I’ve considered suing someone in court before, and it was someone I considered a friend at the time. It was a painful moment for me because it brought me to the realization that many times when you do good for people just because you want to, they may not see it that way. They may just see you as gullible and foolish because of how easy it is to get certain things from you.
That’s how it was for me and the realization hit me hard. However, I was able to pull through. I’ll tell you right off the bat that our friendship didn’t survive the ordeal, and while we used to be chatty before, now we’re only status viewers and when we meet physically, we don’t say more than “hi’s” to each other. An arrangement I’m perfectly okay with.
So, what happened? Well, it had to do with my writing, of course. Right from time, I’ve never hidden the fact that I was a writer, so my friends have always known. Both in secondary school and when I was in my ND. A lot of people knew that about me, and so did this friend of mine, I’m gonna call him Douche.
You see, during our compulsory one-year IT after ND 2, while a lot of us were looking to find our way in life, I was also trying to build my writing skills. I was on the hunt for ghostwriting gigs and whatnot, I was also trying to learn how to write scripts for YouTube, TikTok, and the like. Luckily enough, Douche was also a content creator, he wanted to start making skits but the actual content was his problem and he approached me for help.
At the time, he didn’t have many followers and his account wasn’t monetized. So, I knew that he wasn’t making any money from the videos we were making. His focus then was visibility and content, the money could come later. And for that, I respected him. I was willing to write the scripts for him, for free. This was during a period when I was already earning on my ghostwriting gigs. So, if I wanted to bill him, I would have made lots of money.
But Douche was my guy, I wanted to help him out. I gave him content when I could, and I also used it to brush up on my scriptwriting. It was all good, we were getting better and seeing results. However, it all changed a few months later. Before, I was the one who came up with the ideas, once in a while, he told me what he wanted and I simply brought the story to life.
But this time, he told me exactly what he wanted, how he wanted the story to go, and also the brands he wanted me to mention in the script. Right off the bat, I realized that this wasn’t a usual skit, this was a paid promotion. My guy had gotten an endorsement deal and they paid him to promote their services for them. I was happy for him because at long last he was finally making money from the videos. I also knew that it wasn’t going to be the only deal he would get. I was sure that there would be more to come.
The thing is, he tried to hide it from me, even when I confronted him about it. At first, he tried to tell me that he was only doing a favor for his friend, but it was too professional for it to be that way. When he realized I wouldn’t back down from my assumptions, he finally confessed. He did get an endorsement. And this knowledge changed everything for me.
Now, I’m not greedy or anything, I wasn’t also broke because I was already earning money by then, however, knowing that he was getting paid to do the video didn’t make me comfortable with doing it for him for free. So, I didn’t charge him, I just told him to give me any amount his heart told him. If he had given me a thousand naira, I would have accepted it. Hell, if he even bought airtime for me, I would have taken it, so I can at least say that I got something out of that deal.
Well, Douche refused. He told me that it was his first win and it didn’t feel right to share it with anyone. That didn’t make sense to me, if he were to hire someone to write his scripts, he would have paid them out of that money as well. I wasn’t asking for much, not credits, half of the money, or anything, I just needed something. No matter how little. And Douche refused.
He said I was turning on him because of money and he liked me better when I was just focusing on writing for him. He was perfectly fine with me writing for him, but he had issues with paying me my dues. That very day, I swore never to do anything with him ever again. And that oath still stands. I considered taking it to court, but it didn’t really make sense because I wasn’t earning enough back then to afford a court case, and I also knew that I would have lost it because there was no written agreement between us.
I don’t know how his endorsement went, but currently, Douche is no longer in the skit-making business. He’s one of those guys who dance to whatever music is trending at the moment. And so far, it’s working for him.
In this case, nobody lost. He didn’t fall off and fade into obscurity after we parted ways, I also didn’t fade either. I’ve come up a lot of ways since then, not just publishing my book but I’m also a YouTube scriptwriter now. It’s something I do on a much more regular basis. I like to think that my time with Douche helped me a lot with that. Either way, we’ve all moved on and we’re better individuals now than when we left each other. I guess that’s why we can even afford to say “hi” when we see each other. Because if one was suffering while the other was prospering, it would have been fertile ground for hate and envy. Thank God it’s not.
So, other than this case I just told you, I’ve not considered suing anyone else to court. Because I do that, I have to be sure that I’d win the case. But no one knows tomorrow, it’s not always a case of you suing someone. You can always get sued too!
So, don’t you dare let down your guard!
