Follow your dreams, Quit your job?
Three Nigerians share what made them realise their past job was not how they would make it in life:
Taofeeq*, 28
My people, run from jobs that ask if you can work under pressure. It means they intend to add plenty plenty work for you while giving you little pay. I learnt the hard way.
Last year, I got a job as content writer for a tech startup. At first I was happy because the competition is tough out here and tech is the new oil. I saw shege!
Every content brief came with so many demands. I had to research for long hours and write like 5,000-word articles within 2-3 days. And that meant sleepless nights. I repeated this routine twice a week.
After submission, the employer would make comments that made me feel like writing was not my calling. He would even inform me that they had worked with better writers than me.
I needed cash, so I stuck to the whole rubbish. During these times, two other writers exited the job. One even resigned after receiving a content brief.
I used the experience there to apply to more jobs and it finally paid off. Immediately I received a salary from the new job like this, I resigned and gave them a piece of my mind too.
Didi*, 26
Fresh out of nursing school, I applied and got a job with this reputable private hospital in my area. Indeed it was reputable from the outside till I became a staff. It was then that I discovered first-hand that the MD was Bin Laden in a lab coat.
The moment I realised I had to quit was when he rubbished the work of a Masters holder like it was nothing.
He didn’t waste time with me either. By the third week, you’d think he and I had been enemies in a past life. That devil of a man really messed with my confidence.
He’d just enter your workstation and start barking questions at you. If he gave a task that should last for six hours, he would already start by shouting by the third hour. I gave it two more months before I quit–I don’t regret it.
Liz*, 23
I was a part-time usher and my job involved spending long hours on my feet to welcome guests to a party and smiling till my face felt like cracking.
This one time I was very broke so I accepted a second hand job to usher at a housewarming party. Even though the already meagre pay was cut from 8k to 6k by the middleman but I still did it. That day I worked from 2 pm to 3 am on an empty stomach.
Unfortunately, it was a taboo to touch client’s food, even leftovers were out of bounds. When we finished by 3, I sat outside the residence and wept.
When I eventually got home, I cleaned my sewing machine and started putting my abandoned skills to use. I have never looked back since then.
#PeopleTalk is a submissions segment for everyday people to talk straight about the twists and turns of everyday life. This edition tells the stories of four Nigerians who realised their past job was not how they would make it in life.
