If the world is to rate the top considerate humans on earth, I should be among the top 10 because there are things that people take likely which I take into deep consideration because everyone ought to be treated fairly and encouraged at every given spot. My neighbour, Nelson isn't like that, 'considering' is not in his dictionary.
Exactly Tuesday of last two weeks, it was very early in the morning when I heard my door make a sound and it opened by Nelson.
"Bro good morning. Please I want to drop my phone for you to help me charge in case electricity comes and this pair of trousers, help me to iron it. Thank you" He dropped his two phones on my table, dropped the extension box and the chargers close to my sound system and went on to drop a pair of black trousers on top of the heap of clothes in a corner.
"Okay, no wahala(no problem)" I responded and he left.
Nelson does menial jobs and he leaves the house very early because he treks to the site.
After he left, something came up to my mind and I had to pause typing on my phone to reflect. Nelson has been dropping clothes which I iron for him but he never pays.
'Wait, does this guy think I'm doing these for free for him? I thought he would use his sense to pay up since I never dragged him'
That's a wake-up call for me because there's no way I would be burning my fuel, to work on his clothes and he collects them without considering to pay.
That day I decided to iron the clothes for him and when he comes back in the evening, remind him to start paying because if I continue leaving it, it's going to turn into a habit.
All through the day, anytime my mind thought of the compulsory task in the evening, my mind would start running to and fro on, thinking about the best way to approach him so it wouldn't turn sour because I didn't know maybe he had the mind to pay but was accumulating them, to sum up to a huge amount. I know it's my right to ask for payment but I needed to do it in a very polite way.
Time was around 7:30 pm when I saw him walk into the compound, I was seated outside with my airpod plugged into my ears listening to music and I had a bottle of lacasera on top of the wooden flat chair I was resting my legs on to avoid mosquito bite.
"My man good evening oooo! Did you iron the trousers for me?" He greeted me from the spot he was while walking closer to me.
"Good evening bro. Welcome. Yes, I ironed it." I responded without judging the 'for me' he always adds whenever he comes with such a request which always insinuates it's for free.
"Okay, please help me to bring it"
His words made me startle. He hadn't gone inside, he was still having his bag on his back. This has been his habit, he doesn't hesitate to collect his clothes whenever he comes back from work even though I will be inconvenienced at that time.
He was still standing beside me and waiting for me to go inside and bring his pair of trousers. I sluggishly got up, walked in and came out with the well-ironed pair of black trousers and immediately I gave it to him, he started heading to his door when I politely called him back.
"Bro wait, how far? I haven't seen your hand ever since I've been helping you to work on your clothes" I made sure I stressed the 'helping' because that's his hit word anytime he comes.
"Ohhhh! You haven't been reminding me and my mind has not been going there. You should have been reminding me" he said with boldness written all over him but I knew that the boldness was a borrowed one because I knew my words touched his bone.
I smiled in my heart, my words touched him and that's all that mattered. He left that day and guess what, when he was going to work the following day, he came and dropped two thousand Naira for my pay and he pleaded as he dropped that. It's my money and I collected it without giving him the pitiful face he was expecting because according to him, he coughed out the money from what he had budgeted for something.
Thanks for reading.
Images are mine