Why Don’t You Want my Money?
Nov. 14th, 2008
Salaroche

Living in Malta is quite an experience. The island is indeed beautiful in many ways and the people are, in general, very pleasant to deal with. As a foreigner, I don’t hesitate to say that I don’t have much to complain about here.

I have lived in a few different countries and I have visited a few others as well and, although I know I’m not as much of a globetrotter as some of my friends are, I know I’m not your regular parochial guy either.

But the more I travel, the more I realize that human nature is the same wherever I go. The way that people address, express and suppress their own human nature, on the other hand, can vary quite markedly from one country to another.

At the bottom, however, we all have the same basic instincts, needs and desires. Attention, for one, is something we all require to have in varying degrees according to the circumstances that surround us and regardless of the country we might live in. 

For example, when a customer enters any particular store in any country of the world, she expects to get the attention that her presence in the store demands. Why? Because, usually, a customer enters a store with the idea of buying something, so she can reasonably expect that the store attendant will be there to try to sell her what she wants.

But what happens when the store attendant doesn’t play her part? What happens when the store attendant ignores the presence of the customer or dissimulates her being aware of the customer’s presence?

We know that human nature is always the same wherever we go, so we could assume that there are basically two reasons why the store attendant would intentionally adopt such attitudes: 1) She’s not interested in selling or, 2) She’s interested in selling, but she’s playing a power game.

If reason No. 1 explains the attendant’s attitude, then the attendant doesn’t know what she’s doing and should seek professional counseling; for to open a store in order not to sell anything would be one of the most absurd and nonsensical things any human being could do, no? 

But if reason No. 2 explains the attendant’s attitude, then it would most likely be because the attendant assumes that the customer’s need to buy is greater than the owner’s need to sell, right?

But both reasons would be wrong for the store in question and any store owner who uses any of those two reasons as the rationale for her business is clearly on the wrong track, unless, of course, the store in question happens to be in Malta.

Why would the fact that the store in question is in Malta change the whole situation?

Because there’s not much competition in Malta, so, many store owners just sit back and comfortably wait for the customers to take the initiative. They know that the customers don’t have too many choices available to them other than the store they attend or own, so they play power games with the customers.

As I mentioned above, I can frankly admit that I don’t have much to complain about here in Malta, but one of the things that I do criticize is the absence of desire to do business that pervades the atmosphere of many stores and shops here in Malta.

Extrapolating to the whole island, I could also say that there’s a certain misplaced complacency in a good portion of the local population; a complacency that is definitely not conducive for the economic progress of the island.

For example, regarding the traditional local habit of closing most stores at 1:00 PM and reopening them at 4:00 PM, can anyone give me a reasonable explanation as to what productive endeavor is everybody engaged in during those three long hours every single workday of the week?

I really think that Malta is a beautiful island in many ways, but I also think that it could be beautiful in many additional ways if everybody were to pull together and help create a much more dynamic business environment here in Malta. 

In the meantime, why do you ignore me as a customer? Why do you shut me out from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM every business day? Why don’t you want my money?