Whenever I think about unemployment, I shudder immediately. That is why I can’t forget a time during the mid-90s when Aggrey and I were always flipping between the status of employment and unemployment! For example, when our boss was transferred from the NGO where we were working; we were to receive an immediate replacement. We had to be very careful not to get fired by the new boss otherwise unemployment would once again smile at us. Anyways, Aggrey and I were now embracing the idea of receiving a new boss. Indeed, within a week, we received a fax alerting us about a new boss. “You are required to go and pick the new boss from the airport”. Aggrey and I did not know what to expect? Would the new boss be as considerate as our ex expatriate? Would the new boss also forget and give us double salaries during the month? Would he forget that he had given us salary advances during the course of the month? All we had to do was to wait and pray. So, Aggrey and I jumped into the NGO Land cruiser and headed for the airport. Okay, at the airport, Aggrey and I lifted a placard with the names of our new boss “Mr. Robinson” We waited for almost one hour but there was no sign of Mr. Robinson. Passengers walked out until there was no one left in the lounge. We were about to leave for our Gikondo office when we were approached by a stranded lady. She looked us in straight in the eye and asked “Are you the guys from the Gikondo NGO?” We answered in the affirmative. That is when she proceeded to blast us “Then why did you bring a placard with the names of a man? Were you not asked to come pick a Mrs. Robinson?” Ooops! Aggrey and I had obviously forgotten to check whether our new boss was male or female. Apparently we had started our new life on the wrong footing. All the way from the airport to Gikondo, our new boss was just cursing, abusing and on the verge of slapping us. “You guys are worthless! I’ll have you fired at once!” he sceamed. Things had become elephant for us. We had to find a way of smoothing ourselves into her cruel heart. That would include such things as bootlicking and working extra hours. In order for us to survive this very hard new regime at the NGO, we had to be prepared to boil tea and coffee for our very strict boss. She immediately made sweeping changes. She cancelled all our allowances. She introduced a payroll – no more cash payments. She religiously deducted all of our salary deductions. This left us very poor indeed. As our cash supplies had been abruptly quashed, we resorted to forced fasting. I call it forced fasting because we could not consider ourselves to be born again Christians. These born again friends of ours decide to fast an attempt to defeat the devil. For us, the fasting was because we could not raise small bucks to buy us lunch. In the spirit of keeping a job, please make sure that you go all the way! Even including forced fasting…
