The Green-eyed Monster

Sometimes in life, when you least expect it, that ugly green-eyed monster rears his head somewhere in your vicinity... Which green-eyed monster you say ? Well, the one that comes in the form of a jealous competitor.  Today, I've decided that I'm going to introduce you to my green-eyed monster.

Now, when we were looking for a shop to rent, there were several factors that we had to take into account, the most important being that we had to be easily accessible to children (being a candy shop and all...). So, we decided to take one in a small shopping centre that was close to schools, the local library and walking distance from a huge apartment block. It was the "perfect" location at a reasonable price. Also, there was a pharmacy, a sandwich shop (or a sandwicherie as they say), a screenprinters owned by a rather unlikely couple (more on them later), a hair salon and a Presse. Now, a Presse is how you'd describe a kiosk or a newsstand except that they are actual stores and they're peppered all over French cities. You can usually spot them from a distance because they all have this sign :

They sell magazines, newspapers, lottery cards, postage stamps and, often, they also sell a small selection of sweets. Mmmm-hmmm, you're starting to get the picture ? Now, let me be very clear by saying that sweets are NOT their primary source of income and at the Presse in our shopping centre, it looks more like an afterthought product. And, in all fairness, the sweets we'd planned on selling were NOTHING like the ones they had.

So, ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, let me introduce you to my green-eyed monster : "P" (I promise it has nothing to do with privates or "number 1") who is, rather coincidentally, the owner of the Presse.

It didn't take him (or his snobbish wife) long to show us exactly how much they "disapproved" of us opening our candy store in the shopping centre. Firstly, they told my husband that it'll never work out for us because they hardly ever sell any sweets. Then, they sent the janitor to try to convince us to rent a shop on the other side of the shopping centre where NO ONE dares to venture. And, the cherry on the top, about a week after we'd opened, they started asking kids (who'd bought at our store) what kind of sweets we sold and at what prices. The kids (being kids) came right back and told me and added that they much preferred buying from us because we were much "nicer people" (of course, at that point, they hadn't seen my at my PMSing worst !).

And then, a week later, after some candy detective work on my side, I found out that they'd started selling certain items that we had. At 5 cents CHEAPER than us ! I was livid - I could actually feel the bubbles in my boiling blood ! But, being the spineless jellyfish that I am, I decided to let it go. Or maybe I just didn't want to have a confrontation in French. (Or maybe I just didn't want to have a confrontation AT ALL..?) But, this was WAR ....

(the saga will continue in further updates)