Nostalgia - the workplace version.

• Lead image by me.

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Life is vastly complicated. It's confusing when one moment we want to depart from somewhere, we want to have nothing to do with that thing or place then the next minute, we're missing the thing or place.

I remember how eager I was to leave the company I was interning at. I would tell my friends how little I would miss it but I find myself rethinking that every time I passed the road that led there.

I remember how hastily I prepared for work to get there before 8 am. On days I woke up later than I usually do, I would take a motorcycle and hoped the rider would take it easy but it seemed that the more I told them to slow down, the more reckless they moved. I stopped hounding them to slow down and just prayed for a safe journey instead but on the brighter side, I got to work faster.

After surviving the scary attempts of the motorcycle riders, I had to go through traders. The research institute was around a popular market called 'Yaba'. If you frequent that area, you'll relate to the usual hustle and bustle of the area. Many of the traders tried to get people to patronize them by cajoling them. They cajole people by touching their hands to drag them to their wares with mild force. I've been on the receiving end of this and it's not even funny. I think the government should look into this. It even gets worse when you refuse to patronize some of them and they verbally harass you by commenting on the size of your derriere and how flat it is. Basically, body shaming you, I've also been on the receiving end of this, I was extremely pissed.

As if that wasn't enough, many Hausa men exchanged Dollars for Naira and bought gold. They always shouted, "Dollar, gold". I was initially pissed but later on, I embraced it so when they asked how many dollars I wanted to change to naira, I would say " Don't worry, when I have money, I will come" and we'll both laugh.

I remember this Automated Teller Machine(ATM) at the market square that I frequented, it always rejected my card, stating that I should reposition myself. I would tiptoe to use the ATM and after several attempts, it would work out and I would excitedly exit leaving other users that the machine refused to pay. I'm not short BTW, I'm 5'4, I'm the same height as most of my friends so I like to think I'm as tall as the average girl.

I remember my Akara(bean cake) Vendors. Most times so I don't get to work late, I don't take breakfast at home. I just take a few slices of bread from home and buy Akara to go with it. I even had options, there were two different places I could get it, one was owned by a man the other one was by a woman. I preferred patronizing the woman because hers was bigger, cheaper, and tastier.

I remember my fruit vendor, she used to give me and my friends two for the price of one. She knew us as her faithful customers who bought pawpaw almost every day.

I remember the stalls I promised to visit before I finished my internship. I never got to buy anything from them, there was this particular jewelry stall that I promised myself to patronize. The day I wanted to buy something, the stall was closed. Other days, I was probably pissed or there wasn't enough money with me.

Note: whenever you pass 'Yaba', do not and I mean do not linger openly on any stall if you aren't ready to buy anything. Just stylishly look at it out of the corner of your eyes and do not hold the trader's gaze. I'm talking from experience y'all.

I sometimes hate the fact that I feel this way, it can be unsettling. I passed the route lately and I felt this weird tingling in my chest, a reminder of how much I missed the whole hustle and bustle. There are so many things that I think about and make me miss the institute but these are the ones I can remember right now.

You can share your experience with the place you swore never to miss in the comments section😊.

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©Deeepensiverse.

December 10, 2021.