A Hawker
A hawker is a very common figure in Pakistan. He sells his goods from place to place. He does not have a shop. He carries his wares with him and keeps on selling at all places. Hawkers are everywhere. They are to be seen in scores on the streets of Karachi and other large towns. Sometimes they carry their goods in a tray suspended in front of the body and sometimes spread them out on a blanket on the pavement. Another name given to his brotherhood is Cheap Jack for they mostly deal with the cheapest kinds of small articles. Shoe laces collar studs handkerchiefs fountain pens cotton socks and the like. The name was first given in reference to the snatching habits of the hawk, but it is now found in standard ctionaries.
The hawker does not aim a big turn-over or large profits. He wants to make a plain living out of his sales. Since he has no shop he has no rent to pay no rates or taxes in respect of property. None of the things which is the annul balance sheet of a shopkeeper would be entered as expenses. Sometimes his stock in trade is sold stuff which the regular merchant has been unable to sell and so has disposed of to the hawker at a bargain price. He has no reputation to lose, like a merchant who trades in one area and is known to all around, for the hawker is here today and gone tomorrow. He wanders round like a hawk seeking what he can pick up in the way of profit.
The hawker is found all over Western Countries. He will come and knock at your door in an English town. But he fails to compete with the large stores. Formerly he as eagerly waited in country districts, but since communications have improved and shops have been opened even in the small villages the traveling pedlar is becoming thing of the past. In Oliver Twist we read of a man being in prison because he had been hawking saucepeans from door to door without having taken out a liscence, as is required by law.
The regular shopkeeper has a reputation to keep up. It is not in his interests to sell you can inferior article because you will come back and trouble him with your complaints. The hawker has no such considerations to make him do his best for the customers. Tomorrow he may be miles away working in another locality. So it is better to patronize the man who has interests in the social life of the community represented by his shop. Particularly does this apply to ice cream mineral waters and any kind of food or drink. Who knows of what material the ice cream was made or in what insanitary room it ay overnight? Take no risks. The hawker is a picturesque figure with his plausible tongue and strange cries, but he is out for profit at any cost. He leaves no stone unturned to make money and sells goods.
The hawker does not aim a big turn-over or large profits. He wants to make a plain living out of his sales. Since he has no shop he has no rent to pay no rates or taxes in respect of property. None of the things which is the annul balance sheet of a shopkeeper would be entered as expenses. Sometimes his stock in trade is sold stuff which the regular merchant has been unable to sell and so has disposed of to the hawker at a bargain price. He has no reputation to lose, like a merchant who trades in one area and is known to all around, for the hawker is here today and gone tomorrow. He wanders round like a hawk seeking what he can pick up in the way of profit.
The hawker is found all over Western Countries. He will come and knock at your door in an English town. But he fails to compete with the large stores. Formerly he as eagerly waited in country districts, but since communications have improved and shops have been opened even in the small villages the traveling pedlar is becoming thing of the past. In Oliver Twist we read of a man being in prison because he had been hawking saucepeans from door to door without having taken out a liscence, as is required by law.
The regular shopkeeper has a reputation to keep up. It is not in his interests to sell you can inferior article because you will come back and trouble him with your complaints. The hawker has no such considerations to make him do his best for the customers. Tomorrow he may be miles away working in another locality. So it is better to patronize the man who has interests in the social life of the community represented by his shop. Particularly does this apply to ice cream mineral waters and any kind of food or drink. Who knows of what material the ice cream was made or in what insanitary room it ay overnight? Take no risks. The hawker is a picturesque figure with his plausible tongue and strange cries, but he is out for profit at any cost. He leaves no stone unturned to make money and sells goods.
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