I was chatting with this young lady a few days back. She was one, worried soul. She works in this private company and they have brought in a new boss. Now that’s where her troubles begin. She says the new boss doesn’t seem to like her.
“Why! Have you done anything wrong?”
“No, I haven’t.”
“Then why should you worry?”
“I think he is thinking of getting rid of me.”
“But why he should do such a thing if you’ve done there is nothing wrong?”
“I know it; I just know it!”
“Can you tell me how? I understand the guy hasn’t even talked to you.”
“The way he looks at me says it all. It’s so hostile!”
Hostile! Aren’t most of us just that these days? And the lady’s already hunting for a new job, even with lesser pay. Look, her claims might sound paranoid. But when you see how things are done these days, you wonder if her instinct is right. The talk is that quite a number of private companies are just that, private; private in the sense that the bosses could do whatever they want whenever they want. Well how near that is to the truth, I can’t say.
I have no idea how they do it in the civil service these days; but a few years back the way bosses kicked you out of your job was not only unceremonious but brutal, too. Say, after a good night’s sleep, you get up early in the morning, freshen up, and, thanks to the lady of the house treat yourself to a sumptuous breakfast. Full speed ahead to the office! As you approach your office you’re not only smiling, you’re the re4creation of ‘smile’ itself! Oddly enough it makes you look handsome, one thing the lady of house doesn’t often say about you!
So, the day s having started good and, the sun bright as bright can be, you’re not going to darken it with folds across your forehead and hanging jaws! But just as you were trying to insert the key, reality hits you with such force you actually miss a heartbeat or two. What, in the world is this?
‘SEALED!’ That was what your eyes confront. Why in the world do they have to seal your office! You’re not any near to management position, you are a hundred miles from the company’s coffers saving you from wrong temptations and this is what they do to you! You thought ‘sealed’ is a term way ahead of you. And it is even written in red ink and large fonts.
You have to talk about this with your immediate boss! The guy is usually the sort of person who manages to put one foot on both sides of anything. He doesn’t want to offend anyone. Well where were all those wonderful genes of his when you are given the marching orders?
“What is this all about?” You are in combat mood. You’re not going to let them paste anything they want on the doors of an office which was yours and yours only!
“What’re you talking about?”
“Why us my office sealed?”
“You don’t know!”
“Know what?”
He stays staring at you for what feels an eternity. “I’m sorry to tell you; but… you’ve been sacked.”
You don’t have to utter anything. All the emotions are splashed all over your face and also the joints, which you could swear were cranking nosily.
“Look, I don’t know why they did it. No one asked me anything.” The guy is trying to wash his hand clean.
“Then whose decision is it?”
“I think it came from higher up.”
Higher up! Once again the ever-mysterious ‘higher up’ body!
The waters are calm, the air is just fabulous, and life has never been nicer. You feel like a prince-in-waiting. What more could you have asked! Then “BANG!” a colleague calls and tells you the talk in the office was he has been transferred. Transfer! And you thought you were in that office for life.
“Who told you?”
“Everyone is talking about it.”
“Which branch, Arat kilo or Lideta?”
“Neither.”
“What do you mean neither? Didn’t you just tell me I’ve been transferred?”
“Yes, but it is to our regional office.”
Region! But you said you were the dandy of the place! Greetings were high-fives with almost everyone. Well, at least that was what you thought. You also thought that you’d be the last person at that office to be transferred to anywhere let alone hundreds of kilometers away.
Well life is not supposed to be fair! But if you think the boss new or not is out to get you, “The way he looks at me…” reasoning leaves much to be desired!
The Ethiopian Herald March 7/2021