Deji had had enough, the whole thing was becoming a little too much and he couldn’t take it any more.
Things had really deteriorated at the office; more specifically things between him and his boss. Lately, nothing he did impressed the man. He found mistakes in everything Deji did and took forever in approving his jobs. Even Deji’s subtle tactic of passing his jobs to the other ogas in the department was wearing thin as they now refused to okay his work stressing that although they felt he had done a good job, Collins was meant to approve them. They tried to encourage him telling him how he must ‘manage’ his boss.
Manage whom? To Deji that was asking for more than he could do at the point in time. Firstly, the department was short-staffed, and he was carrying out more than one function, in short he was doing the work of three people; so where was he going to find the time to kiss his boss’ ass? Secondly, he got along well with the other team heads and ogas in the department without any ass-kissing so why was this particular ass so special?
Deji was in the creative team of his department which called for churning out of good marketing communication ideas for the organization. Creativity required a high degree of equanimity of the mind and soul and he was not getting any of it in his department. Since Chisom went on maternity leave he also had the added responsibility of dealing with the media guys and the Director’s correspondence; requests which came in at odd times of the day and week with all sorts of near impossible deadlines. Well, this was what he signed up for and he could handle it; as they say ‘work no dey end.’ But the ass-kissing? Sorry, no can do.
Deji was one of those people who believed that one’s work should speak for one’s capabilities and not any other thing. Choosing his friends carefully, he was civil and cordial to others in the company making him the nice guy.
Now one of Deji's colleagues, Stella would often come into his office to see him under the pretext of making enquiries. Stella was relatively new in the company having just spent three months and they got on pretty well. They sometimes had lunch together in the cafeteria and talked. She liked Deji as he made her laugh. Deji found her very attractive and often told her so. She would then laugh and remind Deji that she had a fiancé in the
One day he found himself in a situation where his boss gave him a query for some unfinished tasks which had exceeded their deadlines. The HoD was copied in the query. Deji explained to the HoD that he had actually finished some of them but was yet to pass them on to Collins for approval. The others had not been completed because Collins had earlier told him to put them on the backburner as they were of lower priority.
The HoD did not buy into Deji’s explanation. How could he? When Deji could not explain why his boss constantly refused to approve his work, or why he sometimes took weeks to look at a draft or dummy or why he was also in the habit of misplacing Deji’s painstaking marketing plans. Deji responded to the memo with the promise to improve on meeting his deadlines.
A few weeks later another issue came up and Collins ranted and raved threatening Deji with a poor performance evaluation and non-promotion for the year. Deji could not bear the thought of not being promoted. He had never failed at anything in his life and he was not going to start now. He quietly dropped his letter with the Human Capital Department and without telling too many people, he resigned his appointment. He had had enough. He did not need anyone to kill his spirit or destroy what little confidence he had in himself. There were easier ways to make money in this town.
Two months later, Deji found another job with a media firm. He took a pay cut but got his confidence and game back making considerable contributions to his new employer. He still kept in touch with some of his former colleagues especially Stella who had found it a bit hard to understand why he left so suddenly and why he had not confided in her. He reminded her that he was not her boyfriend and therefore not answerable to her. She laughed at this and told him that she missed him.
He took her out to lunch one day, where they sat and were able to catch up on things. She still wanted to know why he resigned his appointment, as he had not told her. This was one question he was tired of answering. Depending on whom was doing the asking, he would explain the issues he was having with his boss and the fact that his work and ability were being called into question by the unfriendly and mean attitude of his boss. To others he gave the generic answer of wanting a new challenge and wanting to work on the media side of things. Well, he had come to see that his reasons for leaving were actually a combination of both.
After the meal, he was about to tell her the whole story when her phone rang. After a brief conversation with the person on the line where she explained that she’s having lunch with a friend, she disconnected. Deji enquired to the identity of the caller, teasing her about her fiancé. She smiled and told him that it was his former boss Collins, who had taken her out for a drinks a couple of times. She explained that they had recently become friendly after he gave her a ride home, which had become a regular thing since he lived not too far from her place. Deji had a ‘light bulb moment’ as the picture became very clear to him. The crude teasing, the looks, the veiled comments and antagonism from his boss now made sense. The possibility had never crossed his slow mind. How could he have been so blind? Stella seeing the look that briefly crossed his face, asked him what was wrong. Deji just smiled and he shook his head. She smiled and again asked him why he left the company.
