IF there was a way of knowing how other people thought of us, some of us would be very happy in life. This is because there are those who like us so much and would do anything for us to make us happy the rest of our life time.
But in the same vain, if we knew how other people badly thought of us, we would not be walking tall and probably we would only be staying home just with our families.
Usually, people who are wished well by others are themselves good to others while those who are wished ill are themselves bad to others.
Recently, on December 15, to be specific, a friend of mine, Peter Banda, came home to pay me a visit after we had missed each other for about a week. He found me watching TV having had nothing much to do.
After Some time, he asked me how busy I was and after I told him I was not busy as he could see me killing time by watching TV.
Yes, men talk of killing time, while time slowly kills them, I thought.
Since I was not busy, Peter suggested that we take a walk to a nearby drinking place known as AC Villa. The place is just a few meters away from my home. This is also one, if not the best drinking places in Chifubu Township in terms of cleanliness.
When we got into the bar, I suggested that we sit somewhere where there was no noise because the music which was blaring was too loud for my liking. So we settled at some isolated table after we ordered our drinks.
Next to our table were seated two men who were known to Peter and we greeted them. As the drowning of the beer progressed, another man came to join the two men. He looked like he had started his drinking spree earlier than his colleagues as joy appeared allover his face. Even the way he was talking was suggesting he had a good drinking day.
He sat to the chair as he was nodding his head appreciatively and said:”We have dealt with him,” and broke into laughter. The other two men also broke into hearty laughter.
What was it that these men were so happy about? Who did they deal with?
As an Eavesdropper, I paid more attention so that I could hear more. But this newcomer who seemed to have something to say did not seem to be in a hurry.
He checked the levels of the beers of his colleagues before he went to the counter and came back with six Castle lagers which he placed on the table before sitting down.
“That is the way to deal with people like him,” he said when he settled down.
The man started telling his friends that by the time he was knocking off, the list of donations for the driver had reached K30, 000 while that of the supervisor was only about K 5,000.
What was this donation? I wanted to know. But Peter was the one who asked one of the men what the story was all about.
And so the man went on to explain what was happening at their place of work.
Apparently, the three men were workmates at a company in Ndola. What was happening was that there were two men at their place of work who were due for retirement at the end of January (this month) – which is only a few days away from now.
In many instances, when people work together, they treat each other as families. When one was leaving employment, friends came together and donated some money to stage a get together party and give out gifts to whoever was leaving.
In some cases, they also contributed money to give their friends as a send off to them after they had worked with them for many years.
This was exactly what was happening at this named company. One of the two men who were going on retirement was a supervisor in a certain department and the other one was a driver.
The two men are to go on retirement at the same time next month. The workers had agreed to contribute K 150 each towards the sending off of their colleagues. However for accountability’s sake, they drew a list of names of those who were contributing.
The list of the supervisor was the first to be drawn followed by that of the driver.
The man explained that people started contributing the money way back in August and the lists were still circulating. But what was amazing was that the list of people contributing the money for the driver was moving fast while that of the supervisor was not even seen in circulation.
According to the man explaining this, the driver was a very good man and each time he found a workmate going for work, he offered to give them a lift as long as he was also going to the plant.
Many people liked this driver because he helped them save on transport costs.
On the other hand, the supervisor was said to be a very unkind man. He was so ruthless that he even organized the suspensions, punishments or even the firing of some workers at the plant.
Apart from being cruel, the supervisor was also stingy that he could not even give some workers company T-Shirts which were supposed to be distributed freely to the workers.
And so when the contributions list was circulating, people were only contributing for the driver and the number of contributions soared to more than 150 people while that of the supervisor remained stagnant with only about 20 people contributing.
At one point, the supervisor complained that his earlier list had been stolen together with the money, but the workers who knew what was happening just laughed.
“People are not contributing for the supervisor because he is not friendly. In fact no one is willing to go round with his list asking for contributions while that of the driver is filling up quickly.
“By the time I was knocking off this afternoon, the driver’s contributions list had reached K30,000 while that of the supervisor had only a few people who had contributed with the amount stuck at K2,000,” the man who had just joined his friends chirped in.
The three men said even the party which is supposed to be a joint one for the two men will not be because people have suggested that two separate parties be held. They doubted whether people would attend the supervisor’s party.
The men appeared to have been enjoying the goings-on at the place of work because they were even celebrating that the supervisor’s retirement day was at hand.
They wished a good man would replace him as soon as he was gone.
One man hinted that even the supervisor’s fellow supervisors were not keen in contributing towards him and they suspected that only those who were very close friends to the man had contributed.
“That is why we are saying we have dealt with him. If he is wise enough, he should just withdraw his list and get away with the little money that has been contributed for him. That way, he will save his face,” said the other man as he gulped his Mosi lager and joyfully walked to the counter where he ordered several Castle and Mosi including four Windhoek lagers for me.
Inside me I was wondering how vengeful people could be. They would be smiling at you and sometimes feel sorry for you when you are in trouble or problems and you would think they loved you so much, but the truth is that they would be shading crocodile tears.
But one thing for sure is that it is good to be good to people because in turn, they will be good to you and be bad, they will reciprocate in the same way.
Imagine K 30,000 had been contributed for the good driver within just four months while only K 5,000 had been contributed for the supervisor! How sorry for him. potipher@gmail.com.
0955929796.