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I walked in to the manager's office with my heart in my mouth. It's been four days I stayed out of work despite being given only a day leave to attend to the health of my daughter, Petra.
Upon my arrival at work earlier, my colleagues in their number asked me what the problem was that kept me away for four days—an aberration in the company's rules. While I briefed those that were close to me about the challenge of my Petra's health, I just walked past others with a response of "fine."
"The MD (managing director) frowns at your absence during the regular Monday staff meeting. You need to see that man as soon as he gets to the office," John had advised. John was my colleague in the marketing unit of the firm that I head.
I met the MD going through some documents. I stood still in front of him with my hands behind me and a bowed head. After a few minutes reading through what appeared as a contract paper, he signed the document and dropped his pen. He looked above the hanging eyeglasses at the extreme end of his nose. He cleared his throats at the same time.
"Ben, you took permission of a day but stayed out of work for four days despite knowing that this company is against such a habit. Next week is the all-important investment meeting with the ABC group of companies. You know how important your role is as the marketing manager. I don't like this attitude."
The MD went silent for a few seconds while his sight was fixated on me.
"I am sorry, sir." I raised my head and apologized.
"Look at me and talk to me. What really happened?" The MD asked.
"In what I thought would only be a day appointment with the doctor, my daughter was admitted in the hospital for four days. My wife wasn't around to look after her on the sick bed. I sent you a notification mail according to the policy of the company."
"I have been having problems accessing my email lately. The IT department is working on it's restoration," the MD cuts in. "How is your daughter now?"
"She has been discharged from the hospital and recuperating at home," I responded.
"I know the pain of seeing one's child in the sick bed. Any loving parent would be ready to sacrifice anything for the wellbeing of his or her child. I wish her a quick recovery. Next time, make use of alternative channels to reach out to me in the case of unforseen situations like this.
"We have just three days before our investment meeting with ABC Group of companies. Please make sure you prepare the necessary documents. This is a golden opportunity for us to get a multimillion-naira investor."
"Thank you for your understanding, sir," I responded. "I will put in my best to see that we hit the target of having an investment portfolio in our company running into billions of naira before the end of the year."
I returned to my office to get the ball rolling. I knew the kind of load on my shoulders. The organizational profit margin was going down. We needed to double our efforts to increase the company's financial standings.
I spent the next two days preparing for the meeting. My wife came back within the same period, and I was relieved of domestic demands, especially taking care of our daughter.
On the eve of the meeting, I arranged all the documents under my care inside my car to avoid leaving any of them behind.
The following morning, I woke up early to prepare for the meeting. The route to my office was prone to traffic logjams during the rush hours in the morning. In order to avoid being caught in such a delay, I used to leave home early enough to beat traffic.
At exactly 5 a.m., I picked up my car key and went to the car in the garage. My right thumb was pressing the remote control while the left hand was on the doorknob. I met stiff resistance. The door refused to open. I repeated the process many more times without response.
"What the hell!" I yelled out, hitting my hand on the rooftop of the car. "This is a very wrong time for this to happen." I kept trying to open the door for almost an hour without success.
"Dear, what's the problem? I thought you said you would be leaving very early this morning." My wife, who was sleeping when I prepared and left the room, was shocked that I was still around.
"The remote control is malfunctioning, and the documents for the meeting that I am going for are in the car. I am tempted to break the car glass and pick up the document."
"Don't do that, please; let's try it one more time. If it doesn't open, we can call for the assistance of experts."
My wife collected the remote and gave it a trial. Like a magic wand, she unlocked the car and opened the door.
Now, a few minutes past 6 a.m., I hopped into the car and drove off immediately. All my prayers were to escape the highly envisaged traffic jams.
30 minutes into the 50-minute journey, I met the expected—the traffic was at a standstill. My boss called me to inquire where I was.
"I am held by traffic," I responded to him.
"Don't forget that the meeting starts at 9 a.m. Do well not to keep us waiting." He didn't wait for further response before ending the call.
I was tensed up. I thought of what next to do. "Should I abandon my car and take a commercial motorcycle?" Abandoning the car would worsen the situation for others, so I jettisoned the idea. I took to my fate and followed the traffic movement.
I was only able to arrive at the office by 10 a.m.
I got to the office and realized that after waiting for me for 30 minutes, the 1-hour meeting was rescheduled for another date. This was the straw that broke the camel's back. The MD wasn't ready to listen to me. He refused my audience when I got to his office, only to call me an hour later to hand me a query letter.
"Respond to this query within the next 24 hours on why disciplinary actions shouldn't be taken against you." The final paragraph of the letter read.
I responded to the letter with the details of what transpired.
The MD wasn't convinced of my reasons to be genuine enough, and he relieved me of my duty as the head of the marketing department. I was demoted more than three levels behind.
"This is a sack indirectly," I told myself after reading the demotion letter.
I put in my resignation.
All these happened a few weeks before the scheduled family's vacation to the Caribbean. My daughter, who has fully recuperated, looked forward to the vacation with a lot of enthusiasm.
"Now that I am out of work, we need to take caution on how we spend the resources within our disposal. If another paid employment is not forthcoming, I need to look in the direction of investment. For this reason, it is best for us to cancel our vacation. We can't afford that anymore," I explained my position to my wife.
"My concern is Petra. She has been planning for this trip for months."
"Petra is old enough to understand what it meant for one to lose his job," I equipped.
We invited Petra and explained to her immediately.
She was heartbroken, but she understood that it was necessary for the family to cut costs as much as possible.
A month later, her admission into an Ivy League university was released. We had no option but to reject the offer due to financial constraints. Petra nearly harm herself as a result.
She applied and got admitted into another university in the capacity of an unemployed father.
It became more difficult for the family a few months later. Every available means of cutting living costs was utilized.
The technical fault of my car in the morning of my company's aborted meeting had a great Domino effect on my family for a long time.
I got another job, and things began to take shape again.
A hard journey for my family.