problem with everything that he was.

Then there was Andrea, she had just been employed into the civil service a couple of weeks earlier, she seemed like a beautiful city girl trying to adjust to a village life, it wasn’t easy, she had applied for the job just to show her father could, but she was trying, she was that beautiful Mercedes Benz stuck in some sand somewhere in the remotest place in Kenya, but the engine would not die and slowly she was pulling herself from the sand and starting to enjoy the rural freshness. Still, a beautiful classy woman like her would never fit fully in such a small town, more like a village shopping centre. So that day, Andrea sat with one of her female workmates at their usual place, Marigu-ini Hotel, a small eating place with benches instead of chairs such that all their customers sat awfully close to each other, the food was alright, in all the years they had been in operation no one had complained of any ailment, despite their low standard of hygiene.   Andrea took some time getting used to the food and the hotel, her father was rich man, one of the wealthiest in Kenya, he owned thousands of acres of prime land, his investments in real estate and the hotel industry was immeasurable,  so when her fridge dried out, she had no desire to cook, it was one of those alien things to her, she tried the food in the small hotel and it didn’t hurt her stomach and she wanted to blend in, no one could know who her father was, maybe if  Kamau had known this he would have realized how incompatible they were. Her bright brown eyes lit up the rooms and her teeth seemed like they were pulled from a toothpaste advertisement, every one man wanted her and so did Kamau.

And Dr. Matumbe was in luck, there was an empty seat right next to Andrea, yes even his name was another reason why girls seemed to avoid him, so he used his father’s name Kariuki for all the Kikuyu girls he tried to chat up. Seriously no woman seemed comfortable being referred to as Mrs. Matumbe , he could never understand how eggs could be so disgusting to many women.

‘Can I call you by your first name?’ one of his classmates had him asked in campus. ‘Your last name is just weird, what was your mother thinking?’ she rolled her eyes as the rest of her click joined her in laughter.

He mustered all his strength, passed an empty bench and sat across Andrea and her friend.

‘Hi my name is Simon.’ He tried to join in their conversation.

It was one of those days he wished he had carried his white coat so that she could see he was a very important person in society, but some women were so blind, one had asked him if he worked for the nearby butchery, women were not so easily impressed, another life lesson.

He looked straight into her brown eyes. ‘I’m a doctor at the District Hospital.’

Andrea just stared at him in half disbelief, but not too bothered, she was used to men falling over for her, at times the attention was good, and it got her services faster that the average looking woman plus some services she got free, all because she was beautiful, but free was not an option for a young woman who had been accustomed to everything that she ever wanted.

‘Do you girls want sodas?’ he asked in courtesy. ‘Si this place is so hot.’

There was awkward silence for a second before Andrea resumed chatting with her colleague.

‘If only Nai wasn’t so far away.’ she lamented. ‘One of these days…’ she bit her tongue.

‘Acha you silly dreams, Madam you know who will never allow the ‘I was coming from Nairobi’ excuse?’ her colleague chimed in. ‘Darling forget about it and your dad am sure has something to do with all these.’

They spoke like city girls, the heavily accented English with a bit Swa-English here and there, he wanted her even more and no rejection was going to put him down. He seemed to get him break when Andrea received a phone call, her colleague turned to him.

‘So you are a doctor.’ She sought confirmation.

‘Yes.’ He smiled.

‘She’s Andrea and I’m Shiro.’ She introduced them. ‘We work for…’

‘Registrar of births and deaths.’ He jumped in too quickly.

Shiro seemed a little bit uncomfortable.

‘Everyone knows where you work.’ He tried to make her feel easy. ‘You two are like the most discussed item in the doctors’ room.’

Shiro tried to feign a sweet smile.

‘You and And-ri-a are in a lot of our dreams as well.’ He let his mouth take the lead as usual, this was close to the point that he learnt you should never tell a girl that she has featured severally in your crazy dreams. ‘All the doctors talk about you so highly.’

‘So you like do everything including childbirth.’ Shiro tried to change the topic.

‘Yes, but for childbirth they only call us when there’s prolonged labour, or a CS, you know a caesarean section.’ He said animatedly. ‘Childbirth changes women; I mean I can put both hands in there in certain cases like after the second child.’ He laughed heartedly.

Shiro almost poured her neighbors’ hot tea in all the shock of what this complete stranger was telling them.

‘And-ri-a…’ he tried to chat to her as soon as she was done on the phone.

‘Andrea…’ she corrected him. ‘Why are you talking to this freak?’ she rolled her eyes turning to her friend. ‘Yes I understand we are in some village somewhere in Kenya but dear stop…please.’ She moved her perfectly manicured hands, her skin was blemish free.

Her voice was silky and cool, it gave him the determination not to give up on a girl he really liked, and maybe she would come around.

‘I am a doctor.’ He addressed Andrea. ‘Anytime you feel unwell, come and see, I will treat you for free.’

‘Dude.’ Andrea responded. ‘If I felt unwell, AA would come and get me in a flash, besides I don’t do cheap and that includes poorly paid doctors.’

Her father loved her a lot and luckily she had only told him after she got the job, after a couple of months she would quit and help her father manage his investments, they were only three daughters and her two elder sisters  were already working for him, it was only a matter of time before he sent for her. It did not surprise her if he had some people watching over her but she was a free spirit.

Andrea turned Shiro. ‘Hebu we go, before this germ infested doctor, infects us with something.’

Then it hit him, she was not playing hard to get, she was hard to get.

Shiro paid, as Andrea waited for her outside, Simon decided to try his luck one more time, he quickly rushed outside not to wanting to miss an opportunity.

‘I am sorry if I was upfront about the stretched out vag…’he stopped himself from saying the word. ‘I am a doctor, you see a lot and it just changes the way you see and talk about things.’

All the while she seemed like she was listening, it felt amazing to be so close to her.

‘I sit like next to you every day, at lunch time.’ He smiled. ‘I just want to say I like you and I am a nice guy. If…’

‘Look…’ Andrea stopped him. ‘In your district hospital, to they treat stupid.’

He seemed confused, he seemed the sarcasm.

Shiro didn’t understand why this guy was doing this to himself, Andrea was tearing him apart and he didn’t even seem to notice.

‘Can they like prescribe a pill that kinda increases your self esteem because you need it.’ She finally let him have it. ‘I don’t do pathetic, I am not in your class, and I am so ashamed of the me that has been doing rounds in your perverted little mind, arrgh that is so disgusting, am gonna need some shots.’ She studied him from head to toe. ‘I am like so embarrassed to be seen with you. So you little roach, look at you I would die if someone saw me walking with you…arrgh.’ She seemed genuinely disgusted. ‘What would give some guy like you, confidence to talk to someone like me?’

As they walked away, he could hear Andrea telling Shiro that was the last time she was visiting such a cheap dingy place and that she was calling her father and asking for a position in his company.

‘Ati this ka-dude went to Starehe School.’ Shiro also decided to take a punch at him. ‘Do you even know what that means?’

Simon felt his confidence fade away, some nurses giggled as he made his way to the labour ward, word had already reached the hospital, it all reminded him of Anne, the day she dumped him, all he had wanted to know was why the girl he had tried to chat up had said no to him, even before he asked her to be his girlfriend. ‘I am a nice guy.’ He said to himself.

‘Nice has nothing to do with being plain looking.’ Anne had told him as she dumped him over phone as he called to wish her goodnight. ‘You are a messed up little man with self esteem issues, who needs his momma or a psychologist to make him feel better, I am tired of having to put up with your humiliations and you trying to put me down so that I can be a pathetic feeling person like you.’ And this was only a month later.

‘I am sorry if that is the way you felt.’ He tried to apologize.

‘Simon!’ she yelled. ‘You wanna know how I felt, I felt like I was wore the pants in this relationship while you behaved like a sad little girl with massive body issues which translated to major mind boggling SELF ESTEEM ISSUES.’ She screamed towards the very end.

He could not help that his lips were disproportionate to each other, and his teeth seemed to be shaped differently from each other, not to mention his short thin looking body.

Still he was nice guy and they always came last, years later he hoped Andrea would see what she had missed by being rude to a nice guy, all because he was short, wore glasses and was not in the same class with her, or at least he hoped. His princess would come one day and maybe she would love just as he was, if not she would love him because he was a doctor, that had to count for something. 

always waiting...

STILL WAITING, ALWAYS WAITING

Of course she looked older, but no older than thirty though she was only twenty four, she may have been odd looking, but she was a young campus graduate with a promising future. Alicia Kimani had a good job which she did not need to do use her best features to get it unlike her beautiful elder sister, there was no flashing of white teeth there, or showing of her ‘ample’ cleavage . She just walked in and let her CV and brain do the talking. She smiled at her silly thoughts, as she stared at the beautiful Nairobi evening sky, it was not as peaceful as it portrayed, she reflected at her parents on the other side of the city, how many times had their recently constructed bungalow been broken into, somehow its seemed these thieves, enemies of success had all the time in the world to cut the metal railings near the window as her mother screamed, only a few metres from the police station… it was frustrating that every other day she was forced to buy new household items to replace the stolen ones because Mwihaki was too busy being chased by men to even care, luckily she lived on the other side of Nairobi, the leafy suburbs, the sort where when she driving into, it felt like she was somewhere in Europe, because of its posh nature and sophistication, as the security guard opened the gates into her 70,000/- per month apartment, he could tell that even though she was plain looking she was a successful woman, security worried her the least in her new found life, what worried her was her bulging forehead and her lack of enough hair to cover it, to make it worse her hair not only was it stunted but it was brown, how could she forget the kwashiorkor mocking chants as a child, her shoulders were broad like a man’s and her chest was flat, her thin legs looked like she had been playing football her entire life. Then there was her plain face, the sort that men forget easily, it wasn’t impressionable, it was rather dark but not so…it was more like someone had rubbed ash on a black surface, it made look older than she already was.

Luckily she got the brains that passed through the school system with passing colours, a few months later she landed the dream job with an international organization, a couple of business deals later, she was wealthy, it all happened so fast, and now all that was missing was a man, to love her as she was, though she was scared that the money drew the men even further away. She stared at her night lingerie any average woman would look smashing in it, but no, it seemed like she was a girl trapped in a boy’s body. Bringing her to the current predicament, Karanja! A few weeks earlier their organization had organized a legal workshop for young women and men, to discuss all the changes taking place in the country especially with a new constitution in place. The seminar was successful, she felt different, maybe it was because of the designer long flowing black weave she was wearing, but she got her first ‘but you look so young compliment.’ From Karanja off course, the bangs were covering her forehead and the long flowing gowns she wore hid her unflattering legs. Karanja was a third year Law student at one of the local universities, he was tall, light skinned and very handsome, and he kept smiling at her, towards the end of the workshop he asked for her number and befriended on facebook, though she did not spend a lot of her time on social media as she love seating in her balcony and watching the handsome Englishman drive home each evening, he always came home at around 10pm, he would park his car before stopping to talk to the caregiver, he had no ring so she assumed he was a single young expat from somewhere in the UK,  but nowadays it was getting hard to tell, then he would stop and chat with the caregiver, who seemed to organize housekeeping for all the residents including her, he would then stop and stare at her balcony, their eyes would meet temporarily, before she would quickly go back to reading her book, whether it was the blues eyes or the blonde hair she was not really sure. Social media simply reminded her of the people who mocked her growing up but now wanted favours from her.

Karanja was only two years younger than her, the prince she thought that she had been waiting for. He started each day by proclaiming she was the most beautiful woman in the room, she felt flattered, he pulled her chair for her, and made sure she sat next to him all the time, even when she attempted to pass him deliberately. He made her feel like a woman, he texted her good night every single evening after walking her to her room. He was all she could think of. Now there was a real man in her imagination, one who she could dream off, he would finish campus, go to the Kenya School of Law and become an advocate of the High Court, then she would be married to a prominent lawyer in the country, who knows maybe one of them could run for an elective office someday or maybe he could become the chief justice of the great republic, from the way he spoke, argued and presented his facts, he seemed to have right qualities for a very successful lawyer in the future, but the best fact was that he made her smile, even her mother noticed her plain daughter who she was very worried about had that glow that spelt love, maybe Alicia had met a man who could love her as she was, that was her  only prayer.

Two weeks later, Karanja asked her for a date, her legs shook, like she was caught unaware in the first ever snowstorm in Nairobi, an event extraordinaire, her heart beat, she felt like it was going to burst, then they could say she died of excitement, her blouse was already wet with sweat, she could hardly wait for him to finish so that she could say yes.

He took her to a very expensive restaurant, she wondered how he was going to pay for it, but he seemed relaxed in pair of jean trousers and a black t-shirt, he ordered the most expensive dish in the menu, while she looked radiant in her red sun dress, and whoever invented weaves should have won a Nobel Peace Prize for Peace, the peace and happiness they brought to women like her was inexplicable, she ordered something cheap, she did not want to dig a hole out of his pocket. Karanja did most of the talking, how his parents were struggling to pay fees for him, they were tea farmers and he was a self sponsored student.

‘Tea farmers.’ She thought, they were definitely not poor, from what she had read they were doing quite well. At some point, he spoke of looking for a sponsor; she just listened though distracted as she ate her food, lost in the moment, thinking about his last comment, about her beautiful figure. She only became alert when he thanked her for asking him out for a date.

‘I-I did not ask you for a date.’ She stammered. ‘Karanja you asked me out.’

Suddenly it hit her like a bucket of cold icy water, Karanja was not in love with her he was looking for someone to foot his bills in exchange for sex.

‘It’s ok Alicia.’ Karanja tried to save face. ‘I only that since I am a jobless university student and you an older woman.’

‘What!’ the glass of water from Alicia’s hand fell with a thud, breaking into several tiny pieces as her heart. ‘I told you I am only two years older than you.’ She found herself insisting.

Karanja thought just like every woman, she was lying about her age, he seemed rather embarrassed as the waiter tried to clean up the mess. Alicia could see that he did not believe that.

‘I am sorry Alicia…I thought we all wanted the same thing.’ Karanja apologized. ‘Why would I wanna date an older woman if not for…’

Second cold bucket of the evening, she felt her whole body shake in disbelief. Her heart shattered into the proverbial million pieces, her self esteem vanished, her eyes wanted to let out, but her heart would let them.

Still…’ he held her hand, she pulled back.

Yes she was a plane Jane and a bit desperate. ‘Please can I have my bill?’ her voice shook as she requested the waiter. There’s no way she going to be a twenty four year old cougar that was unheard of, she tried to convince herself.

‘You are not going to pay for this.’ Karanja seemed shocked. This had never happened to him, not with such a plain looking woman.

Alicia Kimani took her handbag and walked to the counter to clear her bill, she feared the wait would be too long than her shattered self esteem could take, before desperation fully set in, she needed to be as far away from Karanja as she could.

She was back to sitting at her balcony with the only man exchanging glances with, white but it would have to do for a girl given a pretty name so that it could hide the plain looking girl behind it, at times it scared her that people would hear her name and be disappointed when they saw her face, maybe they should have called her Mary or Jane. As her eyes sank deep into her book, she hoped that one day when she became older being a cougar would not be her only choice, she stopped and glanced at the car park the Englishman was still staring at her, she sank her eyes back into her book, half heartedly promising to wait for the prince that might never come.

when did sweets become legal tender

WHEN DID SWEETS BECOME LEGAL TENDER

 I once overheard a conversation between a young customer and a very rude cashier at one of the well known local supermarket. The cashier gave her sweets instead of her change, and when the customer asked if she came with sweets if the supermarket would accept that as legal tender, imagine your total bill comes to 499 shillings and you reach out and give the cashier 495 shillings and two sweets, the cashier went on a rage saying next time the customer needed to choose what items she was buying better, so that she did not need the shillings, even after the customer left the rude cashier was still ranting.

A while back there was a corn snack that I loved so much, after comparing prices I decided to buy it at the supermarket where it was two shillings cheaper, sadly I never got my two shillings I got a sweet. It’s now almost legal, big retail supermarkets are making sweets to be a legal tender, but today after walking into a supermarket in Thika Town, I was supposed to get 4 shillings on top of my change but the cashier without asking and even though he had enough one shilling coins, decided to give me two shillings and a sweet, I told him no, give me my change in full or return all the items and give my money back, he gave me my change half heartedly. So now I have a couple of questions for the supermarkets (cashiers and owners included).

·         Who gave you the right to substitute my legal tender for sweets?

·         Would it kill your cashiers to ask customers kindly ‘will you have some sweets instead since we have no loose change?’ after all it’s my money.  Every morning their supervisor had better had them repeating ‘it’s not my money, it’s their money, and I am not doing them a favour, it’s their money that brought them here.’ A couple of times in the morning, tea break and lunch when the fatigue sets in should do it.

·         My dental cover, are you the one who pays for it?

·         If I wanted sweets, don’t you think they would have been in my trolley?

·         Even if I have a child, meno iki uma, will you help the poor mother put the child to sleep?

·         Are you paid by the sweet factories to sell the sweets for them

·         If I was a shilling less, would I still be able to make a purchase at your supermarket

·         Why don’t you put up notices in your supermarkets indicating that you do not give shillings in change

·         Do you know a bob can buy me one biscuit/small mango/sweet, three bob buy me a match box that will last me three weeks and guess what that shilling in the long run is a lot of money, that I could have saved.

To add insult to injury, there is no bob shortage in Kenya, why can’t they visit Mama Mboga, or the local shops and exchange their fancy notes for shillings. Imagine the thousands of shillings that they steal from Kenyans monthly, in the excuse of ‘we have no coins.’ Well today I decided, ‘give me my change,’ or ‘give me, my money.’ As for the rude cashiers, with a misplaced sense of entitlement, who think that for most indigenous Kenyans, being served in a supermarket is a privilege; it is not especially when it makes absolutely no economic sense. All Kenyans deserve value for their money; all these ads of cheaper services are of no use if you cannot get your correct change back. Call me cheap but give me back my bob, I worked hard for it. Someone had better tell these supermarkets; just because you can use the word mint with Central Bank does not mean you can give me some tasteless cavity causing mints instead of legal tender.

when did sweets become legal tender

WHEN DID SWEETS BECOME LEGAL TENDER

 I once overheard a conversation between a young customer and a very rude cashier at one of the well known local supermarket. The cashier gave her sweets instead of her change, and when the customer asked if she came with sweets if the supermarket would accept that as legal tender, imagine your total bill comes to 499 shillings and you reach out and give the cashier 495 shillings and two sweets, the cashier went on a rage saying next time the customer needed to choose what items she was buying better, so that she did not need the shillings, even after the customer left the rude cashier was still ranting.

A while back there was a corn snack that I loved so much, after comparing prices I decided to buy it at the supermarket where it was two shillings cheaper, sadly I never got my two shillings I got a sweet. It’s now almost legal, big retail supermarkets are making sweets to be a legal tender, but today after walking into a supermarket in Thika Town, I was supposed to get 4 shillings on top of my change but the cashier without asking and even though he had enough one shilling coins, decided to give me two shillings and a sweet, I told him no, give me my change in full or return all the items and give my money back, he gave me my change half heartedly. So now I have a couple of questions for the supermarkets (cashiers and owners included).

·         Who gave you the right to substitute my legal tender for sweets?

·         Would it kill your cashiers to ask customers kindly ‘will you have some sweets instead since we have no loose change?’ after all it’s my money.  Every morning their supervisor had better had them repeating ‘it’s not my money, it’s their money, and I am not doing them a favour, it’s their money that brought them here.’ A couple of times in the morning, tea break and lunch when the fatigue sets in should do it.

·         My dental cover, are you the one who pays for it?

·         If I wanted sweets, don’t you think they would have been in my trolley?

·         Even if I have a child, meno iki uma, will you help the poor mother put the child to sleep?

·         Are you paid by the sweet factories to sell the sweets for them

·         If I was a shilling less, would I still be able to make a purchase at your supermarket

·         Why don’t you put up notices in your supermarkets indicating that you do not give shillings in change

·         Do you know a bob can buy me one biscuit/small mango/sweet, three bob buy me a match box that will last me three weeks and guess what that shilling in the long run is a lot of money, that I could have saved.

To add insult to injury, there is no bob shortage in Kenya, why can’t they visit Mama Mboga, or the local shops and exchange their fancy notes for shillings. Imagine the thousands of shillings that they steal from Kenyans monthly, in the excuse of ‘we have no coins.’ Well today I decided, ‘give me my change,’ or ‘give me, my money.’ As for the rude cashiers, with a misplaced sense of entitlement, who think that for most indigenous Kenyans, being served in a supermarket is a privilege; it is not especially when it makes absolutely no economic sense. All Kenyans deserve value for their money; all these ads of cheaper services are of no use if you cannot get your correct change back. Call me cheap but give me back my bob, I worked hard for it. Someone had better tell these supermarkets; just because you can use the word mint with Central Bank does not mean you can give me some tasteless cavity causing mints instead of legal tender.

when did sweets become legal tender

WHEN DID SWEETS BECOME LEGAL TENDER

 I once overheard a conversation between a young customer and a very rude cashier at one of the well known local supermarket. The cashier gave her sweets instead of her change, and when the customer asked if she came with sweets if the supermarket would accept that as legal tender, imagine your total bill comes to 499 shillings and you reach out and give the cashier 495 shillings and two sweets, the cashier went on a rage saying next time the customer needed to choose what items she was buying better, so that she did not need the shillings, even after the customer left the rude cashier was still ranting.

A while back there was a corn snack that I loved so much, after comparing prices I decided to buy it at the supermarket where it was two shillings cheaper, sadly I never got my two shillings I got a sweet. It’s now almost legal, big retail supermarkets are making sweets to be a legal tender, but today after walking into a supermarket in Thika Town, I was supposed to get 4 shillings on top of my change but the cashier without asking and even though he had enough one shilling coins, decided to give me two shillings and a sweet, I told him no, give me my change in full or return all the items and give my money back, he gave me my change half heartedly. So now I have a couple of questions for the supermarkets (cashiers and owners included).

·         Who gave you the right to substitute my legal tender for sweets?

·         Would it kill your cashiers to ask customers kindly ‘will you have some sweets instead since we have no loose change?’ after all it’s my money.  Every morning their supervisor had better had them repeating ‘it’s not my money, it’s their money, and I am not doing them a favour, it’s their money that brought them here.’ A couple of times in the morning, tea break and lunch when the fatigue sets in should do it.

·         My dental cover, are you the one who pays for it?

·         If I wanted sweets, don’t you think they would have been in my trolley?

·         Even if I have a child, meno iki uma, will you help the poor mother put the child to sleep?

·         Are you paid by the sweet factories to sell the sweets for them

·         If I was a shilling less, would I still be able to make a purchase at your supermarket

·         Why don’t you put up notices in your supermarkets indicating that you do not give shillings in change

·         Do you know a bob can buy me one biscuit/small mango/sweet, three bob buy me a match box that will last me three weeks and guess what that shilling in the long run is a lot of money, that I could have saved.

To add insult to injury, there is no bob shortage in Kenya, why can’t they visit Mama Mboga, or the local shops and exchange their fancy notes for shillings. Imagine the thousands of shillings that they steal from Kenyans monthly, in the excuse of ‘we have no coins.’ Well today I decided, ‘give me my change,’ or ‘give me, my money.’ As for the rude cashiers, with a misplaced sense of entitlement, who think that for most indigenous Kenyans, being served in a supermarket is a privilege; it is not especially when it makes absolutely no economic sense. All Kenyans deserve value for their money; all these ads of cheaper services are of no use if you cannot get your correct change back. Call me cheap but give me back my bob, I worked hard for it. Someone had better tell these supermarkets; just because you can use the word mint with Central Bank does not mean you can give me some tasteless cavity causing mints instead of legal tender.

when did sweets become legal tender

WHEN DID SWEETS BECOME LEGAL TENDER

 I once overheard a conversation between a young customer and a very rude cashier at one of the well known local supermarket. The cashier gave her sweets instead of her change, and when the customer asked if she came with sweets if the supermarket would accept that as legal tender, imagine your total bill comes to 499 shillings and you reach out and give the cashier 495 shillings and two sweets, the cashier went on a rage saying next time the customer needed to choose what items she was buying better, so that she did not need the shillings, even after the customer left the rude cashier was still ranting.

A while back there was a corn snack that I loved so much, after comparing prices I decided to buy it at the supermarket where it was two shillings cheaper, sadly I never got my two shillings I got a sweet. It’s now almost legal, big retail supermarkets are making sweets to be a legal tender, but today after walking into a supermarket in Thika Town, I was supposed to get 4 shillings on top of my change but the cashier without asking and even though he had enough one shilling coins, decided to give me two shillings and a sweet, I told him no, give me my change in full or return all the items and give my money back, he gave me my change half heartedly. So now I have a couple of questions for the supermarkets (cashiers and owners included).

·         Who gave you the right to substitute my legal tender for sweets?

·         Would it kill your cashiers to ask customers kindly ‘will you have some sweets instead since we have no loose change?’ after all it’s my money.  Every morning their supervisor had better had them repeating ‘it’s not my money, it’s their money, and I am not doing them a favour, it’s their money that brought them here.’ A couple of times in the morning, tea break and lunch when the fatigue sets in should do it.

·         My dental cover, are you the one who pays for it?

·         If I wanted sweets, don’t you think they would have been in my trolley?

·         Even if I have a child, meno iki uma, will you help the poor mother put the child to sleep?

·         Are you paid by the sweet factories to sell the sweets for them

·         If I was a shilling less, would I still be able to make a purchase at your supermarket

·         Why don’t you put up notices in your supermarkets indicating that you do not give shillings in change

·         Do you know a bob can buy me one biscuit/small mango/sweet, three bob buy me a match box that will last me three weeks and guess what that shilling in the long run is a lot of money, that I could have saved.

To add insult to injury, there is no bob shortage in Kenya, why can’t they visit Mama Mboga, or the local shops and exchange their fancy notes for shillings. Imagine the thousands of shillings that they steal from Kenyans monthly, in the excuse of ‘we have no coins.’ Well today I decided, ‘give me my change,’ or ‘give me, my money.’ As for the rude cashiers, with a misplaced sense of entitlement, who think that for most indigenous Kenyans, being served in a supermarket is a privilege; it is not especially when it makes absolutely no economic sense. All Kenyans deserve value for their money; all these ads of cheaper services are of no use if you cannot get your correct change back. Call me cheap but give me back my bob, I worked hard for it. Someone had better tell these supermarkets; just because you can use the word mint with Central Bank does not mean you can give me some tasteless cavity causing mints instead of legal tender.

when did sweets become legal tender

WHEN DID SWEETS BECOME LEGAL TENDER

 I once overheard a conversation between a young customer and a very rude cashier at one of the well known local supermarket. The cashier gave her sweets instead of her change, and when the customer asked if she came with sweets if the supermarket would accept that as legal tender, imagine your total bill comes to 499 shillings and you reach out and give the cashier 495 shillings and two sweets, the cashier went on a rage saying next time the customer needed to choose what items she was buying better, so that she did not need the shillings, even after the customer left the rude cashier was still ranting.

A while back there was a corn snack that I loved so much, after comparing prices I decided to buy it at the supermarket where it was two shillings cheaper, sadly I never got my two shillings I got a sweet. It’s now almost legal, big retail supermarkets are making sweets to be a legal tender, but today after walking into a supermarket in Thika Town, I was supposed to get 4 shillings on top of my change but the cashier without asking and even though he had enough one shilling coins, decided to give me two shillings and a sweet, I told him no, give me my change in full or return all the items and give my money back, he gave me my change half heartedly. So now I have a couple of questions for the supermarkets (cashiers and owners included).

·         Who gave you the right to substitute my legal tender for sweets?

·         Would it kill your cashiers to ask customers kindly ‘will you have some sweets instead since we have no loose change?’ after all it’s my money.  Every morning their supervisor had better had them repeating ‘it’s not my money, it’s their money, and I am not doing them a favour, it’s their money that brought them here.’ A couple of times in the morning, tea break and lunch when the fatigue sets in should do it.

·         My dental cover, are you the one who pays for it?

·         If I wanted sweets, don’t you think they would have been in my trolley?

·         Even if I have a child, meno iki uma, will you help the poor mother put the child to sleep?

·         Are you paid by the sweet factories to sell the sweets for them

·         If I was a shilling less, would I still be able to make a purchase at your supermarket

·         Why don’t you put up notices in your supermarkets indicating that you do not give shillings in change

·         Do you know a bob can buy me one biscuit/small mango/sweet, three bob buy me a match box that will last me three weeks and guess what that shilling in the long run is a lot of money, that I could have saved.

To add insult to injury, there is no bob shortage in Kenya, why can’t they visit Mama Mboga, or the local shops and exchange their fancy notes for shillings. Imagine the thousands of shillings that they steal from Kenyans monthly, in the excuse of ‘we have no coins.’ Well today I decided, ‘give me my change,’ or ‘give me, my money.’ As for the rude cashiers, with a misplaced sense of entitlement, who think that for most indigenous Kenyans, being served in a supermarket is a privilege; it is not especially when it makes absolutely no economic sense. All Kenyans deserve value for their money; all these ads of cheaper services are of no use if you cannot get your correct change back. Call me cheap but give me back my bob, I worked hard for it. Someone had better tell these supermarkets; just because you can use the word mint with Central Bank does not mean you can give me some tasteless cavity causing mints instead of legal tender.

when did sweets become legal tender

WHEN DID SWEETS BECOME LEGAL TENDER

 I once overheard a conversation between a young customer and a very rude cashier at one of the well known local supermarket. The cashier gave her sweets instead of her change, and when the customer asked if she came with sweets if the supermarket would accept that as legal tender, imagine your total bill comes to 499 shillings and you reach out and give the cashier 495 shillings and two sweets, the cashier went on a rage saying next time the customer needed to choose what items she was buying better, so that she did not need the shillings, even after the customer left the rude cashier was still ranting.

A while back there was a corn snack that I loved so much, after comparing prices I decided to buy it at the supermarket where it was two shillings cheaper, sadly I never got my two shillings I got a sweet. It’s now almost legal, big retail supermarkets are making sweets to be a legal tender, but today after walking into a supermarket in Thika Town, I was supposed to get 4 shillings on top of my change but the cashier without asking and even though he had enough one shilling coins, decided to give me two shillings and a sweet, I told him no, give me my change in full or return all the items and give my money back, he gave me my change half heartedly. So now I have a couple of questions for the supermarkets (cashiers and owners included).

·         Who gave you the right to substitute my legal tender for sweets?

·         Would it kill your cashiers to ask customers kindly ‘will you have some sweets instead since we have no loose change?’ after all it’s my money.  Every morning their supervisor had better had them repeating ‘it’s not my money, it’s their money, and I am not doing them a favour, it’s their money that brought them here.’ A couple of times in the morning, tea break and lunch when the fatigue sets in should do it.

·         My dental cover, are you the one who pays for it?

·         If I wanted sweets, don’t you think they would have been in my trolley?

·         Even if I have a child, meno iki uma, will you help the poor mother put the child to sleep?

·         Are you paid by the sweet factories to sell the sweets for them

·         If I was a shilling less, would I still be able to make a purchase at your supermarket

·         Why don’t you put up notices in your supermarkets indicating that you do not give shillings in change

·         Do you know a bob can buy me one biscuit/small mango/sweet, three bob buy me a match box that will last me three weeks and guess what that shilling in the long run is a lot of money, that I could have saved.

To add insult to injury, there is no bob shortage in Kenya, why can’t they visit Mama Mboga, or the local shops and exchange their fancy notes for shillings. Imagine the thousands of shillings that they steal from Kenyans monthly, in the excuse of ‘we have no coins.’ Well today I decided, ‘give me my change,’ or ‘give me, my money.’ As for the rude cashiers, with a misplaced sense of entitlement, who think that for most indigenous Kenyans, being served in a supermarket is a privilege; it is not especially when it makes absolutely no economic sense. All Kenyans deserve value for their money; all these ads of cheaper services are of no use if you cannot get your correct change back. Call me cheap but give me back my bob, I worked hard for it. Someone had better tell these supermarkets; just because you can use the word mint with Central Bank does not mean you can give me some tasteless cavity causing mints instead of legal tender.

when did sweets become legal tender

WHEN DID SWEETS BECOME LEGAL TENDER

 I once overheard a conversation between a young customer and a very rude cashier at one of the well known local supermarket. The cashier gave her sweets instead of her change, and when the customer asked if she came with sweets if the supermarket would accept that as legal tender, imagine your total bill comes to 499 shillings and you reach out and give the cashier 495 shillings and two sweets, the cashier went on a rage saying next time the customer needed to choose what items she was buying better, so that she did not need the shillings, even after the customer left the rude cashier was still ranting.

A while back there was a corn snack that I loved so much, after comparing prices I decided to buy it at the supermarket where it was two shillings cheaper, sadly I never got my two shillings I got a sweet. It’s now almost legal, big retail supermarkets are making sweets to be a legal tender, but today after walking into a supermarket in Thika Town, I was supposed to get 4 shillings on top of my change but the cashier without asking and even though he had enough one shilling coins, decided to give me two shillings and a sweet, I told him no, give me my change in full or return all the items and give my money back, he gave me my change half heartedly. So now I have a couple of questions for the supermarkets (cashiers and owners included).

·         Who gave you the right to substitute my legal tender for sweets?

·         Would it kill your cashiers to ask customers kindly ‘will you have some sweets instead since we have no loose change?’ after all it’s my money.  Every morning their supervisor had better had them repeating ‘it’s not my money, it’s their money, and I am not doing them a favour, it’s their money that brought them here.’ A couple of times in the morning, tea break and lunch when the fatigue sets in should do it.

·         My dental cover, are you the one who pays for it?

·         If I wanted sweets, don’t you think they would have been in my trolley?

·         Even if I have a child, meno iki uma, will you help the poor mother put the child to sleep?

·         Are you paid by the sweet factories to sell the sweets for them

·         If I was a shilling less, would I still be able to make a purchase at your supermarket

·         Why don’t you put up notices in your supermarkets indicating that you do not give shillings in change

·         Do you know a bob can buy me one biscuit/small mango/sweet, three bob buy me a match box that will last me three weeks and guess what that shilling in the long run is a lot of money, that I could have saved.

To add insult to injury, there is no bob shortage in Kenya, why can’t they visit Mama Mboga, or the local shops and exchange their fancy notes for shillings. Imagine the thousands of shillings that they steal from Kenyans monthly, in the excuse of ‘we have no coins.’ Well today I decided, ‘give me my change,’ or ‘give me, my money.’ As for the rude cashiers, with a misplaced sense of entitlement, who think that for most indigenous Kenyans, being served in a supermarket is a privilege; it is not especially when it makes absolutely no economic sense. All Kenyans deserve value for their money; all these ads of cheaper services are of no use if you cannot get your correct change back. Call me cheap but give me back my bob, I worked hard for it. Someone had better tell these supermarkets; just because you can use the word mint with Central Bank does not mean you can give me some tasteless cavity causing mints instead of legal tender.