I don't know if this is a bible thing or just something that Christians say. But you see that word, a closed mouth is a closed destiny? I take it very seriously and apply it in all aspects of my life.
From the on set, I have always been very vocal about how I want to be treated and the things that I want from life and this has helped me achieve a lot of things. I am not one to keep quiet especially when it comes to anything that has to do with my interest.
When I first got employed, I was handed a desktop that seemed a bit too much. What do I mean by this? The laptop was heavy and not something that is easily mobile. In fact, carrying it home and bringing it back to work means that I have to take some aspirin for the ache that will cause my shoulders pain.
At a time, out of frustration, I just left it in the house and was working strictly with my desktop at the office. You see this particular laptop that the office gave to me? Several times my colleagues mocked me with it. It was really embarrassing seeing everyone with their MacBook and I am getting stuck with the ancient of days laptop. Luckily I have a thick skin and their words do not get to me.
However, I wasn't going to put up with the constant shoulder ache and inconveniences carrying around the weighty laptop. Seeing that my job requires almost a 24/7 online presence and my phone can't adequately perform the role that a laptop would, I planned to save up and get a private mini laptop for myself. But then, my plan soon hit rock bottom when I checked in with my techy bestie and she told me that there's not much I could achieve with a mini laptop. She further advised that I take my time to save up and get myself a real laptop, preferably a MacBook.
Assessing my earnings and the expenses on my neck at the time, saving up such a huge amount to get a proper laptop was way out of my budget. So I just resolved to settle for what I already had going on which affected my job greatly. Since I always leave the laptop at home and rarely use it, I didn't even have the zeal to charge it anymore.
Several times I would be given a take home task, I'm always coming up with excuses why I can't do it and will just resolve to do it in the office and continue the next day. Basically, it was either I'm complaining about my electricity to power the laptop or the fact that I can't really do much with it.
At one point, I think management got the memo and they just shared tasks amongst other employees except me. Well, I kept ringing it to them that a bad laptop equals a slow down in my work efficiency. I was riding and milking on the advantages of the situation till we entered a new year which came with a clean sweep.
The MD of my establishment was not quite pleased with how it seemed some employees were trying to act bigger than the organisation. There was also the issue of merging job roles and creating more output with lesser employees.
When the meeting came up amongst the executives, my name was the first to be mentioned as the number one staff to be laid off. According to some board members, I wasn't doing much and another employee could take up my role in addition to theirs.
While it was almost a done deal that I was going out, HR put up a solid fight on my behalf and took up the responsibility for my poor performance. According to HR, I wasn't doing much because my supervisor was not assigning duties to me, a fault that was later pinned on the management for not providing me with a suitable work laptop.
Again, looking at my other performances, it was quite impressive. Thus, I was pardoned. Well, unfortunately some other employees could not scale through as they were laid off.
Moving on, after the clean sweep by management, a training was organised at the headquarters of which the news got to my office quite late. However, my colleague and I did quite an impromptu journey and for sure I didn't bother to travel with my laptop even when my colleague went with his. I honestly didn't want to be bothered with such a burden as I wanted to be stress free and of sound mind for the training.
We arrived at our destination and settled in. By the following day being the day that the training was to commence, my colleague and I got to the head office and met with some other of our colleagues. We exchanged pleasantries after which I went to the kitchen to have my breakfast. The kitchen is structured in such a way that while inside, you can still see and hear everything that goes on in the work area. I was munching on my noodles when I heard one of my colleagues say, "Ese has a laptop but I doubt she came with it."
I immediately paused on my meal, covered it and rushed out of the kitchen to be sure of what I heard. I stood by the kitchen door and listened in on the conversation.
Yes, I was correct with part of what I heard. They were talking about office laptops but I was no longer hearing my name.
Continuously snapping my fingers at my colleague adjacent to me, I finally got her attention as she adjusted her seat to face me.
"Did they just call my name and said that I have a work laptop?" I questioned as we both faced each other.
"Yeah", she responded with a nod.
“I do not have a work laptop”. I fired as I jumped in on the conversation, rebuking whoever said that I have a laptop for work.
The moment I said that, Mr Nath (head of maintenance) picked me and said, "Ese, swear that this office did not you give you a laptop when you started working with us"
I paused briefly to think, as such a bold attack deserves a diplomatic response.
"Yes, the office gave me a laptop to work with but you can't call it a laptop because is it mobile? You and I know how heavy and frustrating that thing is to work with. You can't compare to the MacBook provided for other employees."
"Eh, but you still have a laptop you are working with" he pushed further.
"Did you see me come to this training with any laptop? That's because I don't have one and won't be stressed by the disguised desktop management provided me with." I tackled back.
Seeing how I was bent on disassociating myself from the laptop management provided for me, Mr Nath scoffed and said, "at least your ancient of days is better than the stone aged desktop that accountant is using". We all burst into laughter as we made our way to the conference room in preparation for the training.
The morning session of the training lasted for three hours and by 1pm, we were released for lunch. I and a few colleagues had our lunch in the conference room. I was sitting close to the trainer's laptop which looked similar to mine. While I ate, our MD came around and we all greeted him. Next, he pointed at the trainer's laptop and asked if I was still hooked up with my work laptop. In his words, "Oh, you are still hooked up with this old thing?"
"Me? No o! Sir that is not my laptop o. It belongs to the trainer". I responded by turning to look at the laptop by my side.
"Oh really? Where's yours then?" The MD inquired.
"Sir I left it at home o, that laptop is the weapon fashioned against me and as such it cannot be mobile." My response caused an uproar of laughter between my MD and the rest of my colleagues. As they laughed, I added more complaints about how the laptop causes my shoulder to ache whenever I hang it in my bag for work.
On a lighter note, I informed my MD how the laptop was after my life and my general well being because once my shoulder starts to ache, it becomes inconvenient to carry on with my job as I should. It was like a stand up comedy because the more I explained my plight with the laptop, the more laughter it stirred.
After having a good laugh, my MD gave me a pat on the shoulder and promised to do something about it. He went about his duties and we all came back for our training.
While the training ended, I was seated at the work area when one of my colleagues dropped a MacBook in front of me. I quickly raised my head to look at her like, what's going on? Next she said to me, "it's for you, MD said you can have it."
Men! My happiness knew no bounds as I leaped for joy, tightly holding the MacBook to my chest. Jumping around while screaming at the top of my voice saying thank you to my colleague.
She responded with a smile, "don't thank me, go and thank MD."
"Oh I will do that right away." I responded with a broad smile. As I approached my MD's office, I could hear another of my colleagues say, "finally she has a new laptop, let's see the excuses that she will give for not doing her job".
That moment, I was overwhelmed with joy because I knew that my problems were over with work and I wasn't going to let whatever words anyone had to say bother me or ruin my moment.
