YEAH, I´M PISSED...!

Went to the big city, i.e., Rio de Janeiro last week, on a business trip. I used to be a great CD listener and buyer, at a younger age and, as of today, I have (had, actually) several CDs I don´t want anymore, and I wish to sell them. Of course, I also need the money, since I´m an unemployed journalist, after ten years of work as such. (It´s a sleezy story, I´ll tell you about later...).

Well, I´ve phoned a record shop owner, asked him if he was interested and how much would he pay me per unit. The guy established two prices, one for brazilian CDs, other for imported ones. It seemed fair enough, and there I went the next day, with a heavy backpack filled with CDs, to make business.

As I got there, the guy looked at me, must have thought he was dealing with some fool and changed the price he would pay me. For the lower, no need to say. So, why promise something on the phone and act completely different when you get there? I told him the person who recommended his store to me (a very old friend) said he was an honest dealer. " I think he must rethink his values", I added.I don´t know what the guy made of it, just collected my money and left.

Unfortunately, such attitudes are becoming normal in this country (Brazil), I don´t know how it is there, wherever you´re reading this, although I´ve spent some time in Spain and Switzerland, not to mention a brief passage through France, but not time enough to see how this kind of deal would process in those countries. Well, come to think of it, I did visit a used book store in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, once, and found the prices charged there very aggreable. Of course, I don´t know how much the guys would have paid me, if I was to sell them some used stuff, but probably it would have been a completely difdferent attitude, I´m certain.

Do I hate my country? Well, it´s not a matter of hate, bur certainly attitudes like this don´t add nothing for the betterment of this nation. Well, I guess, if the government does not set good examples, as it seems to be the matter with our present rulers, what can one expect of the citizens in general, especially the ones who run their own business?

It´s probably war out there, but I tell you this, man...I´m not prepared for it.