At a construction site somewhere in Banana Island Lagos, was a beautifully built, light-skinned girl whose simple heart made us all smile. She saw beyond our work stained clothes and extended her soft hands of friendship to every worker, from the lowest labourer to the highest, we appreciated her every effort.
We were all bonding when a contractor who was sent in by the Alhaji, the site owner- stormed into the site to make quotations for the interlocking. He was roughly between 45-50 years of age and seeing that he is older than all of us, he reluctantly waved the back of his palm at us as he walked in, like a king.
10 minutes later, he alighted on the front porch; “Hey, You, Yes Come” he commanded pointing towards the beautiful girl. She stood up, dusted her gown and proceeded towards him and as soon as she met him, he pulled out a change of 200 Naira from his back pocket and asked her to go and get him a cold bottle of coke with some snacks.
“Okay, Sir!” She answered politely and walked away. He stared at her and nodded his head as she left. 15 minutes later, he was done with the quotations, billed at two million naira so he called the Alhaji to inform him and the Alhaji asked him to give the quotations to the Madam, that she has the final say.
He scanned around the environment and said the Madam was not around so the Alhaji asked him to hold on, ended the call one second and dialled Madam’s number. “Beem Beem! Beem Beem!“ the line rang and rang and then there was a pickup.
Madam told Alhaji that she is very much around and sitting under the tree beside the house. She suggested the Alhaji should send her number to the contractor so he can reach her directly.
Barely one minute after his call dropped, the contractor called Madam’s number and behold Madam was the light-skinned girl that was sitting with us, the girl that bought him coke and doughnut.
He was so embarrassed, so ashamed, he felt so stupid that he got frozen with the phone beeping over his ear.
At this stage, he knew there was no point submitting the quotation, his ego has cost him a two million naira contract. He was certain that nothing could get him the job, and he was right but something strange happened when he was leaving… Madam approached him and said: “Hello Sir, is that the Quotations? Okay, hope we didn’t stress you too much ko, don’t worry, the job is yours. Just send in your details, I will do a transfer in the morning!“
I thought I saw his eyes blinded with tears, Madam saw it too, the masons’ saw it and even the plumber saw it too, as he slowly walked away into the sunset.
Today I re-learnt something I already know; “Never look down on someone because of where you met them, how you saw them, who you saw them with or when you saw them. Never.”
And if you must be someone in this story; please don’t be the contractor. If you must be someone, be Madam. Even though she had every reason to be angry, she smiled; she conquered hate with love.
Be your very best always. Be polite to everyone always.
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