BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – VENDORS plying their trade on the Frigate Bay Beach are displeased with the treatment they receive on a regular basis from some bar owners and Jet Ski operators.
A group of vendors, led by Laverne Percival, told SKNVibes that they would like a representative from the government to visit the Frigate Bay Beach and hold discussions with them in order to settle a dispute that is adversely affecting their trade.
Percival said that vendors, masseurs in particular, are finding it difficult to survive under the mounting pressure generated by some beach bar owners and a certain Jet Ski operator.
“I come out to earn an honest day pay and is over two days now I can’t make no money. Saturday (Jan. 24) I make $10 and today I come and can’t make nothing. It’s a lot of poor pressure going on from an individual who stopping me from owning a dollar. No minister, no authority…nothing was passed in the House about we can’t massage here. Nobody came face to face with the vendors and interact; no meeting was called. It’s just a lot of poor pressure,” Percival said.
The conflict between the two parties [bar owners/Jet Ski operators] is a long-standing one. The mother of seven, who has been vending for some 21 years, said that she and an employee of Shiggidy Shack had a confrontation sometime in the past. She claimed that the employee has since been the main perpetrator of victimisation, which now has a domino effect among bar owners and a Jet Ski operator.
Percival said that the employee and a Jet Ski operator by the name of Kevin have recently stepped up the campaign against certain vendors. She has accused them of warding off potential customers from their services and, on many occasions, directed or took them to their friends offering the same services.
“Many times when we approach the tourists and offer our services, they would come and tell the tourists not to accept and they will even carry them to certain other vendors to be massaged,” she said.
Percival also claimed that tourists rent two beach chairs and an umbrella for $10 and vendors are not allowed to massage them on those chairs.
“If the tourist wants to be massaged I am not allowed to massage them on the chair they just pay $10 for because the aloe vera is staining that particular chair. But I have to go and rent a same individual chair like the one the tourist is sitting on to go and do a massage. They rather the aloe vera stain up that one, which is basically the same chair that they renting to the tourists I have to rent to conduct my business.”
The vendor explained that about two years ago they were told towels had to be placed over the cushions on the chairs tourists rented to avoid them being stained, and they have since complied. She however noted that since her confrontation with the employee of Shiggidy Shack, “he start to say that he gon see to it that they get the rid of all vendors off the beach”.
Percival said the owner of Shiggidy Shack had ruled on Thursday, January 22 that vendors are not allowed to massage on chairs he rented to tourists.
“I was not there when he passed his rule. So, on Friday, while I was giving my service to a lady from the cruise ship, he come over and tell the lady, ‘Guys, what did I tell you? Didn’t I tell you that I don’t want no massage doing on meh chair…I would give back ayo ayo $10 and mek ayo get up off meh chair’.
“The lady said, ‘I paid $10 for this and I own it up until I am ready to leave here. Can’t I be massaged where I paid for? He said, ‘Well I don’t want she massaging on meh chair’. The lady said, ‘Do you have a problem with her? You was selling me the same aloe vera massage for a guy name Danny Boy’. He reply to the tourist, ‘Well I have my special people in mind who should do massage in meh chair and I don’t want her on meh chair’. So, this seems like it is a personal issue,” Percival said.
Percival also said she had objected to Kevin’s suggestion of two vendors being attached to a bar.
“I said to him this morning that plenty vendors out here and you said two persons to a bar, what about if Shiggidy Shack eliminate me and she [another vendor who was with her], and if we go down the line and the other bars eliminate us? It means that the innocent out here is paying for the guilty. Nobody out here want me and my friend to work here because they will have a issue. I been around 21 years and I don’t think this treatment is good, so where was you when the beach needed you? That is what I told him and he said, ‘Well, ayo gon gat to wuk it out, but that is what it gon boil down to’. So, I think this is a lot of personal issue,” she added.
Percival further stated that “Kevin and the owner of Shiggidy Shack are the persons who I have the problem with and they trying to instigate the thing to the rest of people who have chairs”. She also claimed that Kevin would regularly try to get them off the beach and, at times, he would summon a security personnel and level false allegations against certain vendors.
Mr. X, owner of Shiggidy Shack, and Jet Ski operator Kevin Ponteen had different views to the situation. They both claimed that most vendors do not operate in an orderly manner and their behaviour leaves much to be desired.
“I’m not here to stop anybody from doing business. I would even give them a chair each free of charge to ply their trade, but they must learn to work in an organised manner. Every day you can see a new face on this beach and some of them are improperly dressed to render the service they are peddling. Only when cruise ships are around you will see them.
“Some of them also interrupt the tourists when they are eating by rubbing aloe vera on their hands…and this is very bad for business. When they operate in that manner tourists will leave the venue, not return and tell others who intend to come to St. Kitts about the way they were treated. Most of the vendors are not interested in sustainability, they come just to make a few dollars and go their way,” Mr. X said.
Mr. X said that he has recently recovered his beach chairs and each one costs approximately EC$150. He also said that he could not allow vendors to massage tourists on the chairs because the aloe vera leaves a permanent stain, which would deter visitors from using them, and subsequently cause him to loose in that aspect of his business.
Adding his view to the issue, Ponteen [Kevin] said it is a multiple problem which started with staining of the beach chairs and progressed to the use of foul language and jostles among vendors for customers.
“The tourists come to the beach and request services from the vendors which include massage. However, while massaging, the aloe vera messes and stains the chairs. Those who rent chairs told the vendors that they must have towels placed over the cushions to avoid the stains. But many of them only have one towel and, by using it regularly on a given day, it becomes messy and they would turn it over. By doing so the dirty part of the towel messes up the chair as well. So, Shiggidy decided that he doesn’t want no massage on his chairs.
“The other thing is that there is always dispute among them to get customers. Some who massage would say, ‘I done talk to that person already, how you could go massage meh person?’ And then they would start arguing over the guest and the guest would grab their bag and leave the beach. This will then cause other people from making money,” Ponteen said.
Ponteen said that he advised the vendors to get a table which they would find very convenient to ply their trade. He also said that a recent incident occurred in which one individual chased another with an axe and the police were called in to settle the matter.
The incident, he explained, started because of a vendor’s refusal to remove his chair and customer from the area in which vehicles use to offload Jet Skis on the beach. Ponteen claimed that the vendor told the tourist to remain on the chair in the vehicle’s path and let the driver use another entrance to the Caribbean Sea.
This, he added, sparked a row which caused one of the men to acquire an axe and chased the other off the beach.
Ponteen strongly believes that too many vendors ply the same trade on the Frigate Bay Beach and “something is only waiting to go wrong and then Frigate Bay will just shutdown”.
SKNVibes contacted the Managing Director of Frigate Bay Development Corporation, Rudolph ‘Rudy’ Morton, who said he was apprised of the situation on the beach and steps would be taken for orderliness.
“We are not here to stop anyone from plying their trade, but it must be done legally, professionally and without rancour. It must be understood that our economy is dependent on tourism, and we must conduct ourselves in a manner that would encourage tourists to enjoy their stay and be glad to return to the Federation.
“Vendors are ambassadors of this Federation and there must be some semblance of order. They are the people who sell our tourism product, therefore, they need to be better organised so that everyone can benefit, including the tourist,” Morton said.
The Managing Director said a meeting with the vendors would be held today (Jan. 29) from 10:00 a.m. at the Frigate Bay Corporation. He also said guidelines would be established and penalties would be awarded to individuals who breach the law, because the tourism industry has to be protected.
