Today, I went to Esteem bakery, Zaria to buy bread. I had no cash with me so I asked for their their POS.
Immediately I punched my card pin, the amount was deducted and I instantly received the alert for the transaction.
However, the lady at the counter informed me that the transaction was declined from the POS. Well, I showed her the alert of the deduction. She casually said “it’ll be reversed sir.”
She printed a paper from the POS showing failure of the transaction and reversal of the payment and handed same to me.
The loaves of bread were already with me but I couldn’t leave with them. After my “failed transaction” four other people’s transactions all failed but they too like me, received debit alerts.
Knowing that the lady was just an over the counter salesgirl, I asked for the phone number of the manager or any of her superiors or supervisors. She obliged. I called the number several times but none of my calls was picked.
We formed a standing committee of debited but failed and yet to reverse transactions. With pains and anger, we decided to wait, expecting reversal of the failed transactions. None came.
After like more than 30 minutes of waiting, a customer walked into the bakery hall, seeing us all standing, he asked, what’s the problem?
After learning of what happened, he informed us that he too had such failed transaction from same bakery and for the past five days, it hasn’t been reversed.
He told us that the bakery was to be blamed. That they only have one POS machine and that it is a Zenith bank operated POS. Zenith what? We all asked in unison.
In unison, we all decided to check the printed paper from the POS and it dawned on us that it was indeed a Zenith bank machine.
That’s when my anger shot to boiling point but I had to control myself, knowing that the salesgirls have no control over what the bakery does. They just follow orders: they too are victims of a non functional system.
I left without the loaves of bread and my meager money shortened with ₦1800. As I write this, I’m angry with our banking system, a system that wasn’t ready but forced on us; I’m angry with the bakery for treating it’s customers as nonentities.
Indeed, I’m angry with lack of competition. Esteem bakery is just a building away from Bitmas bakery. When Bitmas bakery was operational, Esteem bakery was looking for customers as people hardly patronise it.
As Esteem bakery lacks competition, it does what it likes to its customers. As our political elites face no existential threats, they force painful economic and politically ill thought out policies down our throats.
Now irresponsible leadership and irresponsive business ventures have come together to continue loading painful experiences on Nigerians and Nigerians cannot do anything about it.
We can only lament, repetitive lamentations that move no shadows. As we lament, my home is without bread.
A home without cash! A home without loaves!! A home without bread!!!
No thanks to an unredied cashless system forced on us.