There is a lot of good stuff to shop in Yaba/Tejuosho market but I don’t look forward to going there. One very annoying thing about this place is the behavior of the male vendors commonly known as “Yaba boys”. I respect their hustle but they do the absolute most.
I’d just share some of their annoying characteristics that most people I’m sure can relate with. Some are general attributes of Lagos traders while some are so typical of “Yaba boys”.
10 annoying attributes of Yaba boys
1. No respect for personal space
You can never go to Yaba market and come back happy, they would frustrate you, you’d regret ever going to the market. It’s so annoying how they touch, harass, grope and coerce people, ladies especially, hoping to “drag” them to their store even if one is not interested in their items.
Don’t get me started on how they follow people about, cat call and even assault people. if you react, they would all join force to resort to insult and body shame you. You’d hear things like “ashawo” “You no even fine” “See your wowo legs” e.t.c.
2. They are absolutely unreasonable
I have tried to be nice and politely decline their offers but that has never stopped them from raining insults on me. After the market march that held some months back (Kudos to everyone involved), I’ve been to Yaba a couple of times and nothing has changed.
3. The “sales marketers”
These ones have no physical store. All they do is roam about and get customers for those that have stores based on mutual agreement, I guess. This is common with those that sell second hand clothes. Be very careful with these people because they have a cut so automatically the price of the item is inflated.
Source: Google
4. Haggle at your own risk
When they tell you a price and ask you to name yours, if you know that you really cannot afford the item even if the price goes down a little, just keep it moving before it’s too late. Name the price you have in mind and they will drag you to Timbuktu and back.
5. The curtain sellers that shove their photo albums in people’s faces
I really don’t understand how they assume that every passerby is there to shop or that they don’t know what exactly they are there to buy. I know they are trying to advertise but can they just be civil about it.
If I’m there for curtains, I would go straight to the stall and if I don’t know the stall, I can see your album already, let me come to you, you don’t have to shove your albums in my face. It’s so annoying.
6. The annoying pet names:
Everyone is “their colour, baby, angel well, until you ignore them. They’d switch up on you and call you all sorts of nasty names.
Source: Google
7. They are sometimes annoyingly “die hard” and greedy
They’d rather walk the length of the whole market than tell you that they don’t have the item you ask for. This sounds good until they go for about 30 minutes, come back with something else and still try to convince you that it is the same. e.g, Ask for a dungarees trouser and watch them go all the way to bring you a jumpsuit.
8. Everybody is their “customer”
It doesn’t matter if they have never seen you before or you have never shopped with them before, your first name becomes “customer” immediately you pass through their stall.
9. You are not allowed to change your mind
If you step foot in their stall, you either patronize them or risk being embarrassed or even accused of theft. It doesn’t matter if you end up not liking everything presented to you, you just have to buy something.
10. The Hausa “gold merchants and Bureau de change”
These ones are on a different level of annoying. Sometimes when they approach me and talk about changing dollars or buying gold, it appears like an insult and in my head I scream “Cant you see I’m broke, don’t angry me please”. LOL. That’s a personal “problem” I know, I know but they also touch people anyhow which is annoying🙄.
I can totally relate, the constant touching is the most annoying part. Since the Yaba Market March happened, they’ve changed a bit actually, they don’t touch so much anymore.
I know right?! I hope they change for good. Thanks for reading.
lol,Actually i’ve had so many experiences cos i love yaba cos thats the only place i can get my cheap nice shirt that i would wear to work and everyone at work will keep asking where i got it from.but let me say this..there was a day i went there with my mum to get stuffs for my younger ones so i saw this stall where the guy sells shirt and decided to stop and get one for myself,while trying to look for the one i like the guy was already saying”if you kniw say you no say you no see the one wey you like come dey go” if i had known i should have just left without saying anything while my mum was still waiting so i told the guy that i can’t find the one i like.and he started i no blame you now since its your mum that brought you to the market you can’t shop on your own..actually there was nothing he didn’t say to me that day….LOVE YA SO MUCH MOMMA
WOW. They can be so unruly and uncouth. After checking two or three pieces and I don’t find something I like, I just keep it going to avoid insult and embarrassment.
thank you for reading.
I haven’t been to Yaba market before o. But I can relate, many markets I’ve been to are like that.
Especially that talk your price thing, they will drrraaaaaaagggg you ehn 😂
Don’t even fall for that scam, They will so drag you. Hahaha!
We have them in all the market but you see Yaba boys ehn dem be first grade goats! No manners, some won’t even want to know whether you’re buying or not (they’ll drag you and almost molest you join).
Anytime I go to the market and the behave like animals I always change it for them. I enjoyed reading 😁
I can relate. Thanks for reading.
Oh my God, i have the worst experiences in Yaba. One time one of those cloth dealers came to me and kept shouting “Sister, wears”. I told him I’m not buying and he just hit my on my breast. Wtf, i was so mad. Just last week, one told me “this your baby food, i like how e dey shake” referring to my breasts. Other times thet say things like “i go just fuck you from back”. They’re the absolute worst.
Wow! That’s crazy. Women have a lot to deal with in this country oh
You write so well and I’m a fan.. I totally relate with what you wrote, the most annoying ones are the ones that just harass someone for no reason and start calling one names if you don’t followe their lead. Yaba market boys are so rude and quick to insult
Thanks darling. They are so annoying
Well written! I can relate so well ‘cos I’ve also hustled there lol. Well the actual truth is that most of those guys that harass you don’t even have shop. They’re middle men.
But some of them that have shops are not in any way better.
That number 1 and number 6; the HEIGHT!
Shebi I told one not to touch my sister at Balogun market and he said that’s why she is finer than me. 😂😂.
What about the one that was being plain rude and when I talked said that’s why I am covering my hair in the hot sun. Like; how does that relate?
Those major markets ehn.
Wow, wow wow!!! What’s the correlation. It’s even more annoying that they see nothing wrong in their actions.