A Second Witness

I had already reviewed this place once. When friends unknowingly visited the same restaurant four days later, they endured the very same treatment, bad manners in person, their time wasted, and warm words only for the audience online. So much for "dignity and respect, always".

A Reunion and a Request

Having met up with friends I had not seen in forty years at the Jerry Eze event, we were invited to their Airbnb apartment the following evening. My best friend, being the cousin of the lady, was asked to gather ideas on where to find Nigerian takeaway meals.

Given where they were staying, I looked up nearby locations for deliveries, unaware that they intended to collect the food themselves. My friend, already familiar with my experience at the restaurant the week before, felt that it was my exacting standards, rather than poor customer service, that had informed my unfavourable review of the place.

Against My Better Judgement

Whilst I disagreed, he prevailed upon me, and against my better judgement, I shared details of this place along with an alternative. As it was a Sunday, there was a possibility that the restaurant could fulfil an order placed early and collected later. We did not share anything else about my experience, so as to eliminate any bias towards the outfit.

They received the information after attending church in the early afternoon, and set off to collect the order in the late afternoon. It was a single order for the four of us: the old favourites of okra stew and semolina for my best friend and me, and egusi stew with pounded yam for our friends.

A Familiar Disappointment

They had their own ordeal: a bad attitude from the chef, who closed the door in their faces, whilst the manager who had cut off my call during the earlier episode now played the apologetic service provider, distancing himself from the situation whilst asking for a good review.

An AI-generated infographic on the blog content. (Click to enlarge.)

My friends had their time wasted. The food was not ready when they had agreed to collect it, and there were others also waiting, in what looked less like a busy day than a business accustomed to holding customers in hock once an order has been placed and no alternatives remain. Coupled with a lackadaisical manner, it amounted to taking on more than they could handle.

They ended up going to McDonald's for a bite, because they could not even get basic snack food elsewhere, before returning for a long wait to collect. More than an hour of the afternoon was lost on a business that has no concept of the value of time.

An Apology for the Audience

Their public reply, posted to my Google Maps review, read as contrite yet revealed itself as mere sophistry. They assured me that they "treat everyone with dignity and respect always", a claim my friends could comfortably refute, having had a door shut in their faces by the chef.

They were glad I thought the food good, gutted that I felt the call was dropped, and insistent that it was not from their end and that they had rung back before seeing the review.

Yet the warmth arrived only once the review was public. Had that courtesy been extended in the moment, my friends would have had a very different afternoon. An apology prompted by an audience is not service; it is damage control.

The Verdict

With a second, unconnected customer having had the very same experience, one can conclude that the first review was not off the mark. When people show you who they are the first time, that is who they are. Whilst I am still sparing them the ignominy of being named and shamed, they would never be recommended again.

The meal was passable, yet the okra stew never reached my expectations in aroma, taste, quality, or quantity; it was forgettable. Our friends fared no better: they had wanted egusi and were served efo riro instead, with pounded yam, and were offered an extra portion of pounded yam only on condition that they left a good review. It was another case of food advertised on the app proving unavailable once the order was placed.

To think I had suffered the indignity of excusing bad manners for the sake of good food, only to find that the food I really wanted did not make the grade. Best to blot it out of memory: a brief encounter to end all encounters.

Reference: my original review, "Essential Snobbery 101: Good Food Is No Substitute for Good Manners" (akinblog.nl, 23 September 2026).

A Gemini Notebook AI Podcast on this blog

Essential Snobbery 101: The privilege of setting expectations

Preparedness as a notion

When I embarked on a business trip to the UK from Nigeria in the second half of November 1990, I knew it would be chilly, but I had no inkling as to how cold it would be. I bought myself a jacket that would have been too warm for Lagos, yet it was inadequate for the weather in London. I was soon shopping for warmer clothes.

Being prepared for the weather, environment, and situation of where you are visiting is paramount to hopefully enjoying your sojourn; failing that, certain standards should be met to make your stay comfortable. 

For instance, my mother was on a pilgrimage to the Jordan part of the holy lands in August. To an extent, the type of clothes and shoes they should have was part of the travel information that ensured a lady in her late 70s did not suffer the ravages of the change of the weather.

Standards must be exceeded

When I visited India in December 2011, there were things to expect of India, and there were things I expected of my hosts. It was hot and humid on one side, but they somehow had forgotten that they had brought over people from Europe, expecting us all to just muck in like backpackers to India.

That was not going to wash with me. A few conversations with the people who matter appeared to raise the standards of accommodation, consideration, food, and facilities. Everyone benefited from my interventions.

On a contract in France in September 2012, we were lodged in a hotel unsuitable for the calibre of people we were; it was in a noisy and somewhat dangerous neighbourhood. My case was simple, putting aside the standard of the hotel that was below par, we already had a stressful job to do, the last thing anyone needed was people unable to do their work proficiently because of bad nights at their hotel. We were rehoused to a more agreeable location the next night.

One will not be ignored

In May 2015, I was in South Africa for business, where my hosts did not consider it necessary to receive me and introduce me to the people and activities I had come to fulfil. On the first and second day of my arrival, the main contact went about her own business as if I were of no consequence, and that was her prerogative. Anyway, I wrote up the chain that I had not travelled 6,000 miles to be treated like that, and I would be on the next flight back to the UK.

That was an epiphany to them, for immediately, everyone assumed the roles they were supposed to and the rest of my trip turned out right. All this is predicated not necessarily on complaining, but if you have an opinion or a question, it would not be conveyed by silence; it needs to be expressed with the aim of achieving something. At least, that is the way I view things.

The privilege of knowing you

I guess there are expectations, and mine could be a bit high by reason of what I am accustomed to, and I make no apology for that. If a service or facility has been acquired and its delivery raises questions, then the questions should be asked, politely, directly and properly, making some allowances whilst seeking satisfactory answers in word and deed. It is not too much to ask for, in my humble opinion.

Maybe it is a case of an unacknowledged sense of privilege that by default sets the standards I expect, sets the tone of the conversation I am having, sets the level of the requirements I expect to be met and sets the quality of response that my interlocutors should rise to.

I cannot tell, but when I make a statement about service, conduct, provision, situation or circumstance, I expect the standard to be raised, and sometimes it would rise beyond the competence of the people it is required of, if they are not so accustomed to meeting demands.

South Africa: This humble customer is not a diva

Drop the stars and give me service

Why? I lamented, do I end up in places where I have to demand they raise standards? This is not my calling. When an expectation is set, I expect it to be exceeded, especially if a hospitality establishment dares to boast a 5-star rating.

It is important we understand what hotel ratings are and I am afraid, this hotel fails to breach the mark it has been assigned.

Earl Grey, yes, Earl Grey

This morning, I arrived for breakfast and the standard should be once I am seated, I should be asked if I want tea or coffee. I was not asked until I had to go up to the waiters and ask for a pot of tea. I wanted Earl Grey tea. That is standard fare in any self-respecting place.

The waitress said, there was no Earl Grey tea and then asked if she could offer me another flavour of tea. No, you do not ask to change the desired taste of a customer except when you have something better to offer. I refused and insisted on being served Earl Grey tea, failing that, it should be available tomorrow morning.

She flipped back at me that there is no Earl Grey tea. At which point, there was no point wasting my time conversing with her as I made for the reception and put in a formal request to be served Earl Grey tea tomorrow morning. Soon, one of the managers came to me and promised that my request will be fulfilled.

I’m not signing what I shouldn’t

Then, this evening, again I paid a deposit at the reception and was asked to sign the slip when the receipt slip clearly stated “No customer signature is required.” Much as the Chef de Réception insisted my signature was for accounting purposes, I refused to offer a signature where it was not needed.

In fact, one of the two lifts has been out of commission since this morning and did I mention they seem to have allowed their television channel subscriptions to lapse since yesterday.

Not like the menu says

Then for the third time of being a masochist, I returned to the restaurant for dinner. I received the menu, scanned the options and asked for smoked salmon roulade for my starter and spaghetti Bolognese for my plat principal.

The waitress returned apologising that the salmon roulade was not available, to which I suggested they take it off the menu, because this was my third night of asking and it was not available. I then asked was the ‘Soup of the Day’ was, she responded, 'mushroom soup'. Well, I had that yesterday, so I offered another suggestion that they rename the menu item, ‘Soup of the Week’, we both laughed, but I was serious.

I ended up with a carpaccio of beef, it just about passed the muster, before my main course arrived. I put my fork in it, twisted and rolled the pasta and to my buccal cavity it went before I motioned to the waitress to bring me the menu to confirm what I ordered.

I checked and it said, spaghetti Bolognese cooked al dente. I was missing the al dente part, now if I were in a papier-mâché art class, the pasta would have been gooey enough to use as binder for paper. I was having none of it, so I first told her, what I was served was not what I had ordered and suggested she return it to the chef because the spaghetti was not al dente.

Amends made

A few minutes later, the chef came out to apologise and said he will make amends, then another chef came to chat to me, apologising again and promising I will get me spaghetti, the way it is supposed to be made. Suffice it to say, pasta should be the simplest of meals to make, but it is also one that betrays a lack of attention to detail of the very basic cuisine.

Ten minutes later, my meal arrived and yes, there was a bite in the spaghetti, it was al dente and I more or less cleared my plate. If I have been poisoned for my insistence on quality, I will have suffered nobly for the sake of what is right.

I decided there was no point ordering a dessert lest they come up short of what was needed. When the bill came, the chef said my meal was on the house. To be honest, like I have said many times before, I pay because I expect the service, I am not waiting to be compensated for what should have been there in the first place. I signed the bill and offered a gratuity too.

I fear, my situation makes it appear as if I am a diva, but nothing could be further from the truth. I am not a vexatious customer, I am a humble customer with simple requirements that I appear to expect to be met. Surely, there is nothing wrong with that or with the expectation that a 5-star hotel should aspire to be what it says it is.

South Africa: Enter the soapbox European

We expect and intend

One thing that fills me with pride as a European is the embracing sense of humanity that we tend to have that tends to seek to treat others with respect and dignity. Sometimes, in our rush to help situations we might miss out on essential elements of custom, tradition, beliefs, setting or understanding that could make our intrusiveness and interventions in the quest for the greater good unwelcome. We mean well, even if we are naïve.

I have a tendency to carry around my European world-view wherever I go and where I do observe situations I find somewhat intolerable, you will find me doing something about it.

I returned to my hotel to meet a sense of unhelpfulness that I tolerated until we were hit with load shedding that led to a power outage of almost two hours. I am sure, I read somewhere in the hotel about banishing the inconvenience of load shedding which has been a problem in South Africa recently.

Serving the lights out

When the generators were switched on, only single lights in the apartments were powered, the sockets were dead and well, the emergency lightings and lifts were still operational.

This meant my laptop ran until it conked out, there was no television to watch, but the complimentary wireless Internet service was still operational. Going down to the restaurant, the tables had candlelight, this was not going to be a romantic dinner for one.

The waiter had torches and the kitchen had no hot food to offer. Not a situation I liked at all. I returned to my room to have biscuits when the reception were not as helpful as would have expected in helping me order a takeaway meal.

I was ready to go to bed on an empty stomach when the lights were restored, it gave me time to fix my South African phone and contemplate a second visit to the restaurant. After sitting for about 10 minutes, I got to remonstrate with the waiters to attend to me promptly before I got the service I went there for.

Trying for a pass

The starter I wanted yesterday was again not available today, but the mushroom soup starter and ostrich fillet main course appeared to make up for the unfortunate showing yesterday. By my rating, this is NOT a 5-star hotel, it does not even aspire to be anywhere near a good 4-star hotel either.

Yet, it might appear that I am blinkered by my First World problems mind-set, but knowing what comfort and convenience along with good customer service is, verdict comes in at below par, they are trying, but this leaves many of us in a quite trying situation, whether this redeemable, we’ll just have to see.

The day at work was ordinary and hectic, signing in myself, my computers and other extraneous activities and protocols that tested my patience almost to the point of exasperation. The indignities people suffer in these climes will not be attempted in Europe.

This is not us

However, it was visiting a venue where we engage a number of technical personnel down a convoluted contract chain that left me utterly appalled.

The room had no natural light, the air-conditioning was barely functions, and the air reeked of ozone emissions from an overcrowded computer building facility where the owners or the building had pasted signs prohibiting any kind of recording equipment for recording videos or photographs.

We were watched intently from each corner by cameras in what was essentially a sweatshop by generous assessment. It might have lacked sewing machines, but with my European eyes, I did not believe anyone should be working in those conditions.

More pertinently, I do not believe anyone engaged by my company to deliver the kind of critical infrastructure they deliver for us should be working in those conditions.

Use your leverage for good not for cost alone

It behoves my organisation it impress on the contractual chain to either move this activity to other premises, or make it more habitable. In the first 5 minutes, I was beginning to feel claustrophobic.

Yet, much as the people working there might not have the clout or say in determining the conditions in which they work, we should be ashamed of ourselves that some of my colleagues from the UK had seen these premises have never had the gumption to make this a matter of decency and dignity above the issue of cost.

This is why I hate politics in all its ramifications, from the government to the office, people are pandering and genuflecting, in personal quests for position and authority no matter whose ox is gored, forgetting their humanity and sense of empathy and compassion. It ought not be so, and I will be make representations to my line management to facilitate necessary change with the leverage we have got to make things good for those who are our partners, even if by an arm’s length, to making a success of what we do.

We owe them that much and much more, we lift people up not tread on them like grass, because whatever comes at the end of that, no matter how successful is done on the backs of others without and sense of nobility or honour. That is why, I am proud to be a European and I am proud of the values that has imparted to me and my world view.

Nigeria: Presumed Substandard Tyonex HIV/AIDS ARV Drugs Removed From Circulation

Click to large

I received this picture on Twitter earlier.

I am pleased to read that the concerns raised about SubStandard HIV/AIDS ARV drugs have registered with NAFDAC and they have taken appropriate action to suspend with immediate effect all the ARVs manufactured by Tyonex Nigeria Limited.

I first wrote about this in November http://goo.gl/fYINqS and then when I got hold of the said drugs in December I posted another blog and wrote to NAFDAC about the issue http://goo.gl/kQOh8t

Obviously, NGOs have been clamouring about this for months and to have a letter acting on the issue is a very successful outcome for all those whose vulnerability has somewhat been abused by failings in the drug administration system.

There is much work to be done to build on this success, it is however wonderful news.

Blog - Nigeria: These Sub-Standard ARV Drugs are Completely Unacceptable

Blog - Nigeria: The issue of sub-standard ARV drugs is a critical emergency

Nigeria: These Sub-Standard ARV Drugs are Completely Unacceptable

Until now

Just over a month ago, I wrote about the issue of sub-standard anti-retro viral drugs (ARVs) in Nigeria, and when some of my friends contacted people who were supposed to be in the know about the management and distribution of ARVs in Nigeria, they appeared to pooh-pooh the idea.

Blog - Nigeria: The issue of sub-standard ARV drugs is a critical emergency

The message coming back was that the complainers were not interested in using drugs manufactured in Nigeria, that they wanted foreign-sourced drugs.

Handling the ARV drugs

Well, this afternoon, I handled with my own hands the drugs, a bottle from India and Nigeria of the same formulary of ARVs (Zidovudine [AZT] 300mg, Nevirapine 200mg, Lamivudine [3TC] 150mg), but that is where the similarity ends.

It is important that we clarify that the drugs are not fake, they are sub-standard, and I would illustrate what I mean with pictures to follow.

The Indian manufactured bottle is on the left, the Nigerian manufactured bottle is on the right, and the first thing that you see is the poor quality of the labelling.

By comparison the shelf-life of the drugs is 35 months for the Indian version and 23 months for the Nigerian version – A first indication of a difference in quality or standards.

The question of Storage

The problem seems to come down to information on this part of the bottle label. The Indian version is to be stored below 30°C and protected from light and moisture, the Nigerian version should be stored in a dry place below 25°C and protected from sunlight.

A double-take to the World Bank website for the average temperature and rainfall in Nigeria  and in India for the 110 years to 2009 suggests the average temperature in Nigeria only dips below 25°C in December and January, and it has a higher average range than that of India. [World Bank Group][World Bank Group]

Besides this, whilst Nigeria does not have as much rain as the monsoons of India, the rainfall is spread across more months suggesting the climate in Nigeria is broadly humid resulting in more months of precipitation.

It goes without saying from this basic observation that the instructions on the bottle of the Nigerian manufacture ARVs must at least be the same as the ones for India – Store at below 30°C, in dry place, protected from light and moisture.

Between English and French

It is also interesting to note the difference been the English and the French instructions on the Nigerian bottle. Apart from the typographical errors where the obvious one is physician spelt as pyhsician, why Anglophones should be concerned about sunlight and the Francophones are more affected by humidity, escapes me.

A French-speaking observer of this said, “It is full of typos, and badly translated from English.” In other words, this is patently shoddy work and that is just the labels on bottles on life-saving medication.

With the permission, my French-speaking friend, reviewed the French part of the label and his comments appear below:

Chaque ma' dicament contient:
[...]

La prescription des pyhsician seulement.
Gader tout medicament hors de la portes des enfants.
Mettax su frais bas de 25°C. Protegez de l'humidite.

It is just about understandable.
It should be:
- médicament not ma'dicament
- physician, wrongly spelt is an Anglicism, in French it should read: Seulement sur prescription médicale
- gader (keep) is misspelled = garder
- la portée (reach) misspelled
- Mettax misspelled = mettre (keep/store) but should be "conserver"
- su misspelled = au (at)
- bas: poor translation of "bellow" = en-dessous

All the accents are missing and overall it say on prescription only, keep away from children store below 25°C, protect from humidity.

It does not make any reference to sunlight.

Why Tyonex could not get a French speaker in Nigeria to properly translate the English portion of the label to French escapes me. I am sure Google Translate would have done a better job. It is unprofessional, shoddy and really dampening in confidence.

Inside the bottle

Opening the bottles, the quality becomes evident, the Indian version has a desiccant, the Nigerian version does not, the tablets or caplets as the label indicates are in a cling film bag all coated with the white dusty powder of the pills.

The Indian version remains intact to the touch whilst the Nigerian version leaves a chalky residue on the fingers when touched and when held firmly between the thumb and a finger, it disintegrates as seen below.

I note that in the blog I wrote last month, this is what the AIDS Healthcare Foundation said – ‘The press release suggests the drugs “are brittle, break easily and dissolve in one's mouth before swallowing, and furthermore the package presentation is substandard, with poor labelling that resembles the work of professional counterfeit drugs peddlers.” [AIDS Healthcare Foundation]’

The standards are poor

It goes without saying that poor manufacturing standards without consideration for the socio-economic and climate conditions in which the drugs would be used can inform the rapid deterioration of the medications leading to sub-par efficaciousness of the medicines, the consequences which can be dire and life-threatening to patients who need these drugs to survive.

Even if the drugs were to be kept in a fridge, the power situation in Nigeria precludes that, it only means that standards should be significantly raised to improve the quality of these drugs, and one cannot say what other drugs are poorly packaged and distributed as these.

This ARV is Manufactured by, Divine Essential Formulations and Distributed by Tyonex Nigeria Limited at the same address in Igando, Lagos State, Nigeria. [Other Tyonex Anti-Retro Viral Drugs]

What is NAFDAC doing?

It is more shocking to read from the label that these copies of the ARV drugs are manufactured under licence from the Federal Ministry of Health in collaboration with Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) under the auspices of the MDGs 2009 Conditional Grant Scheme. [UNDP NIG (PDF)]

The label also has a NAFDAC Reg. No: A4-6854, which begs the question of what standards of inspection and quality that organisation imposes on drug manufacturing companies to ensure the general public are not put at risk.

There is every reason to believe that the manufacture of short shelf-life, poorly labelled, badly packaged and low integrity ARVs means corners have been cut in the system, somewhere between the bureaucracy and the businessmen who are probably paid to do a better job than this.

Act now!

It is the duty of everyone to ensure that the chain from sourcing of formulation through dispensing to the patient ingesting the drugs is maintained to the highest standard of manufacture and integrity for us to be confident that drugs meant to save lives are not placebo effect dummies with no efficacious value.

I also hope everyone involved including activists ensure that they are compromised and bought off by the system where the lives of ordinary people are impacted.

When I was contacted about this issue last month, the person had suffered a precipitous fall in their CD4 count to 25% of what it was 6 months before. That is just unacceptable, and it indicates a sense of urgency and an emergency that needs to be addressed with immediate alacrity.

There were no other indications in the bloods that could account for that result apart from the Nigerian manufactured ARVs, and it would appear more of the Indian manufactured ARVs are now being distributed in Nigeria.

Additional Information:

NGOs Condemn the Supply of Sub-standard ARVs at Treatment Centres in Nigeria: http://youtu.be/YO4r1sZffrM

Nigeria: The issue of sub-standard ARV drugs is a critical emergency

The drugs are not working

I was contacted this morning about a grave and critical issue where the person believed their life was imperilled by the use of therapeutic drugs meant to manage HIV/AIDS.

My first reaction was one of shock before I collected my thoughts to determine where I could get more information about critical pharmaceuticals in Nigeria, the management of their standards, the organisations that cater for HIV/AIDS sufferers and the supply chain that governs the acquisition and distribution of anti-retro viral drugs (ARVs).

Sub-anything is serious business

It is important that we differentiate between fake drugs which is not the issue and sub-standard drugs. Fake drugs would be the passing off of different chemical concoctions as the real medication, whilst sub-standard drugs will pertain to potency, quality, shelf-life, efficacy and utility of the medication.

These elements raise serious issues where sub-standard or possibly sub-strength drugs might well not manage the virus in the blood leading to a rapid deterioration of health presenting AIDS.

The other aspect of this is where sub-strength drugs might lead to drug-resistance if the commensurate dosage is not adjusted for potency needing the use of second-line and more expensive non-generic drugs. The environment in Nigeria will probably leave many at greater risk if their normal medications are not working and the bleeding-edge medications we have access to in the West are out of reach.

No excuses are satisfactory

The worst situation to be in is not so much to have no access to ARVs, but to be given ARVs that are effectively placebo drugs, and that is both unacceptable and a health emergency.

Now, there are organisations in Nigeria that may want to easily explain this away and link it with some social response to the provenance and pedigree of the drugs.

The “Made in Nigeria” label may not lend itself to sophisticated goods, but I doubt those on the receiving end of these life-saving treatments have carried their everyday hedonism to the level of refusing to use their drugs because they do not have designer labels.

A known problem

Searching for “Sub-standard ARVs in Nigeria” on Google, I found a YouTube video highlighting that this is an emergency and Treatment Action Movement (TAM), a coalition of HIV treatment activists across Nigeria, in collaboration with the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF-Nigeria) gave a press release on the matter. [AIDS Healthcare Foundation]

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) will probably put a few backs up with their advocacy and activism. They are more than a necessary organisation in the fight against the scourge of HIV/AIDS, the inertia of the government and other vested interests in the face of unacceptable statistics and paucity of programmes to get more people tested and treated, especially in Nigeria. [AHF - Nigeria]

Old but useful drugs

The TAM-AHF press release mentions a company but more importantly, the drugs in use are the AZT/3TC/NVP and the TDF/3TC combinations.

The WHO recommends the use the AZT/3TC/NVP combination for the treatment of Antiretroviral therapy (ART), ART-eligible pregnant women in developing countries, which also means that we cannot afford substandard drugs or episodes of recidivous decline to drug apathy for whatever reasons and the reasons appear to be many.

Besides treating HIV/AIDS patients, it is critical we prevent the transmission of the virus in-vivo to the foetus during gestation.

Really poor standard

The press release suggests the drugs “are brittle, break easily and dissolve in one's mouth before swallowing, and furthermore the package presentation is substandard, with poor labelling that resembles the work of professional counterfeit drugs peddlers.” [AIDS Healthcare Foundation]

This is just unacceptable either from the perspective of quality and quality controls to giving the HIV/AIDS patients the confidence to ingest their medication and have the medication be efficacious.

Whether binding agents or preservation agents are poor used or corners are being cut for profiteering, I expect the people who are the public faces of HIV/AIDS advocacy to be at the forefront of pushing for improved standards rather than present excuses for this seeming atrocity.

One voice for many

The person who contacted me had both the opportunity and the options; there are millions who do not have any of the opportunities and the options, that person has but they must be heard too.

It is a cause of our wider humanity beyond Nigeria and its local problems or politics to ensure that either these people have a voice. The Federal Ministry and other agencies must arrest an untenable situation by demanding better standards of drug-formulary or we have to embarrass them for unconscionably allowing avoidable deaths through the dereliction of responsibility, their diminished oversight functions and their lack of purpose towards managing the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Once again, the issue is about sub-standard drugs and not fake drugs, it is an emergency; shoddy quality controls just would not cut it, and the raising of standards must be of the utmost urgency.

We obviously need to research this issue more to appreciate the extent to which people might be put at risk, but one person on sub-standard ARVs drugs is one too many presaging avoidable and preventable tragedy.

Thank you.

Excoriating the unacceptable in written English communication

Rotten text English

I happened upon a posting on Facebook where the writer in expressing disapproval of the content of an email he received, posted the text stating the sender was a graduate of an unnamed university and the person had been previously warned about writing in that manner.

The email contained a greeting, lots of bad punctuation, misspelt words and bad grammar forming the basis for a request along of the lines of being engaged for some project by the recipient of the email.

Social Media is hardly the problem

The comments that followed the posting gave a general idea of what people might think of such communication that I was compelled to add an opinion that I have expanded into the blog below.

The first comment, suggested this was what you get for spending so much time on Social Media, however, I begged to differ with the this statement - I do not think the excuse is time spent on Social Media, I come from the telegram generation where words cost a lot of money and we did not succumb to such sloppiness.

Adapt to the platform

In fact, with the advent of Short Message Service (SMS) on mobile phones restricted to 160 characters and now tweets on Twitter restricted to 140 characters, the need to be correct, concise and clear should not be sacrificed to this nonsensical mode of communication.

Now, the use of phonetic spellings, homophones, abbreviations and words missing their vowels are becoming the standard mode of communication amongst many. In fact, if this were used as personal shorthand to be transcribed to proper text for public dissemination, I would have no problem with it.

I have had instances where visiting another country, the need for sentences to be properly formed and written is essential for the use of an online translator, if people speaking different languages need to communicate – this kind of writing using strange words does not help.

No excuses

Another comment asked if the person were a possible hire; unlikely, would be the response. We must not confuse this lack of attention to language communication with dyslexia; this fad has crept from informal communication into formal letters, the writers being none the wiser about how this reflects on them and their prospects.

There is no excuse for writing English letters this way, most especially in emails or on Facebook, where there is enough space and spellcheckers are available to ensure good and correct spelling. Besides, to ignore such promptings to spell correctly is both reckless and irresponsible, such stubborn use of unconventional text should be penalised.

Call me old-fashioned but communication between animals if they had script would never be reduced to this.

Standards in written language communication matter

Other comments followed from absolving the writer from any blame to asking the recipient to be more amenable to such faddish style of writing. I guess this represents how many feel about this, but if we should maintain standards; that includes everyone, and dictionaries are not to become a compendium of a jumble of letters given any meanings suited to the times, some of us have to decide what is acceptable and what is not.

On this occasion, I suggested the writer needs a stern telling off for today, just in case the person encounters a less forgiving person on matters that concern opportunity and prospect after this.

I am probably a purist of sorts, I make mistakes, but I strive to ensure that I use dictionary reviewable words of the language of choice when communicating with people. I have lapsed into sesquipedalianism at times, but that is to maintain context and carry a message.

When it comes to Twitter, I have learnt brevity, concision and precision is possible with the use of correct English grammar and proper English words in the limited space of 140 characters – I believe, there are no excuses for sloppy writing, regardless of the platform.

Like the holiest Soy Sauce

Tastes from many places

I have never had a Chinese partner, maybe I should have one or even one from Thailand or I could dare with Korea – I know a few acquaintances have expressed a fleeting interest in a relationship but it never really came to anything.

In another place, it is said that the way to a man’s heart is his stomach and I know the many cuisines that excite my taste buds from the Mediterranean coasts, through to Anatolia and yes, I have had Iranian and Afghan, I could not survive on Indian, then the carnivore-leaning omnivore in me desires meat especially if it slightly bleeds but these are not where I have the skill in the Kitchen.

I was schooled in Nigerian cuisine and when opportunity presents itself, you can bet I’ll be cooking up something for nostalgia and much else.

My Chinese palate

Back to China, I like a good Chinese meal, it could be filling but the multiplicity of taste is wonderful Peking Duck retains a name that has changed to Beijing but my starters where available is also wonton soup, shrimp dumplings in a clear soup with green vegetables.

Then I season the soup with Soy Sauce, lots of it that the colour of the soup is completely changed, that is just how I like it. Back in Nigeria we listened to the radio jingle about Maggi Sauce making a good meal taste even better. It probably did but tongues from my part of the world need serious stimulation with all sorts if strong flavours from sweet, sour, hot, salty, and spicy as well as whatever else will have many on palpitations bringing them close to the edge of their lives.

Standards of excellence

Now, I thought Soy Sauce was ordinary enough until I visited a friend who when cooking a stir-fry brought out a bottle of Pearl River Bridge Superior Light Soy Sauce [Amazon], however, what really caught my interest was the other label that suggested this leading soy sauce brand was brewed and fermented according to 7 exacting standards.

• HACCP - Hazard analysis and critical control points addresses physical, chemical, and biological hazards as a means of prevention, this appears to pertain to the American market. One would expect that as a matter of cause.
• BRC Global Standard Food – This is the British Retail Consortium set of global standards and this in particular is about Food Safety. The big supermarket chains are also represented in the BRC as much as the small shops.
• IP Control Program (GMO-Free) – This is a standard that defines IP as Identity Preservation, foods that are natural and have not been genetically modified for all sorts of plausible reasons that make scientists what to push these products. This will appeal to Europeans a lot; we are so against the spread of Frankenstein foods on the mainland.
• ISO 9001 – This pertains to quality management. To be honest, I never expected this to be on a food label much as it is a useful standard for the organisation behind the product.
• ISO 14001 – As the organisation is trying to publicise that its products do not adversely affect the environment.
• Halal – Suggesting this is permissible for use by Islamic law.
• Kosher – Meaning this conforms to the regulations of the Jewish Halakhic law, fit to be eaten by those of the Jewish faith.

I would suppose, all these standards suggest this might well be the holiest Soy Sauce on the market catering for all persuasions and ideologies, I can only wonder where else I’ll find a food label like this.

Meanwhile, time to find me a partner from the East.

Incredible India: Seeking Koenig Solutions to Atrocious Conditions

Something of the heart

There are other matters that might appear peripheral but are pertinent and demand urgent and effective action on the part of those who have the power to implement change.

The need for a recognition of the fact that the broad experience of the boot camp training regime means we interface with more of the lower cadre of workers in the Koenig Solutions hierarchy and we cannot be oblivious of certain obvious and worrisome things.

Apart from the trainers who we interact with for about 8 hours a day, it is the young men at our accommodations that cater for our other needs in providing meals, facilitating our laundry, doing the housekeeping and sometimes having to tackle issues and problems they are barely equipped to handle like when the wireless Internet connectivity service fails.

Such appalling conditions

One cannot fail to commend these men either at the main Koenig Inn or at the other apartments dotted around New Delhi.

However, you can imagine my shock when I noticed that in a 24-room inn which is barely of 2-star quality I arrived to see that two of the workers at the inn were sleeping on the floor. It is something I have seen a few times since and you just do not get used to it at all.

For whatever working circumstances exist in India that might differ from those in elsewhere and for whatever satisfaction these men might have with their jobs, the moment these conditions are exposed to those from outside India, the situation is untenable.

It becomes an unbearable stain on our consciences where we dare to be humane and have a basic sense of dignity that people who toil tirelessly for our comfort are housed in conditions so appalling.

Shock does not describe it by half

Beyond that, reports from at least one apartment under the management of the Koenig Solutions entire indicate the workers have no toilet facilities that it is almost a moment of ululation when a guest leaves just because it affords them the opportunity to do things in a more healthy way.

I heard this, days ago; the shock of the news is just wearing off, but it is something that needs writing about and sorting out. The management at Koenig Solutions having received prizes for being one of the best places to work for in India makes one wonder what kind of criteria is used to determine such an accolade.

Fundamentally, if Koenig Solutions provides world-class training services, it is only incumbent on them to make provision of a better class of working and living conditions for their staff at these places.

Perish the thought that Koenig Solutions for all the praise it has gotten the ignominy of being a provider of world-class sweat shop conditions becomes the enduring experience after we have left for the comfort of our homes.