Personal monopolies

The trouble with a monopoly is (among other of course) that it refuses consumer input as a source of improvement. You cannot change its ways because you have no other option. It's their way or nothing for you.

I have noticed however that we have a tendency to impose our own personal monopolies for reasons which pertain mainly to ill-targeted comfort.

For instance, I buy most of my small groceries from a neighborhood shop: the shop assistants often "forget" to put some of my groceries in the bag, to give me the receipt thus effectively overcharging me quite often and usually are unwilling to take any complaint I may have about the broken egg in the carton or the sour milk. Because they have discovered my weakness: i have made their shop into a personal monopoly, i come back even thought i don't have to because I have mentally convinced myself that i have no other option.

How many times do we do that? How many times do we refuse to take a stand because it's more comfortable to do so? How many times did we go back to the same bank although they failed to explain some missing funds or the "new" interest rate?

The thing is that the more personal monopolies we establish the less checks brands have. And leave a brand unchecked and it will do some nasty things to you, because, as a good friend was telling me, they are not here to make sense, they are here to make money. And money is just figures :-)