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I can still remember vividly how it all started. It wasn't something I had planned for or even foresaw. At that time, I still thought of myself as too young and quite unfit to do any proper job.
I was about 16 and still in secondary school. I didn't apply for any job as I didn't need one. On a Sunday morning, on my way to church. I was dressed in black trousers, a sparkling white shirt and a black jacket. I was part of the church band and it was our uniform.
A dark, huge man stopped me, he said he liked how I was dressed, he said I looked really smart and handsome. He also said he liked how I talk and that he'd love for me to work for him and he was going to pay me handsomely. He then told me to come see him later in the day, when I was back from church so we could talk more.
I was a bit confused because I didn't really know the nature of the job but I was a bit excited because I heard money was going to be involved. At that time, I barely got money for anything I did for anyone, I was used to doing little tasks for older people around and all I got was a thank you, but I was quite satisfied with it, so hearing that I was going to be given money to do a task made me really interested.
I went to him immediately I came back from church. I wanted to know how much he would pay me and what job I needed to do.
When I got to his place, I discovered that he was a caterer, infact a chef of some sort. He owned this small kitchen where he made different exotic snacks that I had never seen or tasted in my life. The snacks really looked good and juicy and I badly wanted to taste and know about them.
He met me and started talking to me about what he does and how it all started. He was quite a good story teller, I really enjoyed hearing him speak. I asked him what each snack was called and he mentioned their names as he pointed at them. " Those are; samosa, springroll, Mosa, Puff-puff, etc". I knew Puff-puff already. As a kid, my mum always got them for me on my way to school and I really loved it, so I said the word before he even mentioned it.
I saw a boy working and baking stuffs. I then noticed that it was my very close friend named Blessing, It was then I realized how he got to know about me.
I thought I was going to be working in the kitchen too and would be making snacks but he said otherwise, He said I was going to double as a delivery boy and a marketer. He asked me to resume the next morning and I should make sure to dress as good as I dressed when he saw me.
The next day, I made sure to resume really early and to dress really good. He was proud of me. He wore a designer perfume as he took me out to show me what my job would be.
He gave me a bag of well packaged snacks to carry. The packaging were really beautiful. The snacks had this very nice and mouthwatering aroma which followed us as we moved.
We boarded a car and he took me to several banks and I watched as he met different workers there, and with a smile and a calm tone, he discretely asked them if they wanted the snacks. I also observed how he skillfully tried to sweet-talk and persuade some others into buying his snacks. I observed that some already knew him and were expecting him because I noticed how they smiled as he worked in. For those that wanted the snacks he asked me to put some snacks in a bag and carefully send to them.
After I gave them the snacks, they would carefully slide some newly minted naira notes to me and I would give them their balance where necessary.
A lot of these people liked me, mainly because I was really young and we'll dressed . They were really nice to me, always welcoming me with smiling faces.
We went home after we had finished all the snacks we came with. the job seemed really easy and didn't take time. We only spent about 2 hours in those banks.
At the end of the day, he told me that I would be doing exactly what he had done today, market and deliver the products. He also told me that he was going to pay me some amount of money, about 5000 thousand naira at the time. I was really pleased and thanked him.
I started the next day all by myself. The job helped me become a better communicator, I met quite a lot of affluent and influential people and I it really helped my self confidence. While I talked to these people , I realized that all humans are the same regardless of our possessions. I began seeing the world from an entirely new light. I also learnt a few things about business and life and it has greatly helped me till this point. The only thing I didn't like was the fact that I needed to persuade people to patronise us. It was as if I was begging them, I really hated that part but it was all part of the job so I had to do it. I had to leave the job when I got admitted into the university.
Although it was quite a good experience, I really do not think that I would go back there if I had the chance because like I said, I hate trying to persuade and convince anyone for myself. I love that people come to me because they need my service.
But life doesn't always give us what we want. It's left for us to learn from our experiences and create what we want out of life. I'm so grateful for what I had learnt and I'm happy I enjoyed the experience but it's all bygone now.
Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed this, I hope to hear from you too about your first jobs, I just hope you enjoyed it.