Duty Free Shop in the Middle of Nowhere

In Eastern Europe, they had highway hotels built for travelers. These were huge facilities quite far away from cities, with a limited number of rooms but with big restaurants to serve travelers who wanted to rest a few hours. The rooms were quite humble, with just a bed and shower, and the only TV was in the restaurant. As mentioned the restaurant was very big and if you wanted to watch the TV you had to sit very close to it — but TV programs were also in the local language. I rarely saw people staying in the hotel part and usually we were alone in the big facility.

Most of those facilities had a Duty Free Shop. There was a system that you could purchase various items when you showed a foreign passport. Those shops were also quite big, but there were a limited number of items to purchase.

Bulent, Peter and I liked playing chess. There was nothing to do in the room anyway. Nothing outside and the TV was in the local language. As there were three of us, we took turns as the time passed by.

But, on one trip, we had Nuri with us. He had joined the group as Technical Manager. He had not spent as much time as in the country and he also hated playing chess. While we were playing, he would walk around in the restaurant, trying to watch the few local TV channels, and go to the Duty Free Shop and come back to us:

NURI: Look I bought a bottle of whiskey — very cheap.

VAHE: (Trying to concentrate on the game) Good. Later

NURI: Look I went to the shop again and bought this cheap watch for my daughter.

BULENT: Good. Later

NURI: Look I bought some cheap perfume.

PETER: Good. Later

When we were leaving the next day, Nuri had difficulty trying to pack everything he had bought due to boredom in the bag he had also bought quite cheap from the shop!

The shopkeeper, on the other hand, had sold all his inventory and was very pleased.

Written by Vahe Hanamirian,

Former Global Accounts and Marketing Director, Kordsa