You will think humans are all nice and sweet until you start to meet those who will prove otherwise and make it clear to you that only a few possess that sweetness in them while many don't even care how their actions will affect others; all they care about is themselves and don't mind stepping on others to reach the ladder they are aiming for. Dealing with humans can be really difficult because most of the time you don't even know their intentions, if they are good or bad.
Working in a bottle and sachet-water producing company caused my path to cross with that of many others, both colleagues at work and customers both far and near, and all had a lesson to teach me.
"Oh, my boy." The financial account, Mr. James said to me as he helped load up our truck for a delivery.
That was quite unusual; everybody in the company knows Mr. James to be proud and so full of himself and doesn't see any other worker there as his class. Him leaving his office all of a sudden to come and help me load up our delivery truck was really alarming, but we laughed over it and were happy for the new Mr. James.
His kindness was channeled towards me more, and to the point of gifting me some money for lunch, I could not say no because I actually needed the money so I could save the one I came with for the next day or for some other time.
"Don't you think it is suspicious that Mr. James is now all of a sudden all over you and being extremely nice to you?" Gideon, a colleague, asked
"I also find it suspicious; all of a sudden his attitude toward me changed, and it is getting close to 3 months now, and it has not gone back to factory reset. I thought it was only going to be for a few weeks, but I am also not comfortable with the change." I responded.
Mr. James became super nice to everyone and started spending extravagantly, like someone who had won a lottery; his spending started calling attention, and other workers started asking questions if it was the same salary we were all earning that was the real source of his money.
"Sir, we did not see your record of how much we remitted to you." I said to Mr. James, seeing how he hurriedly closed the record book.
"Do you want to teach me my job now? Don't overstep boundaries because I am favoring you lately." Mr. James flared up and gave me a look like he'd devour me if they let him.
"No disrespect meant, sir; I just want to be sure so we don't have to pay for money we did not use," I responded.
"You of all people should know by now that I got you." Mr. James said, assuring me.
Leaving the office, I could see the look on Gideon's face, and I could tell he was not comfortable with the recent development. It has been close to 2 months since Mr. James last let us cross-check his record, and whenever we asked or tried to make inquiries, he'd react and accuse us of disrespecting him since he was older, and we would have to apologize and leave without going through the record book.
"I hope Mr. James is not being nice to you while trying to frame you, bro." Gideon said as we made our way out of the building.
"Bro, I feel very restless at this point. Where is our record book, please? Because the owner of the company will be coming for an audit in a few weeks time, let's have evidence." I said, stretching my hands to take the book from Gideon.
"Just our own book will not be enough; we have to involve the record book of the manager, take pictures of them, and also sign the amount of packs or bags of water we take out for deliveries. We have to be careful from now henceforth in case our suspicions are right." Gideon advised
"I agree with you, bro," I said to Gideon.
From that day moving forward, we even involved the manager in our own record book; we made him sign on ours too as evidence. He kept asking why, but we just said we were being cautious and more careful and that it was nothing. Whenever we come back from a delivery, we give him the money to count and take a record of it before taking it upstairs to the accountant's office to remit it. All of these were going on without the accountant's knowledge, as we felt he had an ulterior motive right from the start of his sudden kindness.
A few weeks passed, and it was time for the audit. After a few hours of going through records, the company's security officer was asked to detain us, and it was at that point we knew we were right all along because passing in front of Mr. James, he had his face down and did not want to make eye contact. After the audit, all who had siphoned the company's money had been detained, and those whose records tallied were asked to get back to work. Then it was time for our interrogation and questioning before being handed over to the police if found guilty.
"You guys take at least 200 bags of water out daily and at least 100 packs of water but only remit money for 90 bags and approximately 30-40 packs. Why?" The accountant that came with the owner asked
"Sir, the company's accountant should be in here too so that he can explain how that happened because we always brought back the complete money, and we have our own records too." Gideon said with tears rolling down his cheeks uncontrollably.
"Numbers don't lie; take a look at the accountant's records." He said, turning to the book Mr. James has been hiding from us, and we were shocked at the numbers there.
All along we remitted different amounts, and Mr. James recorded different amounts and then recorded that we had a shortage and would pay up; if we really had a shortage, it would have been deducted from our salaries and not waited for us to pay up when we wanted. All of that made a point that we were at least telling the truth in a way but needed more evidence to back our stand.
"Sir, we have our own record book, and also the manager can bear us witness that we always return the complete money for every delivery." I said with a shaky voice.
"So to clear your names, you need the manager and the accountant here?" The man asked.
"Yes sir. "We chorused.
"Just lock them up already." We heard Mr. James shouting from afar while approaching the security office.
"They have a record, and also the manager has a record that tallies with theirs; only your own record is different." The accountant said holding all 3 records.
"They are conspiring against me." Mr. James said as he started to shed tears.
It was at that point that all the workers started talking about his extravagant spending and even how his traditional marriage that took place about a month ago was an expensive one, while we who were being detained have not made any move like people who touched or saw extra money.
"Release them and detain him," the owner of the company, who has been watching everything from the sidelines, said, pointing at Mr. James.
"I knew he was up to no good; thank God for the action we took, we would have been locked up for money we did not even see or touch." Gideon said as he wiped his tears.
