We got a new supervisor, about time I must say, and many of us were hoping that at least now, we wouldn’t have to deal with the "Chinese” directly. As with any work environment managed by expatriates, there’s bound to be sides or to put it more aptly, camps.

So even at the restaurant, it is like us against the Chinese. There are no physical fights or anything but you just feel the divide between them and us/

However, as we’ve quickly come to learn, this new guy who happens to be called Casper (an unusual name, if you ask me), is nothing like Richard, our former supervisor. But for his "black” skin, you’d think he was one of the Chinese. He hasn’t been here even a week but he already wants to be in charge of everything. It feels like he wants everyone to know he’s "working” and you have to wonder if he thinks he will be promoted to manager or some other high post because of that.

The other issue we have with him is his incessant reporting about everything that goes on around here. You would think that he would put in a good word for us and try to make our working conditions better but instead, he’s always running to tell the bosses what we have done.

Better if it’s a mishap. The sight of him talking in hushed tones to one or more of the senior mangers reminds me of primary school when we thrived on gossip to gain a favour or make new friends. The waiters are plotting to teach him a lesson. I do hope they do.

People like him rarely have friends and in fact, many of us avoid him. If it were a girl doing this, I would understand, but a guy? No one wants to talk to him because you’re not sure he won’t run right back to the Chinese and tell them what you just discussed.

He’s going to be one tough person to work with. Our supervisor is not the only new person in my world. We also got new neighbours at home. I should be happy about that but I’m not. I couldn’t help but notice a few odd things about them. For starters, they’re quite a big family. I’m told the average Rwandan family has three children.

Our neighbours have five and I can’t rule out their getting more. So, with the parents and the maid, that makes eight people in their two-roomed house. It’s about the same number in my household, (except that we have three rooms and some of the people in my house are usually away for certain periods so it’s not always a full house).

So, I wonder how this family manages. The other issue I have with them is that they’re a rowdy bunch. The big man happens to have a car and he doesn’t think there’s any problem with blasting music from his car radio at six in the morning! His taste in music is lacking, by the way. When he talks, we all hear him loud and clear even when he’s inside his house.

The children are another nuisance. Potties all over the place and endless chases! One minute, two of them are laughing hysterically and the next, one is crying. They sleep late even on school nights and manage to fit in some playtime before heading to school in the morning.

There’s also the fact that they enter any house and leave it a mess and there’s now way you can stop them because they are children and all this is part of growing up.

You want to be nice but these little creatures keep getting on your nerves and making it hard to love your neighbour as you love yourself.

To be continued...
 
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