I PURCHASED a pair of glasses some years ago as demanded by nature. The service was great and I paid and was told that when I have any problems with the frame that I should return for a backup service. This week, I returned to the same Middle Street location since I have noticed a loose connection on the arm of the frame. The info desk called a pretty young lady to address my concern. She listened then replied in flawless recitation that “if in the process of attending your frame anything happens to your frame, we are not responsible. That is our policy, kindly tell me if you are ready for us to fix your frame.” I had two options, to get really angry or to find humour in the sinister ridiculous. I choose the latter. The policy sounded like something one would hear in the script of a Mafia movie. After some exchange, I realised that the back–up service talk left out this part that if I return to the Optical service to tap into that service, if their technician screws up it’s my fault.I did see the same frame in the store, its cost was almost doubled.

The commercial culture in Guyana changed a long time ago and not exactly for the better, but it’s time we pay attention to practices that are dragging much-needed finances out of our blue colour pockets. Some years ago, I bought a desk chair from a popular Main Street store. Within a month, an arm on the chair was broken, so I went back to the same salesperson. He took me to what he described as the ‘returns room’ and told me to see if I can find a similar chair, then I can ask one of the guys there to take off the arm and I can have it. Of course, I didn’t find a similar chair, and after some searching around, I had to throw the chair out. The same occurred with a stove I purchased from a Water Street store. No spares available, no backup services. The intention is to possibly buy a new one of the same. Costly can be the risk, even fire risks, of using home appliances with defects that can’t be repaired. I have sympathised with friends who couldn’t differentiate MDF or HDF from actual wooden furniture and floors. Is it the fault of customs charges that they almost cost the same in the stores, or no price index, or just merchant greed? During the 2005 flood, I had colleagues who then realised that the wood grains on their furniture were pasted on, over a product that turned to mush when soaked by the flood waters.

The so-called good old days were not actually good, the masses were either Public Servants, Policemen, in the Defence Force, on the waterfront or salespeople somewhere. Salaries and housing were a nightmare. Dropouts never made it so ‘School Leaving’ people died from ignorance and we blamed it on superstition. However, lots of labour-based jobs filled in, and store-sold items that back-up services were offered for, that world is gone. The aspect that can be recaptured is the latter mentioned, as it applies to that which serves to protect from waste and exploitation the earnings of the low-income worker, they are the greater part of our population.

But they have skills and aptitude for skills that can add substance and value to our consumer market, once managed. My children are out of the school system, but my grandchild still is. I could never understand the absence of any sane and organised system in relation to the lack of school book identification for the following school seasons. In this area, the old days’ memory kicked in. You passed exams you received your report certificate and a book list of what text was needed in the coming term. Books were handed down from older siblings, relatives or family friends. As a parent, I lived in a time when within the first month then would the teacher request a textbook. The main Bookstore, Austin’s, either did not receive a required booklist from the ministry to have the text available- sometimes the books were there, sometimes one had to wait but strange enough the pirate facilities always had whatever text was required in photocopies. The problem with a child relating to books with coloured tables and reference visuals, now copied in smudged black and white (a managed system is required to transfer a coloured range of visuals to acceptable grey scale that pirates have no patience with, and cannot easily produce). No awareness exists to how badly photocopied books impact on some students, who have seen the originals in the store.

Perhaps there are viable reasons for consumer contempt, but what is inflicted passes by without comment because we do not examine social injuries at varying levels and weigh any consequences. No authority, NGO, or interest group pays attention, and the government entity is not expanded and empowered to incorporate these significant areas, but we have to or we will soon have no choice.