While I was working as an admin assistant in a private oil and gas firm, I once told a white lie to protect a young engineer from losing his job when he wasn't sure of securing the one he was pursuing. It started by observing this young, skilled engineer, and I saw how brilliant and committed he is to his job role. I took a look at his CV and saw that he made first class at the university. Even his input to the firm proves his result. My boss loved him so much and always commended his work; most times Boss learned a thing or two from him, but his salary ($70) as a young guy who was trying to build his future was nothing to write home about compared to the kind of money he was generating for our boss.
This is Engr Emeka and I, 5 years ago in the private firm.
One day, I called him by his name, Engineer Emeka, and said to him, Do you wish to settle for this kind of salary? And he replied no. I then told him to ask our boss for a salary review. Let's see if he can increase his salary to cover his expenses and if he could have reasonable savings in his account. Engr. Emeka did, but my boss is truly a stingy man, and of course he declined the request from Engr. Emeka. The following week, I advised him to go online and start searching for job ads and keep applying as much as he could; perhaps he could secure a better job offer for a better future.
This guy, during his break period since we use free Internet in the office, will always explore online and keep submitting his CV from one company to another. He kept thanking me for pushing him for good . Every morning in the office, I will remind him to check his email for any new messages from his job applications, and he did.
It wasn't up to one month, and one of the companies he applied to called him for a written interview. Now this is where the problem is because my boss hardly grants someone permission, and Engr. Emeka wasn't comfortable lying about his health as the reason why he wouldn't be in the office that day. Fortunately, our boss traveled on the day of his written interview, and he was happy to attend the interview without fear of our boss. But then, on the day of his final and oral interview, Boss was on the ground and even sent Engr. Emeka an important project to work on. It became so difficult to decide what he should do, and telling the boss that he had an interview somewhere wasn't a good option. So since our boss usually comes in to the office around 10 a.m. and his interview was scheduled for 8 a.m., I told Engr. Emeka to go for his interview while I was off the CCTV camera so that the boss wouldn't know if he reported to the office before stepping out.
It was a risk I took, and I prepared white lie, I was going to lie to our boss. As expected, the boss arrived by 10 a.m. and found Engr. Emeka wanting. He asked me about his way about, and I told him that he had already reported to the office, but his sister called for his urgent attention at home, and he left but promised to return. This man didn't believe me. He doubted it, and I was so scared of the outcome. I have quickly texted Engr. Emeka to inform him about the white lie so we can be on the same page. Around 12 noon, Engr. Emeka was back from the interview and told the boss the same reason I told him, and the man told him that he would remove $5 from his salary for giving him a filthy reason for being absent during work hours.
We were happy that the turnout of the white lie wasn't severe, but more happy when the company sent him an appointment letter after 3 days. You needed to see the excitement on our faces after we read through his entitlements, allowances, and monthly salary that came with the offer. A whopping #650,000 per month plus many other allowances, like $600 per month, based on a rough estimate. The young engineer kneeled down and cried! tears of joy 😊. I could feel his excitement,and he couldn't stop thanking me. He took the appointment letter to our boss, who later congratulated him but didn't pay him his salary for that month for leaving the company suddenly.
Overall, I was happy with the decision I took that changed his life to date and would do the same if I found myself in a similar position to help young people find a better future for themselves. Today, Engr. Emeka is married and still with the company at Port Harcourt (PH), doing so well for himself. @olujay, this is my friend, Engr. Emeka,I told you about the other day.
This post is in response to the #HiveLearners Community Contest on the topic titled, The Good Lie