By Victor Edegbai
So far in my story I have dwelt so much on Aba. However, the journey actually started in Enugu. That is where the bank had its training school.
We were young, fresh from school, fire brand, and we had zest. We were ready to give our blood for this bank. After all, WE BEGGED TO APPLY. In less than three days of our stay in the training school, we had partnerships forming with a common trait HOW WE ARE GOING TO CHANGE THE FATE OF THE BANK FOR THE BETTER.
So it was that when we got to the branches, we worked differently. We actually tried to make improvements. We attended to customers faster, smiled, we dressed smarter and at the end of every day, we felt satisfied that we were making an impact. Omo, after the first cash shortage, boys change. Me in particular.
I was in western union. I had special arrangement for my customers, gave them special treatment, with special sweets and biscuits and that simple action of giving made my desk the most sought after western union desk in Aba, even toppling the main branch. These customers like free things I swear, no matter how small, as long as it is free. Some would tell their relatives to send them $100 USD in Fifty’s so that they can collect it twice and also collect foreign sweet twice. And when they will want to dash me SMALL SOMETHING FOR MY LUNCH, I will just remember my training and say “Oh, don’t bother its my job to serve you well. Do cone again”.
I quickly got renamed. Aba people started calling me DO COME AGAIN. Of course they gave me referrals which helped the branch grow in money transfer business. Then one day, the devil decided to test my home training. And I failed woefully. It began in the morning. I set my desk to receive customers and had plenty smiles on my face. I had just restock the sweets and was very happy that the branch management had started reinbursing me seeing that they were having more business.
Then the first batch of customers swarmed on me and they were all beaming with smiles in response to mine. Then Ogbuefi Jude came behind me and wanted me to pull $100 USD for him, while also attending to a customer. At that point too, a very delicately made daughter of zion came forth to pick a form and instead of greeting , just said “Hi Mr red lips, I dreamt of kissing you”. I raised my head to see her full form. Her beauty confused me instantly, and by the time I got a clear head again, I had realised that I was having a shortage of 700 Dollars. Dollar was 155 Naira to one dollar then, please press your calculator.
Jude had already left with the money I paid him, (Jude is a contract staff by the way) and the other customer I was attending to before the confusionist came was still counting her money. So I used my eyes to count with her. Three, four, five , six , seven. Complete. She thanked me and left.
I called Jude on the intercom. O boy how much i pay you, he say 100 Dollars. “OSALOBUA LAHOOORR”. (ask your Bini friend what that means). Instantly, my moral fall. Customers started asking me “Are you okay?” and I was forming concentration and not hearing. Even with the AC behind me, I was sweating profusely. All I was seeing was an imbalanced account.
Funny thing is My confussionist she demon customer disappeared. I am not lying . Madam OJK again was the first to observe my change of mood. She immediately stopped behind me and asked “Vee. Are you okay? Are you balancing?”. In my head I was like, ah, is it so obvious?. When I hesitated to answer, she just said “How much?”. I told her it was 700 Dollars. She then announced my predicament to the customers and begged them to give me 10 minutes so that we can check.
She entered the cubicle, double counted with me, checked around the corners, all this while my heart pounding in expectation of a miraculous reappearance of the dollars, but alas she capped it “Vee, the money is realy missing. Wait let us play the CCTV and see what happened.” Omo !, they play CCTV, e no dey record. Apparently, the hard disc has been full for months and no body know sef. Ah, mogbe!. So I decided to take my fate in my hands. Na to pay na. When I sat back to attend to my customers, they asked if I saw it and I said NO. Just before I resumed working again, madam OJK came back, gave me $700 USD and said “Vee, balance your accouny, smile, whenever you can, Pay me back”
I thanked her. The woman I was attending to was like, are you going to pay for it, I said “Yes”. When i finished attending to her, she gave me one hundred dollars from her 2K dollars she just received. I did not say “don’t bother” this time. I just quietly collected and smiled. Even the “Thank you” I said I didnt even have the power to be loud. The next customer, same thing. All the customers that witnessed what happened were just dashing me dollars, some very happy that I had now dropped from my high horse of don’t bother. By close of business, I had well over $1,500 USD from dashings.
I paid back madam OJK who was pleasantly amused that I had gained my smiles back.
Barr. Victor Edegbai AKA Grandpa is a father of many nations, positive thinker, and friend of many. I like trouble, because I be lawyer.
