On The First Date

A lady who goes on a first date must know 'coyness'.That is when you meet the lady with a huge pocket and you would love to offer her anything and she would insist on taking only water or just a bottle of some fizzy drink.

Then you would say you have met someone who isn't meeting you to make you regret ever deciding to meet her for the first time.

Unfortunately, many people are uncultured. A lot of people in this society are just bad guests.

They come to your outdoor eating programme and they take more than they can actually eat on their plates.

When other guests haven't been served, they are looking for packs to take some servings home.

We live like we are really hungry here; and every opportunity we get to eat free foods, we see an opportunity to pack away to stock for some bad days coming.

We would eat without considering how the different food servings we put in our mouths at one time would affect our health.

A true story is told about a single lady who joined her friends on a bus for a weekend job in another region. This is a salary worker and she is going on a weekend job for an extra income.

On reaching their destination, the lady sent a message to a social media male friend that she was in town.

The guy was glad to meet her social media friend for the first time and he chose a popular place to meet the lady.

The next day after their meeting, the lady was on her assigned weekend job and started feeling feverish.

She started vomiting and passing frequent stools. Her friends got worried and hurried her to the nearby clinic. The clinic admitted her for the night.

On recovery, she told her story to one of her friends.

She finally met a guy she had been communicating with on social media. She was impressed on seeing the guy. The guy looked ' loaded' but he wouldn't buy her anything valuable or give her the money. So she took advantage of the opportunity to order for anything in sight to eat, and the guy without hesitation paid.

This lady found herself in critical ill health the next day because she saw an opportunity to eat everything in sight at the cost of a total stranger; without thinking.

I must say most people you would like to go out on a date with having the mindset of this lady.

People just feel that they have a right to have what you have the moment you try to be nice with them. Even if you give them, they feel you haven't given them enough.

It is difficult being nice here to the random person. You never know what he/she is thinking.

More than a decade ago, I was walking on the street of Accra where young women make a living on the street.

A ' young street hawker ' asked me for something early in the morning as I was walking to my workplace.

Out of impulse, I pulled out GH1. from my wallet for her.

Just as I turned to go, she said behind me in Akan ' So with this your big shoe, you can only give me GH1.'

Most people that expect us to be nice to them are ingrates.

In this love week, guests should be good guests.
Appreciate people's effort to make you feel special. Remember nobody owes you a thing.

In fact, it is a blessing to give than to receive. If you can't give, at least be appreciative of those who share the little they have with you.

Be a good guest at that fanciful place you are invited to. Exhibit some ' coyness'. Order foods and drinks with sense.

You are not the one paying.
At least, don't make it obvious you have been starving all your life or you are some starved person rescued from a war zone.

It is a first date for Christ Sake. It is not a party.

Paul Zowonu
Accra
#talkingblues
#Valantine blues
8/02/2020:11:51
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