Some equate it to a chameleon; sometimes it’s this, sometimes it’s that depending on the surroundings. I’m currently reading this book: A STRANGER TO LOVE and it creates suspicion that keeps me turning to the next page. Job environment is so much like that; it’s uncertain and you have to keep turning pages to view the content of the next page. It’s an adventure. Whether self-employed, jobless or in employment, let`s delve into job escapades:
- Job the jobless.
Meet Job the jobless guy who graduated in 2011 from one of the most prestigious campuses in Kenya. He holds a degree in Economics and is a CPA graduate. He is very eloquent your ears would fall in love with him. Neither he nor his parents understand why despite pursuing a course similar to what former president Kibaki did, tarmacking has watered him down while his friends keep switching companies. While in campus, he dated Anne and they were like Sport and Pesa, but not anymore. Anne left him for Mapesa because realistically they will not eat and sleep on love. It’s been 4.2years of darkness, still at his mother’s house, surviving with nokia asha, and his email is full of rejection content. He has become a Certified Pit-digger Ambassador and cannot stop questioning Mother Nature.
- Susan the self-employed
Having won Employee of the year awards which led to subsequent promotions, Susan is good at what she does. Her kids have the finer things in life; her salary was fat. 3 years ago, she quit employment and decided to start her own business in line with her area of expertise. Her dream was to join other competing firms; build an empire and create employment. Things have not been as she expected; it’s been hectic to thrive in the market. Her business is not self-sustaining and loans are what keep it afloat; she even moved to a smaller business premise and laid off several employees. Giving up is becoming her logo as all she sees is darkness at the end of the tunnel. She has undivided attention and is thinking of going back to employment. However, she thinks people will brand her a failure; an ounce of dilemma is evident in her situation.
- Winnie the waitress
You must have noticed her at your favorite joint. That curvaceous waitress Winnie whose dressing awakens your other head (for men) until `unataka nini’ brings you back to reality. She is too pushy to let you relax; go through the menu and order. She comes as soon as your butt says finally to the chair and asks `nilete nini’ with a voice full of cocktail (anger, hatred, feelings, etc.). Her attitude makes you think your Biology teacher was a liar, `do ladies have PMS every day? When your pal joins, Winnie is too civilized to take her order and brings a replica of your order. You would think she pursued a Masters in Assumption and is now applying it. You swear not to go back there but since the food is usually well-cooked, the following day finds you there with the hope that Winnie is off-periods now, but sorry your Biology teacher must have lied….he he he.
- Moses the leader
He is admirable, every employer’s dream, and very successful for his age. From an intern, to senior employee, to head of department, he may replace the CEO soon. He not only meets the set targets, but also surpasses them. The eyes of the outside world certify he is doing well and he is a role model to hundreds. Conversely, something keeps him awake at night, it bothers him, and it is slowing eating him inside: the fear of venturing into self-employment. Getting out there on his own sounds progressive and tricky in equal measure, it means meeting the unknown where there is no security (of salary). He has been thinking about quitting his job for so long but what about the unknown? HE FEARS.
- Pauline the poker
She simply cannot trust his employees…..(not for 2minutes) and suffers from an ailment called poking. Her office is fitted with a screen and she sees every operation taking place; that’s her job description. She even shares the office with the accountant just to ensure that the money does not go through monkey business. Employees hate to love her; just yesterday James and Rahab were called for questioning on why they were laughing in the kitchen. Everybody’s business in the organization is her business. The staff turnover is so high and she seems not to understand the reason.
- Paul the underpaid
He beats the jam every day and is in the office by 7am. His boys drive and sometimes he hitches a lift. Did I mention most of his friends are in better firms which translate to better salaries? This makes him hate the company he works for. He struggles to fit in the lifestyle of his friends, and takes unreasonable loans for unnecessary things. Besides the not so good employment terms in his company, he seems not to think of an exit strategy. Going back to the drawing board may not be easy: sending CVs, receiving rejection letters, being grilled during interviews!!! It’s like boiling an egg instead of frying.
- Solo the singer
He is a Computer Scientist by profession and a singer by birth (he sang instead of crying…lol). His passion, his life, his everything is in singing. His parents are the career type who want to be a father to an engineer, mother to an architecture (you know those high-cluster courses). They cannot swallow that he is draining all his A’s to being a pop-singer. They even got him a job which he quit on very reasonable grounds: he found no satisfaction in it. He has done research and the findings are always the same: his purpose in life is to sing. Guilt is eating him up despite his love for music. If he ventures into singing, he will have disappointed his parents; will be an outlier among his siblings, and most importantly his 16 years of hard work and excellence in studies will not matter. But he loves singing; it’s his life.
- David from desperate corner
He wanted to be a journalist and worked so hard in high school only for his dreams to be shuttered when he did not even attain the grades to any course in campus on Module 1 basis. His parents are not well-off to afford Module II program; they however paid him college fees to do Computer packages. That’s how he landed a job in a cyber café. His dreams live on and he uses the free internet at the cyber to learn journalism the `Kienyeji’ way. He has even tried comedy with the ideology that it would get him closer to media only to realize that comedy is for comedians. No matter how much he wants to save for college, he wakes up next to money problems.
Who are you? One by one, I shall be paying the 8 guys a visit to listen to them, hear their story and develop a strategy to handle the problems. The comment box is ALL YOURS.
