Most Troublesome Network......

There's a turf war currently ongoing in the country and unlike in most others, this isn't about drugs or prostitution.  It's a TELECOM war, my dears and some generals are taking the piss in their desperate bid to claim customers and eat into our meagre salaries.

Last Thursday, I was sitting in my office when this number (054-430-2037) called me.  A lady by the name of Patricia informed me that she was calling from MTN, thanked me for my patience in advance (if only she'd known I was having a bad day and in a foul mood) and then went on to list the benefits of porting to MTN. I have to be honest, I do not recall the supposed benefits but Samuel Dowuna sums things up nicely here.

I've got to say I was surprised.  I'm an Airtel customer; have been from the very second they landed on our shores and I'm very happy with their service. I did not get why or how MTN had the brass bits to call me on my cellphone and ask me to port to their network. I told Patricia I wasn't interested and that I wasn't impressed by this aggressive advertising. She thanked me and we said our goodbyes.

After reading the daily graphic however, I figured out why they were doing this and had a real good laugh.  MyJoyOnline posted the article the next day "MTN, tiGO lose market share".  Out of curiosity I called Patricia back. She insisted that yes, she was an MTN employee and  could be located at the head office.  Yes, I should come over there and ask for her, I can confirm that she does indeed work there.  She informed me that she has been provided with a list of Airtel numbers and has been tasked with dialling them up and informing them of the benefits of switching to MTN.

According to Patricia, all the Telcos are using this aggressive method to get people to switch to their services. MTN has simply decided to lay back and relax so while the others are putting up posters and making noise to the general public, they target individuals.  "Oh you don't have to come to our office", she says, "we'll meet you anywhere you want and do it for you".

Seriously? Provided that Patricia isn't playing some silly game with a supposedly endless supply of credits her cocaine dealer sugar daddy has provided her, MTN in my opinion has gone too far.  Invading on an individual's privacy to advertise your services is not right.  In their minds, they think it's tele marketing and legal and therefore right.  But I disagree with them.  When I was in Memphis and had people calling my house, it wasn't that they'd identified me as a member of the competition and wanted me to switch services, it was simply them calling and asking me if I used a particular service say, "water" and what did I think about water?  Would I then be interested in trying out "milk"? No one ever called my house saying, "I know you're a coke sniffer but let me tell you that crack is better and you should switch to that".

I really feel that MTN has gone too far with this campaign of theirs. Airtel isn't calling up MTN subscribers on their cellphones and asking them to port.  I can't vouch for tiGO and Vodafone as I do not use their services.  I think it's a low down dirty game they're playing and have to say this clearly.  MTN GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER!!!! I see now why you've not been spending money to advertise porting to your network.

There's a reason why they're called the "Most Troublesome Network" and they've just gone and proved it once more. Is this the same MTN that said they were committed to Mobile number portability and wouldn't make trouble? I get it, you dropped a couple of points on the market and want to redeem yourselves.  Someone on top said "fix this" and someone went overboard and gave the order to hit 'em where the sun don't shine but I can't excuse this sort of behaviour.  It's not ethical!!!  It may be legal but it's most unethical!  It's time MTN played this game right. God protect them if Glo should get their shit together.  If MTN cannot face healthy competition from Airtel, how are they going to handle Glo, which has already cleared them out of one or two West African countries?  MTN has already received a warning for their ambush advertising. I figured they'd learn from that.

I've reported this incident to Airtel (given them the name and number) and this is my two cents thrown into the fray.  I think that it's only fair that they know what their competition is doing. I also think that it's time that the NCA checked what these TELCOS are up to.  Never mind that it's legal, I haven't had to deal with telemarketers in Ghana and am damn happy for that.  I insist that we keep things that way.

Have you had any telco call you up and ask you to switch from your network to theirs?  Please let me know.  Just drop a comment down below.  I especially want to know from other networks if Airtel is lying to me.  If MTN or any other network has pulled this stunt on you, let me know.  As always, there's two sides to a coin. I'd like to know what's happening on the other team.

~Daixy~

Continue Reading...

Silky Smooth & Sexy......

My mop broke.  That's my excuse for being at shoprite at 8:30pm on a saturday evening.  If you've met me, you'll know that I dislike the mall with a passion and try to avoid it as much as possible.  Sadly, it's the one place I will visit when I need something like a self-squeezing mop or foreign foodstuffs I won't find at my local market.

So yeah, my mop broke and I chose to go get a new one on account of I needed to finish cleaning my room.  Now, I'm gonna quit yapping about mops before I end up gushing about this new one, with it's twist to squeeze feature and easy grip.

Something shocked me as I walked bast the bath products aisle! 

See, there was a section with razors.  I love razors and shaving cream. So I decided to check if they had Venus razors.  You know, the line that's made specifically for women?  I've run out and been looking for months for venus sticks in every pharmacy or store I visit.  I figured, "Oh the mall should have them".  Oh poor naive me.

No Venus sticks!  Everything From Bic to Gillette but no Venus?

I think it was the frustration of the endless searches and the fact that I'd gotten my hopes up that made me blurt out to my male companion "Why don't they have venus razors?  Don't Ghanaian women shave?!"  My voice was a bit too loud (usually I can be heard from accross a room lol) and I could hear the couple behind me laugh out loud.  My friend said, "No they don't.  Haven't you seen the hairy legs and the beards that could rival mine?"

Come to think of it, ghanaian women don't seem to like to shave their legs.  Or faces, or their bikini area.  I once had a roommate (in college) laugh at me when I complained that I couldn't find my favourite Gillette women's shaving cream on the market.  She laughed even harder when I switched to NAIR and asked me why I bothered.

Well I think women should live by the Triple S Principle. Yes they should have SSS= Skin So Soft.  And that oh so soft skin should also be SSS= Silky-Smooth and Sexy.  Nothing irks me more than seeing a woman in a short skirt and beautiful legs that are suffocating underneath a heavy layer of hair, and yet my fellow ghanaian women are reluctant to grab a razor, so much so that a whole shoprite will not bother stocking a special line of razors for women.  You've never had a perfect shave until you've tried a Venus razor, in my opinion.  Their special bikini area trimmer is a wonderful addition to a woman's bathroom routine and their soothing solution for razor bumps is marvelous!

I saw a woman once in town and she was sporting a hairy face.  For a while, I thought she was a man until i noticed the dress.  Even the men shave their beards.....why can't we get rid of ours when our bodies decide to produce too much testosterone?  Oh and that one time at the beach where this girl showed up in a bikini but had forgotten to trim her bikini area?  Like seriously?  And you see it all the time.  Pretty women who work at the bank, wearing their short tight little numbers with orangutan legs to match....

I have lots of questions.

First is, do ghanaian women truly object to shaving/waxing/trimming legs and other areas?

2. If you do remove/manage hair, what products do you use?
3. Why do you choose to shave (or otherwise) ?
4. If your local store stopped shipping whatever product you use for hair removal, would you demand that they restock?

5. Ghanaian guys, what do you think about women who shave/wax their legs?

6. And what of women who don't?  Would you be cool hanging out with a woman whose legs were much more hairy than yours?

Let's hear from you, people.  I want to know what the deal is with this.

I've Missed this space.  Hopefully work will afford me some time to revisit.  Thanks to those who still check out this space.  God Bless,

~Daixy~

Continue Reading...

Corrupt Conductors Conniving to Cheat!...

Image by acameronhuff via Flickr

So last weekend, Obed Sarpong of "Ready to Chew" gave me a copy of Ayi Kwei Armah's "The Beautiful Ones are not yet Born.  In the beginning chapter, a corrupt conductor confesses, albeit subconsciously to cheating his passengers.  I was successfully grossed out in that chapter (and the following one), especially by the actions of the equally disgusting driver against "The Man", whose sole crime is falling asleep in the bus.

Today's post isn't about the book, however.  I haven't finished it yet.  Multiple tasks at work and elsewhere have had me so busy that chapter three is as far as I've made it.  I'm not going to rant about how horrible it is, for me not to wrap it up, especially as I'd usually be done in less than two hours but I will say that I will finish it before the next week begins (I need some me time).

It's really sad that corruption still runs rampant in Ghana today.  Things have changed since Independence and yet people still find it necessary to lie and cheat their way out of their so called poverty.  Disabled persons who have been trained by the "Ghana Federation for the Disabled" refuse to practice their crafts and prefer to litter the streets.  One cured leper (at least I hope she's cured) hangs about the National Theatre, thumping her stump (for want of a better word.  it's 4am and I can't think) against private car and taxi windows to demand money.  Not only does she bang incessantly on the glass, but she hurls insults and curses at you when you refuse to hand over money. SMH.

A seemingly blind man approaches my car and even without my uttering a word greets me with "My daughter, good morning."  Eii!  With my windows rolled up, how did you know I was a woman?  And a daughter at that! I sincerely doubt that he was able to smell my perfume.  How sad does one have to be to pretend to be blind?  Before someone jumps on my neck, I'll say this now.  There was no one standing next to him.  This was on the flag staff road and he was all alone. My perfume must have been really strong for it to permeate glass, plastic and metal. Or he's the ghanaian version of the daredevil.  You take your pick.

Even when the avenues are created for the less fortunate to make a little something of themselves, it seems the need to stick it to the man overwhelms the desire to fend for oneself.  It saddens me every time I recall a friend's story about how her father offered  a Chadian woman a job so she could take her children off the street.  Would you believe the woman run her finger on her skin then on his and asked if he was right in the head?  That "how can I come and work for you, a slave?"  And yet she was okay with standing by the road with her kids and begging that slave for money.  

What is this country and the world for that matter heading for? There are people willing to help, and yet someone sits somewhere and decides that they are above a type of work.  Sad thing is, I know how my friend feels cuz my own dad had a similar response when he offered to help one of them (eugh I hate using that term, "one of them".  Generalisation is awful! Hopefully you get that it's not my intent). After getting such an answer, you pretty much feel like dirt and that it's not worth the effort to help anyone at all.  This is what happens when we let this evil fester in us.  It becomes a dog eat dog world, with everyone looking out for themselves.

Now why am I so pissed off?  Well I went to visit a friend at Spintex.  I knew the place to be "Flowerpot Junction" Not having a car anymore, I chose to save money and take a tro tro instead of a taxi.  The tro tro to the Accra Mall was no problem but I've only driven to that area like twice and had no idea what the stops were called.  My friend told me to tell them I was going to Junction, so I did and paid 55p for the trip from the station to "junction".  Now it soon became clear that junction was farther away than my actual stop.  The lady next to me had said she was going to flowerpot and I realised her stop was the same as mine.  She told me the fare to flowerpot was 40p. So we both alerted the mate (conductor) and as i got out of the car, I asked for my change.  The mate slapped something into my hand and before I could raise my head, the tro tro shoved off.  What was in my palm? A 5p coin.

I had been swindled!  Me!  The Darling Daixy!  

I'm still amazed.  It's not the fact that he took my 10p.  Bah to heck with that.  It's only going to buy me water.  Not enough to get me gum even, and yet it still rankles.  Just because he realised I did not know where the junction was, he'd pilfered my hard earned 10p.  That's what annoys me ; being underestimated and written off as some foolish newbie who does not and will never know the ways of the street.  I felt (and still do) violated and insulted.  A girl steps out of her comfort zone (what business do I have in the Spintex Area? eh) and the first thing that happens is someone takes advantage of her?  I'm really getting tired of this.  Stuff keeps happening that digs me deeper into my jaded shell.  Soon, there'll be none of the humanity left in me, just a spectre with a strong conviction that she must never be taken advantage of. Much like the rest of the nation is becoming. 

As though I wasn't bad enough.  LOL

~Daixy~

*tro tro: mini van for public transport

Continue Reading...

The Ghanaian Engine That...

Turned Lil' Miz Daixy Into a Giggling Idiot.

So a couple of Months ago, my buddy Tetekai over at Lyrix Chronicles wrote about "Wanting a TsooTsoo Train".  She bemoaned the lack of what we've come to recognise as a "proper train".  Thanks to our childhood books and cartoons/movies, a lot of us (myself inclusive) seem to think of trains as engines with carriages; ergo the disappointment at seeing a ratty old cargo train.

Well, I've already said this to her, but can't keep from telling everyone else that I saw a real live choo choo train! 

So umm....a friend kidnapped me Friday evening to go get my hair fixed at "Melon Salon" at Dzoworlu (you really need to check this place out).  Let's just say, I really needed a proper trim.  Anywho, I was waiting for my turn when I heard this alarm and ignorant moi, asked "what the heck's going on out there?"  Well, my buddy just turns to me and says, "Oh that's just the train". 

Just the train? Just the train?!!! Never in my entire life living in Ghana, have I ever seen a train.  Not even the snarly cargo thing that Tetekai saw. So what did this grown woman do?  I ran out of the salon to stand by the roadside, yelling for him to grab a camera.  Lo and behold, there really was a train and it was loading passengers.  "The train moves to and from Tema" my friend says and all the while, I'm asking ridiculous questions he can't possibly answer.  "How long has it been running?" "You mean to say it's been running since we were kids?" "Oh my gosh, how big is it? How fast can it go?" I was truly blown away by the fact that Accra has a running "train". This one, in fact.

source: http://www.ghanabusinessnews.com/

Yes, I waited out there for the train to finish loading and then watched it finally pull out.  I counted six (6) carriages! Did I mention I was holding my friend's hand the whole time? (Poor guy didn't get why I was so excited, lol) My mind must have swapped with that of a four year old or something because I really did giggle, gasp and laugh with obvious glee as the red, gold and green worm snaked it's way out of my sight.

And then I called Tetekai to scream about it, like the excited schoolgirl I am inside!  It didn't end there though.  While pinned under the good old comb and scissors, the train passed by on it's way from Tema.  I forgot to ask where in Accra it ends.  You'd think I'd have my fill of trains after that, right?  No way!  As we were driving from Dzoworlu into Osu, we were stopped right before the train tracks.  Why? The train was passing through, AGAIN on its way to Tema.  Of course, that had me on the phone once more, rubbing it into poor Tetekai's face (or ears, if you will) that I'd seen a real train.

I'm not joking about this.  Forget the subways in New York and such that I've seen and been on, I have NEVER set eyes on any sort of train in Ghana  (unless you count the kiddie trains at the Efua Sutherland Children's Park).  

Now all that remains for me to do is take a ride on Accra's CHOO CHOO TRAIN!!!

Happy New Year!!!

~Daixy~

PS. I know it's so very American of me to say "choo choo" instead of "tsoo tsoo" but until I heard Keteke's Tsoo Tsoo in 2000, I had no idea ghanaians called it that lol.

Continue Reading...

Chotto Kawaiiii

Image via Wikipedia

Driving out with dad today, I was busy running my mouth off when I heard a little voice calling, "bye bye..."  Looking up at the SUV next to me, I noticed the little tyke waving at me from the passenger window.  Forgetting the point I was making to my dad, I found myself turning into a squealing baby lover.  "Aaaaaw aren't you cuuuuuute!  Buh Bye......"  Complete with giant smile and waves. It's this quarter life crisis I tell you!  I can't resist cute and adorable children!!!!!




And then I spent most of the rest of the drive gushing to dad about how cute the little boy was and how when I have kids I'd want them to be as sweet as that one.  It wasn't until later that I realised,

• He was in the front seat
• On his mother's lap
• He wasn't in a car seat!!!
• His mother didn't smile at me (maybe she doesn't like people complimenting her son and refusing to compliment her :P) 
• I want one of my own!!! Not in the distant future, or next year, or tomorrow....I want one NOW!  The boyfriend better get to work fast lol.

I got nothing but mad rambling today.  Sorry.......I'm going to give myself a good work out and get off this happy high lol
~Daixy~

Continue Reading...