I started writing this blog to discuss the prevalent racial discrimination and prejudice I experienced in everyday life. But a recent event led me down an unplanned path.
I have numerous drafts awaiting final revision and when it comes to writing, my mind often races with new ideas rather than finalising the ones I already have. Quite often these thoughts dissolve immediately unless I write them down. But the problem is I cannot always type on my mobile phone without my reading glasses, and I cannot always find my reading glasses because I don’t always put them next to the mobile phone.
By the time I find my reading glass and breathe a sigh of relief, my thoughts are already in Rwanda, with an unknown force preventing them from re-entering.
And this is my excuse to acquire a laptop. If you are not convinced, read on.
My daytime is often encumbered and I usually have some free time at night when I can pursue my hobby, or surrender to my regular insomnia. Having a laptop next to the bedside table mean I could also save some money on the energy bills. (Excuse no 2)
With a low budget and high ambition, my journey to acquire a laptop began.
The first place I looked at was eBay for a “refurbished laptop” with “Lowest price +P&P”. The search yielded cumbersome results, and after narrowing it down to suit my needs and most importantly, my pocket, there was still much to choose from. Here are some worth mentioning: dino laptops (the father of all laptops), religious ones (plug and pray), Zen (so slow that it could help anyone practice patience) and a few toothless ones. (missing keys)
None of these was appealing, unsurprisingly.
I wanted a laptop that didn’t need to be booted a day in advance, and, I also wanted to spend approximately the same amount I would normally spend for a month’s energy bill.
The frustrating part on eBay was these Ryanair-inspired sellers. You buy a laptop, then add the components, turning a £75 laptop into over £200, just like in Ryanair where you buy a ticket for £15 and when you add a seat, luggage, priority boarding and optional breathing onboard, it becomes £150.
I didn’t really care about the appearance; it was the internals I was interested in, –literally it is the inside that counts.
I couldn’t find anything that ticked all of the boxes. Frustrating, because I only had two or three boxes to tick.
My next stop was Gumtree, but it was short-lived because there were no laptops on sale within my range- both in price and distance. I didn’t want to travel to Manchester to pick a winner between the laptop and the owner by counting the number of teeth (keys) they had left. Despite the current cost-of-living situation, I can’t believe people have stopped nicking stuff. (humour -obvs)
So, my quest to acquire a cheap laptop advanced towards the mighty Zuckerbaazar, commonly known as marketplace by Facebook.
I was initially surprised to see the range. There were plenty of labtops, A few viaos, Colour inspired ones, like – red laptop for sell, son’s old laptop , and saleing because I don’t need it variations, just to name a few.
The first ad that caught my eye was a nice (cosmetical and specifications) laptop with a free bag. The price was pretty good too. Without reading the ad in full, I messaged the seller with the famous/ready-made Zucerverse “Is this still available?”
After I pressed the send button, I noticed that the seller had” forgotten” their password, which “can be reset in a local shop.”
I immediately “left” the automatically and unnecessarily created “group.”
Thankfully, the seller did not respond immediately, and the advertisement vanished shortly afterwards. Perhaps their partner, who they thought left them, returned with the croissant and milk, as promised. Or perhaps the seller realised the password was the word forgotten (all smalls no spaces), and it worked- as told by the dying partner. Or maybe, the seller decided to return it to its rightful owner. Who knows?
My venture resumed though.
The second one I inquired about was for a Chromebook. I never owned a Chromebook and it felt like a good opportunity.
This time, the seller responded almost instantly, stating that they wouldn’t be available for 24 hours.
Those 24 hours were sufficient for me to change my mind. First, the Chromebook was ridiculously cheap, cheap enough to raise suspicions, and second, I am not always patient.
This seller answered all my questions and was very polite. (Five stars, seller! – if you are reading this). But I had already abandoned the ship, so I politely informed them that the dog had eaten my wallet.
The journey reached the third seller, who also happened to be the inspiration for this post.
As I stated earlier, I had something completely different in mind when I sat down to write this blog, but this seller forced/encouraged me to change the plot.
This particular ad was relatively new, only a few hours old. I thought I’d have a good chance. So instead of the famous verse, I asked
“What is the screen size, please?”
“I don’t know,” came the reply. Bit cold, I thought. To give the person the benefit of the doubt, it IS the coldest time of the year.
“Do you have a model number for this, please?” I politely asked again, hoping to retrieve the information from the web.
I got the model number as a one-word reply. I checked online and it matched my requirements. Quite excitedly, I asked for the collection location. The seller promptly gave a city instead of the address. I thanked the seller and asked whether they preferred cash or bank transfer.
The seller responded promptly, with “I will get back to you”.
24 hours later, I was still waiting to be “get back”. The laptop remained on sale, but the seller had gone into hibernation- so it seemed. With a sigh of disappointment, I asked the seller if the laptop was still for sale.
I received the online version of the cold shoulder. i.e. The seller read the message and ignored it. The laptop was a good value, so I attempted to reach the seller via my “other” Facebook profile.
It didn’t take long to find this seller in the marketplace.
Just to clarify, my name isn’t Sunil Karki on this profile, but rather a Christian/Western name. I created this profile during the lockdown to sell stuff online without letting my friends, family, acquaintances and their dogs know. And also, I wanted to avoid my nosey ex from snooping.
The “business” was average, some days I made a few hundred and some days nothing. I stopped selling after getting targeted by scammers, but the profile remained and so did my 19 precious friends.
Back to my story.
I messaged the seller.
“Is it still available?”
I wasn’t expecting a response. But to my surprise, the seller replied almost instantly,
“Yes, it is”
I had to recheck to confirm whether I was talking to the same seller.
I didn’t respond immediately. I waited, hoping that they would respond to my other message, too.
After 20 minutes, I fired another question, and again, I received a very prompt response.
Yet, I was still waiting for this seller to confirm whether they prefer cash or bank transfer on my other account/profile.
Finally, I asked the seller if they had certain preferences for buyers and told them that I was waiting for them to get back to me.
The buyer pretended they didn’t understand, So I sent a screenshot of the message.
Unsurprisingly I got no response. I “left” both “groups. It was time to move on.
Almost instantly, I found another one- similar in price and specs. This seller promptly told me it was sold and offered me another one. Unfortunately, the specifications weren’t great and I politely declined. This seller was very polite and professional and answered my questions promptly, despite my using the regular profile. Almost as rare as the taxi drivers who indicate before turning.
I concluded that I was overthinking. Nobody cares who the buyer is, as long as they get the money- I thought.
I continued using my main account and I contacted another seller. The advert said it had a missing lead, so I asked a question but didn’t get any response.
Once again, I decided to approach the seller with my second account.
People don’t respond for many reasons, and being impolite is one of them. I decided to check this theory, so I contacted the seller using both accounts, using different tones.
“Do you have a model number for this, please? And is it just the lead, or the adapter is missing too? Thank you,” I asked from the main account, trying to be as polite as possible.
“What’s the screen size? Is there a model number I can google for specs?” I barked from another account, As you can see, I was deliberately impolite for training and quality purposes.
Guess which one got the prompt response?
The second one. Not just the answer but a photo too.
I had to abandon my earlier conclusion. The culprit, it seems to be – was my name. Either it is very offensive, or it translates as “this man prints his own money. If you sell anything to this person, they will claim your partner too” in some language.
Or I look dodgy.
Whatever the reason, the behaviour was offensive. Rather than getting angry and morphing myself into a keyboard warrior, I decided to send the seller a message, along with a screenshot of ignored messages. I wrote:
“Thank you for your response. Apart from trying to buy a laptop, I was also attempting a social experiment. You ignored the message from a foreign-sounding name but responded instantly to a message from a Christian name, despite the latter being impolite.
I hope you will never have to experience this or any other type of discrimination because trust me; it hurts. I hope your laptop sells and all the very best. “
I didn’t get any response, so I “left the group” and decided to postpone my laptop-buying adventure.
It is understandable for people to stay vigilant and be wary, as there are many scammers around. I may have an unfamiliar name but my Facebook account has a legible profile photo, a list of websites I own and the date I joined.
Nothing mattered because a name was enough to judge.
Do you think I am overreacting/oversensitive or are people becoming more judgemental and discriminating these days?
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