Jobseeker’s diary

Simon is really fun to work with. Not the bossy type at all. In fact if you find us together, you might think we’re two old friends hanging out. He has really gone out of his way to make me feel comfortable. He lets me use his laptop and has even asked to become my FaceBook friend. I doubt he has “funny ideas” if you know what I mean. He’s just a nice guy. This is one of the reasons I like working for Whites. Many of them respect people regardless of race or class and know not to abuse their employees’ rights most of the time. On Tuesday, he took me and another colleague to lunch. He likes Chinese. I’m not as big a fan but hey, it was a free meal. It was all good – Spring Rolls, that spicy rice, nicely done ribs, salad and many other dishes I was tasting for the first time – but the bill left me open-mouthed. 50,000Rwf! That’s about 16,000Rwf for each of us. The things I could have done with that money, I thought to myself. On the work front, I like what I do. Only problem is that there’s little work, meaning I work just a couple of days, hours in fact. In a good week, about 10 hours. That’s an average of three hours over three days. And the rest of the week, I am idle. Simon has encouraged me to take up a short course in the free time. I said I would but we all know all too well I can’t afford it. Perhaps in future when I make some money. When Simon said he’d give me lunch and transport, I assumed he’d give me cash but as I’ve come to quickly realise, we usually eat out, meaning he pays or the maid at their house cooks for us. As for the transport, sometimes he does give me cash but there are also times he drives me home or asks someone to, meaning I don’t score there either. I did well saving whatever money I managed to get from him. My most urgent need was a visit to the salon because my hair really looked bad. I did that and felt good about looking good after such a long time. The second most important need was shoes. A good pair of shoes doesn’t come cheap so I opted for flats which are more pocket-friendly. Of course there are so many other things I want but I have to wait till I get some more money. When I got home that evening, Jane immediately noticed and asked, “You bought shoes?” I had previously told her about my shoe dilemma, asking pointedly if she had shoes she didn’t need. She had said no and instead suggested I go to a cobbler to fix my remaining pair of shoes. I very much wanted to tell her the truth that I got some money from my part-time job and so used some to buy the shoes but then she’d think I had a lot and probably wonder why I wasn’t buying stuff at home. So my reply was that the shoes weren’t mine but for a colleague at work who I’d told about my dilemma and so she had offered to lend me her flats until I sorted my problem out. Good thing is that the flats were not brand new but what some people call “second hand” so I hope she bought the lie. Even I was surprised at how quickly I came up with that little lie. I really hate that I have to lie to her but sometimes, circumstances force you to do certain things. I promise to right this wrong someday. To be continued…