I should have listened

Greetings everybody 🖐️.

February is here and people with lovers are already oppressing us with lovey-dovey posts. Please pity us, thank you.

Last week Friday I got an invite for a job I applied for since(I can't even recall when I applied), so I took permission from my work place to attend and I was granted. My boss is kinda BIG BRO(we are not related) to me so he was happy and was fully in support, immediately he started asking in details which I wanted to hide but because he persisted, I had to tell him.

The reason I never wanted to tell him in details was that, the last time I had such call and was to travel to Lagos, he almost bought air ticket for me, the pampering was too much. He made sure I boarded the transport company he wanted, he was calling every minutes....for an adult.🤷 YES, I FELT LOVED AND CARED FOR.

So I had to open up and tell him, and immediately he gave me a time for me to leave town in order not to get there late which I declined, saying the town is an hour journey and I would like to leave town 9:30am instead of 8:00am that he suggested(the test is by 11:00am).

He asked me a question that rang all through the journey. HE ASKED WHETHER I HAVE A PRIVATE/PERSONAL CAR TO USE that's making me say I want to enter road by 9:30am.

So this morning, I still went on my plan to go with the time I chose, I came out to the road by exactly 9:30am, got to the bustop to get a bus but surprisingly, I was the only one available. I tried to look out for "along"(passing by bus) but all of them were occupied so I had to enter and wait for other passengers to join me. I checked time and it was 10:00am and the question my boss asked rang on my head again "DO YOU HAVE A PERSONAL CAR THAT MADE YOU SAID YOU ARE LEAVING AT THIS TIME? DON'T YOU KNOW THAT THERE'S POSSIBLITY OF DELAY IN BUS TERMINAL?" Jeeeeezzz, I supposed to have listened to the advice of an elder.

The bus later got filled up by exactly 10:44pm and on a normal circumstance, I have just 26mins to get there in order not to miss out. We moved and I decided not to look at my phone at all in order to avoid time check, I was feeding my eyes with burning bushes along the road in a bid to push my mind away from the circumstances that awaits me when I get to the venue. There were series of police check points along the way and we stopped at each, they did their normal bag checking and also the driver gave them their tips as usual... another realm of delay. I didn't checked time all those while in order not to intense my worries and fear. This time I remembered the "African Time" and started praying to God to allow them use "African Time".

African Time is a common policy in Nigeria whereby an extra time is added to the actual starting time of an event, just to wait for latecomers and that's because latecomers are sure

The worst thing is that I don't know the venue in particular, so I was using Google map to trace. This was where gave me problem because I found out that the venue was very far from the simple address description they gave. So when the taxi dropped me at the junction they described, I asked questions and I was told to just move a little bit ahead and I would get there. This was how the journey began, I was trekking and asking questions. I became tired and I looked back and saw the length of distance I've trekked and I got tired the more. I had to summone courage to call the HR knowing fully well that maybe he's done with the test or into it, fortunately he picked and I told him where I was and he said I should just come a little bit closer. The way he sounded made me thought that it's nearby, so I continued the trekking.

At this point, I couldn't see small taxi to enter because it's an highway that enclosed with bushes which common taxis don't ply. I was lonely on the road and evil thoughts came to my mind but I blocked the thoughts instantly because I was brought up in the rural areas where we go into the thick bushes alone💪.

I continued my trekking till I met a police checkpoint, I wanted to stop and ask them question but I thought of how they misbehave sometimes, they might just start questioning me unnecessarily, meanwhile I have four sim cards at the back of my phone and that might have gave them more reasons to misbehave, so I passed them and went further to ask two guys, they gave me a go ahead direction again.

I wanted to give up and go back but it was of no use because I've gone far, and if I go back, I'm the one loosing.

Luckily I got there around 2:34pm(3hours late), met the security and I was directed to the hall of the event. I was looking so rough via the dust on my legs but I didn't mind. I met them at the edge of closure. They've written the test so when they closed, I had to meet the HR and luckily he gave me my own test with a very low time frame. It's better late than never, I wrote and the questions were really tough. I asked if I could use calculator but he said NO. How do they expect me to calculate squareroot, percentage and ratios without calculator?😴😴😴

I finished writing, submitted and I was handed over a small bag containing bottle water, biscuit and a can maltina drink. Immediately I got out from the gate, I boarded a tricycle to the nearest junction and I fed myself with the refreshment,,,I was so famished.

I got to my city and dropped at my workplace to charge my phone, When my boss entered, he asked how was it and I told him fine, if I should tell him how my time was delayed, he will just attack me till this months ending🤣.

________________________

Lesson

When going for an official Trip, especially for an interview, please and please start the journey early and incase a delay occur you'll still find time.

This is why I haven't visited your articles since morning. Let me eat food first.

Thank you for reading

1st February 2022

Special thanks to that beautiful lady @Ling01for sponsorship renewal. God bless you for me. Amen💯