The okada man charged me ₦1,500 for a trip that's normally ₦700, and I paid it

Rain started falling small small around 6pm. I was at Yaba market trying to get home to Akoka, and every okada man suddenly became a professor of economics. First guy looked at me, looked at the rain, and said ₦1,500. I laughed. He didn't.

I stood there for fifteen minutes negotiating like I was buying a car. The rain increased. My laptop bag started getting wet. My shoes were already finished. Then I saw a woman beside me just enter one okada without asking price at all, and I realized she had already accepted her fate while I was still fighting.

The thing is, the okada man knew something I refused to accept. He knew that by 7pm, with that rain, I would pay anything. He didn't need to argue. He just needed to wait. I paid ₦1,500 and he dropped me at my gate smiling like a man who had won a contract.

Why do we always think we are the one negotiating?