When I saw this topic, I thought about the job I first accepted after my national youth service. But that was not my first job ever.
My first job ever was the job I did when I finished Secondary School. After my WAEC, I wanted to travel to my Aunty in Gwagwalada, Abuja.
my paternal Uncle had opened a community bank and came to announce it to my father. Upon hearing that I have left Secondary School, he asked me to come and work for him.
Daddy, who always refuse allowing his children to visit anywhere was relieved to know that something else could occupy my time. So he consented to my working for the bank, rather than visiting my Aunty's .
The next day, I resumed as a young banker in DAPACO department. DAPACO means Daily Pay Collection. I became a daily pay collector😅.
I was recruited into the department to go to the market to collect money from traders and help them save it in the bank.
I was given a long note and the bank also printed a small card for records. The card and book holds customers names, ledger number, account number and address. When I collect money from traders, I would write down the amount collected both in their card and in the exercise book.
HOW IT WENT
It was prestigious also. 😃Each time my friends from School visited my home, my siblings would tell them I have gone to work, that I now work in the bank. 😅. And when they see me, they will be so intimated to hear that truly I work for a bank. My department DAPACO nearly gave some people heart attack, they can't imagine that without a BSc, I work in such a big-named department. Only God knows what they would have done if they found that DAPACO meant daily pay collector. 😅😅😅.
Those with bad training didn't want to know the big-named department I worked, all they teased me with was "eh, no problem. After all, it's a village bank"😅😅😅😅
Initially, it was fun. This is because the new community bank was situated in my village, so the villagers who knew me were thrilled to see that little me have started working in the bank.
Again, when I go to the market to collect money, some traders not only gave money, they also gave gifts from their shops. Since it was in the village, I would stop at the family house to drop those gifts before going back to the office to remit the money collected. After work, I would collect them back and head home--- some 15 minutes drive by bus.
There was a bakery near the bank, nearly everyday I went to collect money from workers there, I got free fresh bread.😃. Same with some pepper soup sellers, they either gave my partner and I pepper soup or at least a cold drink. I had fun.
WHY I LEFT THE JOB
It's obvious. I got admitted into the University and had to leave. However, I was happy to have put in Six months before leaving for School.
LESSONS LEARNT ON THE JOB
SAVING
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I learnt to save money as a child. My parents didn't send me there because they needed my money, they just wanted me to do something meaningful before I get admitted into School rather than touring round Nigeria😃. So the salary I got was always saved, except if I needed to buy something and Mum is giving me story😃 I will just withdraw some and give to her to add it and buy it.
TEAM SPIRIT
On the job, I learnt first hand how to work with a team. We were a team of eight cousins😅 working in DAPACO department. I guess my Uncle didn't trust others yet to go bring money from traders. So he employed different cousins, some from maternal, paternal, even his inlaws were working there. We just looked like it's our family bank. Hahaha. I still remember the son of my Dad's elder Brother working hand-in-hand with me, the daughter of my Dad's cousin was there too. So relatives I had no rapport with earlier, we came together and worked as a team
SETTING GOALS AND REACHING THEM.
Apart from the fact that we were given target of how many customers to bring in and how much amount to remit monthly, I also set some goals as a child. I work extra hours alone so as to get more customers, I talked to Daddy to help link me with his Village people😅 who are commercial farmers to open account with me. I also set the goal to remain chaste because I heard that some marketers are promiscuous. But who will notice me that just finished Secondary School with no shape yet? 😃 I thought. But among the houses in some areas we go for marketing are hotels. Those who patronize those hotels and the hotel owners make advances and tell me that if I make them happy, they will open account with me with huge amount of money. I made sure I jumped those houses and when they call me to come, I simply tell them to come to the bank. Later I reported to my Uncle and he said he didn't send me to go alone or to go me hotels😅😅😅.
PUNCTUALITY
Although my Uncle owned it or is the Chairman of the community bank, I was never late to my work. Even when we don't move out to the market so early in order to give traders the chance to make sales before we would come, I was always punctual to work. I never wanted to take my Uncle for granted, he respects me a lot even if he can give birth to me. So I never want to be insulted or chastised by him like he does to some.
RECORD KEEPING
From that job, I learnt the importance of documentation. I didn't just record collections in customers ledger or their card, sometimes I ask myself, what if someone steals these ledger just to implicate me? And then if I ask customers for their cards, what if they inflate the amounts contributed? So I had another backup notebook that I record all transactions to be triple sure 😅. I don't know where I will get the money to pay if anything happens to the records. So I kept a third record for exigencies. There was no phone then, neither did my father have laptop😅😅😅
WOULD I GO BACK THERE?
Well, that community bank no longer exists. I don't have the details of how it happened anyways. Even I have some money stuck in there. 😅😅.
If I have the chance to go back there if it still exists, I would only go as an investor. I could buy shares there but I wouldn't go back to work in a village bank, neither will I like to work again in DAPACO department 😅😅😅.
Each time I visit my village, I still see the building of the bank until some years ago when someone bought the property and built something huge there😅. Even if the house built there is an edifice, but I still look at the building space and remember my banking experience there. It was really fun working there.
This is my entry into @hivelearners topic for today.
Thanks for stopping by.
Yours,
@adoore-eu
First image here