Do you ever feel cheated after buying something? I do, many times. And it’s not even big purchases but I still feel I don’t get my money’s worth.

There’s a small supermarket near where I live and I enjoy shopping there not just because of the convenience but the fact that there’s a courteous cashier there who also happens to be good-looking.

He’s a guy of course. That said, I have my issues with this supermarket. The bread stays too long but many times, I have no choice and so I just buy the bland and close to stale bread.

Whoever delivers it brings too much and I guess he can’t bring more unless the previous supplies are finished. It would be a lot better if he brought a few loaves at a time and only brought more as need arose.

My other problem with this specific bread is that it lacks consistency. I once wrote about my love for certain brands, including food.

Don’t you like the fact that whether you’re in China, Nigeria or Brazil, the classic Coca Cola drink tastes the same? So how come this bread tastes different every week?

One week it’s yellow, the next brown or white! Sometimes it’s too sweet and other days you can barely taste the sugar.

And it’s not like they offer different flavours of the bread. Instead, they take the liberty to choose what it will be for that week.

I’m starting to think that workers at this bread factory are fired all the time or they simply aren’t keen on their work. And whoever does the slicing also needs to style up because the pieces are uneven, even on the same loaf.

One is big and the one right after that is much smaller. I wonder if they know about slicers or they do it manually.

There’s also the spread for the bread whose name I will not mention because I wouldn’t want to be sued. Anyway, I bought a tin of this too and about three days later, I’m scooping some to put on my bread and the knife slides right through to the bottom of the tin.

Curious, I take a closer look and what do I find? A section of empty space! This must have been what people who coined the term "buying air” had in mind.

In the same supermarket is something else I like to treat myself to. No, not chocolate. Call me nuts but I’ve never understood people’s fascination with chocolate and thank God it’s expensive, another excuse for me not to join the craze.

I meant groundnuts, and don’t you dare laugh at me. These nuts are special. Whoever makes them goes the extra mile and removes the skins.

You know how embarrassing it can be to have that red stuff glued to your teeth. For a long time, these nuts cost 300Rwf a sachet, a very fair price.

And then recently, the price rose to 500Rwf. I was outraged, mainly because I didn’t see the need for a price increase.

No special ingredients have been added, nor has the packaging been spruced so why the raise, I wondered. To make matters worse, the quantity of the nuts was reduced and I was basically paying more for less.

I threw a tantrum and boycotted the higher-priced nuts for a few days, if not to save a few francs, to at least send a message that a certain consumer was unhappy.

I seem to have been the only unhappy one because the nuts are continuing to fly off the shelf. So, the tantrum is off.

To be continued…
nsophie77@yahoo.com