Dear Editor,
A quick perusal of the Digicel website or even its brochures will reveal individuals with perky, exultant faces. Evidently, the company is in the business of infusing the lives of their customers with satisfaction and joy, and from my observation it usually does so with adherence to ethical and civic standards. That is, up until a few weeks ago, when its agents at the Cotton Field outlet on the Essequibo Coast decided to erect a tent outside its office, possibly to market the company’s services more visibly (seems odd that Digicel feels inconspicuous). The tent had an aesthetic, if not marketing appeal, until boom boxes got positioned.
Digicel, being in Guyana this long, must know that many Guyanese are as attracted to loud music as fireflies are to light, and in keeping with their implicit motto of satisfying their customers, began providing Essequibo not just with telecommunications services, but prolonged spells of loud music. Even if ‘loud’ is subjectively defined here, one can imagine how unbearable it is to listen to boom boxes for two straight weeks, record upon record, song after song, from morning to afternoon. After this incessant nuisance, people become conditioned to accepting pandemonium as normal, or lawlessness as order. Is this Digicel’s intention here in Cotton Field? After all, aren’t the smiling faces of its customers supposed to arise from ethical and civil practices, and not the disregard for people’s welfare? It would seem that Digicel’s current marketing strategy in Cotton Field is shortsighted, if not inconsiderate. While it is the festive season, it would be irrational to think that music can be played loudly and incessantly to others’ discomfort. It is no less illogical to think that being granted permission from the Guyana Police Force entitles anyone to blare music. Further, to assume that boisterousness by day is less of a nuisance than by night would be a leap of ignorance.
Digicel has been smiling and gallivanting with its brouhaha for the past two weeks here in Cotton Field. After two weeks of this bedlam, is it unreasonable for ordinary citizens to want their sanity and peace restored? Surely, we deserve to smile too, don’t we?
Yours faithfully,
M Khan
Editor’s note
We are sending a copy of this letter to Digicel for any comment they might wish to make.
