NEGOTIATING a love relationship is one skill most guys lack.
One may have good looks and a fat pocket, but still lack the guts to drop the three magic words: “I love you.”
Most do not want to be told off.
They would rather let things work themselves out in what is commonly known in the streets as “they do thega”.
People in this class usually perform random acts of kindness that make the targeted woman question the reason behind the benevolence.
Should the lass on their radar go broke, smitten guys often offer to lend her more than she can pay back so that they grab the opportunity to simplify the equation with a rigged love proposal.
Guys who fear proposing love to a woman usually seek the intervention of third parties to help pass the message.
People who are mostly approached and usually cash in on such guys include close relatives, friends, neighbours, pastors, workmates and traditional leaders.
However, these people are largely not to be trusted as they are known to convert resources from the suitor to their own benefit without meeting their end of the bargain.
However, the naughty ones run away with the woman!
But it is not only men who are affected.
There are women who get so confused to the point of loving every man who approaches them.
Called “phobia”, “gopaz”, “kutya”, “kunyara” or ‘kushaya skiri’, failure to muster the confidence to approach a woman is common.
Some men lose fuel, cars, money and clothes to people they would have entrusted to woo women on their behalf.
“He got involved in an accident with my car and never cared to assist with repairs,” are the common complaints one hears from betrayed men.
In the ghetto, there are lots of guys who are known to splash money on strangers to make them lure a woman on their behalf.
“Proposing love to a woman is not an easy task. Some people are taking advantage of this to demand groceries, money, beer and even clothes from individuals who fear approaching women. Zvinotodyisa kurongera munhu bhebhi,” yours truly heard a car-washer saying in the capital.
He said each time he wanted a cigarette or food, he got these from a chap who struggled to propose love to his love interest.
“The boy finances most of my needs because he just cannot open his mouth and tell a member of the opposite sex that he loves her. I make sure he pays for all the things that I want because it’s a world in which one pays for what he cannot do,” the bloke said while puffing a cigarette as he went about his business.
“If I want to eat cake, I just lie to him that the girl he is targeting has a birthday and ask him to buy her chocolates, cakes and chicken.”
Zimbabwe has over the past few years witnessed an increase in dating agencies, which proves that lack of guts has spawned a new industry.
“We offer services to these people for a small fee and leave them to live a life full of happiness after this, and we must be thanked. This industry is very important and we must get recognition,” said a woman who identified herself as Gogo in Highfield recently.
She said her dating agency was doing a great service to the nation.
As funny as it might seem or sound, lacking guts to propose love to a woman is a genuine problem among men.
Inotambika mughetto.
◆ Feedback: rosenthal.mutakati@zimpapers.co.zw