When You Have Long-Leg That You Cannot Use

So, since I passed out from NYSC in April and came back home, the person that seems to feel the pain of my unemployment (I think even more than I do) is my mother. Mostly because na she dey suffer am pass. You see, she takes it upon herself to help me financially, sometimes even when I do not ask. Like how she just gave me some money one day when she saw how broke I looked. She’s sweet like that but I digress!

Sometime last week, a distant relative came over to the house, an old woman my mother calls ‘mother’. She came to ask my father to talk to one man like that so that he would give her daughter a job at LEA (I think it means Local Education Authority). My father said yes. My mother was flabbergasted (I don’t know but this word makes me laugh all the time). I’ll tell you why.

Long before I came back home, my mother would bring up this topic, asking her husband to talk to this man. He would say no, that he is not one to talk to or pay people money for them to give his children jobs. My mother stopped talking about this long ago. So you can imagine how surprised she was when in her presence, he called the man in question and was begging for help.

I was home that day, in my room. But you know how loudly old people talk on the phone, I heard everything. When she echoed it to me later that day, I could see the disappointment in her eyes. But surprisingly, I’m not bothered by this whole thing, mostly because the job in question is a government job that everyone I know that works there never go to work. Those that manage to go to work just go to sign in, sit down and gossip and at the end of the month, you receive your alert. Shikenan! It’s a boring job but perfect for people who are just irredeemable lazy bones; or people who want ample time to take care of their personal business endeavors (because most of the people I know there that do not go there at all or just go to sign in have other businesses).

I am not saying if I get it I will not do sha o! Make I hear! I will do. I would go each morning with my laptop and be surfing the net or writing a post or something. Would be great, actually.

But then, in my father’s defense, he has done his part for me, like he said. Money making and how I find a job or how to make a living is entirely my problem, and if I decide to further with school, that is on me too. I didn’t always think like this, though, and I’m glad how far I’ve come.

So me I was feeling the pain for my mother who was feeling my pain even though I’m cool with him not wanting to soil his name for his children. Shey a good name is better than whatever it is they say?