Beware of shops like this! It is not "leather" but "leda" that we buy
from them! A shop along Stanley Tilakaratne Mawatha, Nugegoda with a
branch in Maharagama where I bought two pairs of the so-called
"imported" shoes (probably 'rejects' from Thailand) for Rs. 1,000 each,
on Saturday, September 30.
On Monday, October 2, I very proudly wore one pair to work. Not even
four hours after wearing it, a nail appeared on the heel of one shoe
making it extremely difficult for me to walk in addition to making a
very odd noise too! I returned to the same shop in the evening with the
hope of getting another pair of shoes for the brand new broken pair -
after all I had worn it for less than twenty-four hours. Upon showing
the shoes and explaining to the salesman, they completely ignored me and
continued attending to their other customers. To my utter disgust. I
found that the salesmen who were ever so polite and eager when selling
the shoes to me, were downright rude and abrupt when I took the broken
shoes back to them.
They kept me waiting for a good twenty minutes before I asked them as
to whether I am getting another pair or not. The salesmen (about five of
them) became very aggressive and were very rude to me demanding from me,
the receipt! Obviously I was not carrying the receipts, as I had no
supernatural power to predict that the shoe was going to break after a
mere four hours of wearing it! I was asked to leave the pair saying it
will be repaired. I suppose they expected me to walk home barefoot! They
very boldly asked me to lodge a complaint at the Police too!
I did go to the Police and was told that I was the third customer who
had come to lodge an entry against the same shop! This is the kind of
treatment I received after spending Rs. 2,000 for two pairs of shoes!
Again I tell you all, beware of shops like this! It is our
hard-earned money that these thieves shrewdly rob from us! It is no
better than picking a pocket!
They sell their shoes propagating that they are "imported shoes" but
when they break, they give the same excuse saying "imported shoes, what
to do"! People should be encouraged to buy shoes from reputed footwear
showrooms where they promptly attend to matters such as this fairly and
responsibly.
Mrs. A. Karunaratne, Wadduwa.
A very timely and exacting 'Point of View' was the most eye-catching
and hard-hitting article penned by Janaka Perera in the Sunday Observer
of November 19.
I want to offer this gentleman bouquets of praise for highlighting
this scourge in both radio and TV that is now like a cancer growing out
of proportion with no responsible official to take necessary action to
control and curb the vulgar and hyperbole that passes for advertising
today!
First:- Listen to ALL the private Sinhala 'talk radio' and you hear a
disgusting mix of Sinhala-English lingo of those disc jockeys. There is
one particular station where a female of the species uses no less than 5
words in a 10 word message that 'bastardizes' both Sinhalese and English
languages! First what is it these monsters are hoping to achieve except
show their illiteracy and poor showmanship?
Second:- Radio stations are menacing even to the travelling public -
they run programs that are contests for buses running on roads! The
drivers, due to engine noise, turn up their stereo sets to levels beyond
human tolerance! If you try to point this - all you will be asked is to
'get off and get some other transport' and that is the sad state of
affairs these stations have driven public transport into!
Third:- You just listen to those English radio advertisements couched
in such disgusting and misleading language it makes your hair stand on
end! Listen to those women who 'aiyo' and 'aney' with even a stilted
form mimicking the British!
Television stations are no better - if you take any telecast and
analyse it, you notice out of a total hours of broadcast of say 11
hours, advertising consists of over 5 hours - and that's per day! One
cannot check the news or weather or see a program without the boring,
time wasting advertisement run over and over and over!
There are Indian films filled with such gory, violent scenes, men and
women not dancing but gyrating in positions that defy gravity. There is
one program which is based on 'rap' in which semi-nude women and
tattooed, baggy-dressed men gyrate using their hands caressing their
genitals while the girls rock their hips against these men depicting
sexuality.
This may sound 'mod' to some but what Radio and TV stations should
realise is their broadcasts reach all strata of society and some
self-respect should be shown to our 'Eastern' culture that is based on
the roots of respectability. Minister of Cultural Affairs and Minister
of Religious Affairs do take note of this 'cultural destruction' and
take immediate steps to curb the menace.
Brian Jansz, Pannipitiya.
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