The broke girls guide: Abena's story

Tan than tan tan tanh tarara rara en tan ta …. Dancing to this weird distant music, wondering where it’s coming from, but wait, where am I? ‘Oh no!’ Abena exclaimed when she realized that it was her alarm that had been ringing for the past thirty minutes. I’m going to be late on my first day of work. She hurriedly jumped off the bed and frantically cursed herself for watching two more episodes of the Korean movie from last night. Curse you lee min ho and your gorgeous looks. Luckily, she had prepared her clothes and packed her work bag last night but she knew she would be missing breakfast. No Nasco cornflakes for me, she thought, and with a sad face, she hurriedly shut her door and briskly walked down to the edge of the street to take a taxi and avoid being late. Unfortunately, the rush hour was upon them and they spent 45 minutes on a 15-minute drive to trans-Amadi where Light-Bug was located. Ignoring the disapproving look from the security guard, she hurried into the building and nearly tripped over the potted plants at the entrance. ‘30 minutes late on your first day, Miss Obi’ said Mr. Derik ‘I thought I made it clear during the interview that I hate tardiness.’ He looked hauntingly.  ‘I am very sorry, sir, it won’t happen again’ said Abena. ‘It better not.’ he said as he dropped a pack of files and said' I want these proofread and typed by lunch time today, as he walked into his office and shot the door with enough force to break it off the hinges. What a day and it’s not yet noon. Abena sits down and gets acquainted with her work desk while a few of the employees come to welcome her. ‘Hello, welcome to Light-Bug. I’m Dave and this is Iheoma. We are developers here and you are?’ ‘Abena, Abena Obi, it’s really nice to meet you. I must have made quite an impression today’ she says nervously. Iheoma laughs ‘it happens to the best of us, first day jitters. Well, if you need any help getting around, feel free to ask for help’.  ‘Thank you so much. I really appreciate the warm welcome I will take you up on that offer.’ It was 1:30 pm and finally done with the work she was given, she went to submit it to her boss. Knock knock  ‘Come in’ came the quiet reply. ‘Sir, I’m done with the task you assigned.’ ‘Yeah, keep it on the table and send the softcopy to my email address.   ‘Ok sir’ ‘I want to pick up lunch for me from zing cuisines. I want their bole special. Use the company card to get it. You may go.’ Derik dismissed her with the flick of his hand. Still standing there looking, puzzled by the rudeness of her boss, she finally shuffles out, closing the door gently. She boarded a taxi for D-line. The spot was busy as everyone wanted to get their orders quickly and in the heat of an argument, hot peppery stew came flying towards her and splashed across her dress. The whole place was quiet for a second before everyone’s attention turned to Abena. The perpetrator was apologizing profusely and the server was trying to clean her up. Abena was about to cry internally, thinking about what more could go wrong in the day. Leaving the restaurant with residual oil stains and pepper burns and the day proved it wasn’t done with her , because the flood gates opened and the heavens let loose icy cold rain. Totally drenched and without an umbrella, she let out loud sobs that were drowned out by the angry rain. Getting back to the office, she couldn’t help but avoid everyone’s gaze and puzzled looks as she made her way to her boss’s office and dumped the soaked bag on his table. ‘Your lunch sir’ she said with a cynical smile. ‘Hmm’ he mumbled without looking up. Abena hurriedly left his office and Iheoma was there waiting and escorted her to the bathroom with a clean dry pair of clothes. ‘ These were from our last work event. They are clean and new’ said Iheoma as Abena entered into the restroom to change. The trousers were undersized and cut off at her calves and the shirt was big enough for two. ‘Sorry that’s all that I could find’, Iheoma apologized. ‘Oh its fine’ Abena said ‘anything is better than wet stained clothes to me at this point’. They went back to their desk and Abena saw a new set of files on her desk to work on. She quickly got to work to avoid thinking about her horrible luck. At 5:30 pm she was done and ready to leave the office when the buzzer for Derik’s office rang. She went into his office forgetting her attire and was met with his stern gaze. ‘What are you wearing? This isn’t approved office wear and I will not tolerate this here. If you wish to remain employed here, this shouldn’t happen again!’ Derik said with a very harsh tone that left no room for a reply. Abena was too shocked at his harsh reply to utter a word. She just quietly nodded. As she turned to leave, Derik said ‘you need to be here tomorrow by 7:30 am as we have to be in Bayelsa by 9 am for a meeting with some potential investor, and your display of tardiness today would get you fired if it happens again tomorrow. You are dismissed.’ Oh what a day Abena thought as she boarded a taxi back home. I’m just going to take a hot shower, eat and sleep when I get home. Abena got home only to discover that someone had peeled groundnuts in front of her flat and left the chaff everywhere and the rain made it such an eyesore, she hurriedly opened her door, dropped her bag, and went upstairs to her neighbor's house to inquire who did it, because she knew that mama Esther her upstairs neighbor was the only one who sold fried groundnut. After knocking on the door, her neighbor came out. ‘Mama Esther, please did you throw your groundnut chaff in front of my flat? The rain has muddled it up and is blocking the entrance to my house.’ ‘Eh, so what do you want me to do na,’ she said casually with no guilt. You should come and clean it or send one of your children to clean it up please’ I’m busy, just leave it or if it disturbs you too much, you can sweep it up yourself. A young girl like you that hasn’t married you want me to come and sweep the front of your house, mtchew’ she said as she tried to go in. Dumbfounded, Abena replied ‘you are not serious oh, you had better send someone to come and clean it or I will report you to the caretaker that you are tapping electricity from the general supply box. Mama Esther stopped and looked at her with shocked eyes as Abena went down the stairs and back into her apartment. A few seconds later, Esther was heard sweeping the front of Abena’s flat.  This small win was enough to put a smile on Abena’s face after the horrid day she had.