It's been over 10 days since I stopped working with my uncle at his shop but the observations and benefits I got from this experience are innumerable. And while selling to a more alcohol and tobacco loving population, or clientele, if that makes it sound better, I noticed that every reputable and profitable income generating activity is built around the concept of observation. Or what the economics guys would call feasibility studies. So, you want to study your potential clientele and know exactly what they want, even if their wants lead them to their graves. Even if their wants have nothing to do with their needs. That's totally not your concern as long as it gives you the dough.
For the over 45 days I worked with my uncle, I had a daily routine of selling contraceptives, low quality sachet whisky and above all other things, cigarettes. These cigarettes which have brands that vary from Rothmans of London, Benson and Hedgers, Lambert and Butler, and those are just my favorite brand names, also give you the ability to choose from a variety of fragrances(flavours). Do you want it to smell like menthol, or just normal, or with a strawberry flavour? You can get all of these if and when you want to.
It is in the daily process of unwrapping cigarette cartons to sell smaller packets, or just unsealing packets to retail sticks, that I come across, once again, but with serious attention, this caution written on all of them. The good thing with cigarettes is that they, despite the brands or flavours, have at least three(3) things in common:
1. They contain nicotine and a bunch of other crappy stuff.
2. They can't be consumed without being lighted(the fun intended)
3. They all have this magical catchphrase "Tobacco seriously damages the health of the smoker and that of his entourage"
The funny thing is that this "Death note" is estranged to none; not even to the cigarettes buyer, nor to the seller nor to their "entourage". But you'd agree with me that smokers don't really care about their lungs or their health. Which gets me wondering... How'd you love/care for others if you don't even love/care for yourself? The Golden rule has it that you should do unto others as you'd love them to do unto you but I feel like you should do unto yourself what will, might also benefit others. And with this, I ask this question: "Are smokers bad people?"
For purposes of clarity, I'd love to limit my scope of debating only to those who smoke nicotine. So we'll spare us the hefty task of thinking or making allusion to unconventional means of smoking(whatever that means)... And I'd love to say that though people might say that their individual actions don't have to influence the population, I just think smoking is one of those rare practices that rubs of negatively on the smoker's "entourage". You must've noticed how I put "entourage" in inverted commas... That's because the smoker's entourage doesn't only refer to those he's close to or is working with. It also includes those passers-by who get the heat and smoke from the sticks set ablaze every now and then. But "bad" too can have slightly different meanings from culture to culture. And in my culture(literally mine only), smokers, or let's say the majority of them, are bad people. They are not bad because they smoke, if I was to proceed by that analogy, I'd call fornicators and drunks are bad people also. But I'm no judge and definitely not God.
What I dislike is the comfort, rather the ease with which these smokers endanger themselves (I don't care about them endangering themselves only though) and a bunch of people around them. These makes me sick. It's like wanting to die and taking your friend along on your suicide trip. That's wicked and somewhat psychopathic.
I know a lot of people from the western world don't have these problems because there are smoker restricted zones et all. And others have respectable smoker buddies/family who always smoke in isolation. But for the average African, we have to deal with the smoke everyday from:
1. Random strangers,
2. Customers who feel entitled to smoking in front of us because they bought from us,
3. To elder siblings or parents who don't think they're infringing our basic human rights by smoking in our space.
If you're that smoker who doesn't respect people and decide to die with them, then you're normally a very bad person. If you've been tolerating these smokers, you should stop today, unless of course that'll mean losing your clientele, then you'd just have to persevere let's say, because it's for the greater good.
And please when next you buy a cigarette don't utter some gibberish like "Why do you sell it if we can't smoke it here?" Because they sell contraceptives at shops but they don't copulate in those shops.
What do you think? Does buying your own poison make you bad?
