Rules of trade in poor countries

I remember well when microwave ovens were introduced in Bulgaria. I'm not that extraordinarily old, because things used in developed countries always come with a long delay to developing and declining countries. And because of the Iron Curtain and our sinister history, many things entered this country too late, anyway.
So, I was in 8th grade, I had already been transferred to a high school in another city and had to live in a boarding house. The conditions there were pretty miserable, as I've mentioned before, and we were all subjected to that, but the means of my classmates' parents could be judged by how they had managed to furnish the rooms where we lived, 4 people in each, and what they had put there. So, there were girls who had microwave ovens. I remember one in particular, she was in my class and her father was a factory manager. And guess what, I was very jealous, yes, because sometimes I didn't even have enough money to eat. And yet I wasn't one of those girls who would go around the tables in the canteen, whose kitchen was crawling with rats, and eat up the leftovers of other students' food.

Years later, I don't remember when it was anymore, when my parents finally got a microwave oven, that microwave was used for absolutely everything it could be used for. I even reheated my cold coffee with it. Yeah, that coffee tasted awful afterwards, but hey, we had a microwave - a status symbol, a yardstick for where you stood in a society where everyone tried to have the same things so they wouldn't feel bad and inferior.

Well, I haven't used a microwave oven for more than 15 years now, but the epic story with it is something I remember well. About how something is new, modern, extremely (imposed) desired, and yet difficult to access because it is expensive. And about the usefulness or rather the harm of using this appliance, you all know, I hope. Just as you should know about the harm of using modern wireless headphones. Well, at least they are not so expensive and inaccessible.

Then I remember well the fashion for using solariums. It was something so modern and desirable. From today's perspective, it's already funny to me and doesn't look good at all when people walk around in the winter with a chocolate tan, as if they've been baking in the sun for three months... but in the winter. But back then, maybe 20 years ago, it was such a luxury.

I had one or at most two friends who went to tanning salons, and they were women in high positions in their profession, something I never managed to achieve in my life (need I mention that they were mediocre students at school, which is the law of success in life in general😂).
Anyway, I don't know what their skin condition is like now, I haven't seen them for a few years, but I know of this case, or cases, certainly not one or two, of skin cancer due to excessive use of tanning beds. And yes, today I'm glad I didn't have that money back then, when it was so fashionable, because with my sensitive skin that reacts to everything, my current situation would have been much worse, if not fatal.

Very soon I'm waiting for results, opinions and expertise on the consequences of laser hair removal, you know, those devices for "putting hair to sleep". Which were initially available only in certain beauty salons. And the procedures were extremely expensive. And I had only one friend who could afford it. Although, what woman wants to deal with hair removal every few days.
Come on, you've been really slow this time with the expertise on putting hair to sleep, how could it be okay for the body to enter and manipulate its natural growth processes?

Anyway, I hope you understand my point. About how demand is created for products that are mostly harmful to people, solely on the basis of high price. Then people start striving at all costs to own them, to use them. Because more or less, we always talk about status in society. And this always works. Especially in poor countries.

Now I'm thinking about when Contergan tablets were mass-marketed in Germany, for example, whether they were priced too high to make them very desirable. No, I bet they were very affordable, even cheap. What I'm talking about can only happen in poor countries.

I once watched a movie about an African country where young girls had to prostitute themselves to buy Always sanitary pads. Always sanitary pads have always been expensive here, and in my early years, the market for such products was a tragedy in Bulgaria too, but we used improvised means like rags from old clothes, cotton, woodwool and so on.
Yes, I know it sounds bad, but those were the times. I couldn't buy Always sanitary pads either, but I never prostituted myself for that reason.

What I mean by that... I don't know what I mean anymore. In poor countries, there is often a shortage of basic necessities. This is no longer the case with Bulgaria, but it used to be. And it was so until not many years or decades ago. Prices for everything are high, higher than the prices of the same goods in normal countries. But the sweetest part of commercial speculation is making a lot of money from products that you don't actually need, and then, sooner or later, they even turn out to be harmful to the people who have done even the impossible to get them.
Thus, life and the rules of trade, like everything in this illogical and unprincipled world, become very interesting and curious. Don't you think?

Thank you for your time! Copyright:	@soulsdetour
	Soul's Detour is a project started by me years ago when I had a blog about historical and not so popular tourist destinations in Eastern Belgium, West Germany and Luxembourg. Nowadays, this blog no longer exists, but I'm still here - passionate about architecture, art and mysteries and eager to share my discoveries and point of view with you.

Personally, I am a sensitive soul with a strong sense of justice.
Traveling and photography are my greatest passions.
Sounds trivial to you?
No, it's not trivial. Because I still love to travel to not so famous destinations.🗺️
Of course, the current situation does not allow me to do this, but I still find a way to satisfy my hunger for knowledge, new places, beauty and art.
Sometimes you can find the most amazing things even in the backyard of your house.😊🧐🧭|