It’s been a rough year for The Bahamas and Bahamians in general. I mean with the PLP government not really being a favorite right now, Bahamar not opening and what seems to be an endless cycle of violence; how could one even expect it to be any better.
Even in the face of all of that, there is still some responsibility on the Bahamian people to make things better for themselves. Some very simple changes I’d like to see happen, just to make our day to day a little better. So we decided to help jump start you this 242 “mind reform” with a list of 5 things Bahamians need to stop doing As Soon As Humanly Possible!
1. Making WhatsApp groups!
I am not even sure why this is so ‘friggin’ popular in The Bahamas now, but the random adding of people to frivolous WhatsApp groups seems to be the new trend. Truly it is a sad thing to watch some people take these WhatsApp groups as serious as a full time job. They spend all day seeking out memes and random video clips to share with people of ‘like’ mind. Anything from a bum washing a car to PM Perry dressed as a woman taking to Sarkis; It just never stops! WhatsApp groups are fine to keep in touch with your favorite groups of people. The biggest issue I really have with it is the fact that people randomly add you and then they use these groups as a medium to share videos and photos of streets fights and murder victims. It’s like the whole Bahamas works for CNN!
2. Giving Shortcuts!
This seems to be culturally engrained in Bahamians, we cannot just sit in the passenger seat and shut up. We always feel the need to say “Hey Bro, pop right through here let me show you the other way”! Why does it matter? We are going the same place! We living on a 7×21 rock in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean … really how much more minutes is your shortcut gonna shave off of our driving time … Please Tell Me?
3. Traveling just to shop
Ok, how many times a year are you going to jump on BahamasAir go to Miami and sift through the swap shop until the bags you just bought at the swap shop are full with ‘stuff’. Then you come back to Nassau, telling everyone you were on vacation! HOW and WHERE? You ran off the plane at the gate, got straight in your rental bus , drove straight to Denny’s, fuel up and then shopped for 4 days straight in the midst of fighting with family and trying to negotiate a GPS. That my friend is not a vacation … that is a gauntlet. Please Bahamians (and any nationality that reads this and the cap fits), start to travel to actually vacate from your normal routine and rest.
4. Working only for Tips!
Yes, they made it a law 15% gratuity is mandatory in The Bahamas and because of this most service people have become increasingly lazy and complacent. My god it’s like pulling teeth to walk into a restaurant and get good service. Sometimes I feel like you have to tell the waiter what the tip is going to be before the dinner starts. This just doesn’t concern waiters/waitresses, all Bahamians who provide a service always got they hand out and the level of service always correlates to the level of the tip. There are government and other “workers” who try to tax you to get some service done more quickly…again always want a shortcut. They want you buy them lunch just to do the job they are being paid for efficiently, speedily and properly. When are Bahamians just gonna do a good job for their pay check and if they do an exceptional job then they get a tip.
5. Hating our own Culture!
Bahamians would have you believe that they LOVEEEEE their culture … I call BS! Junkanoo is an activity, Bahamian Music (traditional or otherwise) is quickly switched when it comes on the radio. Half of the new age woman (under 30) rather eat sushi than learn to make stew conch, and half the dudes couldn’t scrape a saw to save their skinny jeans. Promote a Bahamian Food Fest, you get an alright crowd (aka No One), but my god the International Cultural Festival you can’t see the grass for the people. I mean seriously most of ya’ll don’t even drink Kalik Beer … all day Heineken and Bud Light (lol)! So when are we going to seriously fall in love with our culture again (and NO Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival doesn’t count)? We have so much to appreciate as Bahamians but we out there doing the “Nae Nae” … rather than mashing the roach! 🙁
For this article there will be no long outro, just a simple statement “Get Your Sh@* Together 242”