Commentary

Ever tagged along with your mums to flea markets for bargains? If you have, you would definitely know that everything could be found at Flea markets…well, almost everything. Mr. Merritt Eggleston was booted from a flea market for selling coffins on the 22nd of August. In my opinion, Mr. Eggleston should not have been booted off the flea market as this brings about negative implications for the company (Trader Marc), Mr. Eggleston, and the shoppers.

Firstly, negative implications for the company would emerge. Trader Marc’s would stain its credibility and reputation by booting Eggleston from the flea market. Eggleston’s request for rental of space was approved by Trader Marc and he has already started business. Assuming that Trader Marc was unaware that Eggleston was selling caskets and that they would most certainly reject him if they knew, it is still no excuse for going against their word. It is one of the employees who approved Eggleston’s rental without properly checking what he intends to sell. In my opinion, the employees represent the company; they are seen as one entity – the company. Hence, when an employee makes a grave mistake such as this, the reputation and trustworthiness of the company gets sullied. For example, I once went to a restaurant and was greeted with hostility by the waitress; I was displeased with the waitress’ bad service attitude and from then on did not go to that particular restaurant anymore. The waitress was at fault but the restaurant pays the price. The same situation applies here.

Next, this act has caused great loss for Mr. Eggleston, in time, effort and money. Eggleston was given unfair treatment; he has as much right to sell his products as anyone else. Furthermore, he paid money and spent hours setting up his display, yet he was denied the chance to do business. Although he got back twice the amount of money he paid, I believe that the time and effort he put in is worth tons more! Also, as the man himself has mentioned, “I was approached by several interested people”; this implies that his business was doing good and he would be able to earn much more than the $100 refund by Trader Marc if he was not booted from the flea market. “Just let the guy make a living. I'm sure he would have had a few potential buyers.” says a shopper.

Some shoppers lodged complaints about Eggleston selling caskets at the flea market. They are uncomfortable with it as caskets remind them of death. “We’re all going to die, we just don’t want to be promoting it at the markets.” says the owner. However, booting Eggleston from their flea market because of this reason is really ridiculous and senseless for me as well as for many others. Here is a comment on an internet forum, “Just watching the news everyday makes me think about death. We’re all going to die and if people who shop at this flea market can’t handle that fact, then they should stop living so that they don’t have to worry about dying.”I absolutely agree with this comment!
Lastly, chasing off Eggleston deprived shoppers of a cheap deal. As stated above many shoppers expressed interest in Eggleston’s business at the flea markets. “I’m trying to help anybody I can,” Eggleston said, noting his caskets cost thousands of dollars less than the most basic model offered by funeral homes. “With the recent outbreak of the H1N1 virus, there are many deaths and the prices at which funeral homes sell their coffins for is unbelievable, many families are not able to afford them!” This cheap deal can save some poor people of their money woes.
I conclude by reiterating that Mr. Eggleston should not have been booted off the flea market because this act deprived shoppers of a cheap deal, caused great loss to Eggleston and sullied the company’s reputation and credibility. After this incident, perhaps now we would start to see caskets popping up at flea markets.

(669 words)