A few years ago, when I was job hunting, I had an invitation for an interview and Lecture in my numerous applications. I was working for a firm then, so I approached my boss for permission, and he understandably gave me the go-ahead.
The venue of the interview is our state capital, Asaba Delta State, which is an hour's drive from my place of residence, so I sat down a day before D-Day to draft out my schedule. The invitation stated that the Lecture would start by 11:00 a.m., so I drafted my time to leave the house by 9:00 a.m., and even though I don't know the venue, the 1 hour left after the straight journey would be enough for me to ask around.
The day came, and I left home at exactly 9:00 a.m. to go to the bus terminal to get a direct bus. Getting there, all the buses were empty—no passengers.
"Oga, I'm not sure I'll be able to wait till this bus gets filled," I said to the bus conductor while standing with my hands resting on my waist, looking confused.
"Do not say that, those seats at the back have been occupied already; the people went to get snacks for breakfast." It was as if he used voodoo to say that because I didn't hesitate to enter the bus after that.
As soon as I entered, my phone rang. I checked, and it was my boss.
"Hello sir, good morning," I said as I answered the call.
"Good morning. Are you at Asaba already?" He asked.
"No ooo! I'm still at Park, and the bus is yet to be filled."
"Park, by now? You think it's your personal bus and that once you get there, they'll drive you? You should have been there earlier, say by 7:00 a.m., in case the passengers are scanty. You'll follow the first trip."
After hearing this, I knew I had messed up already and should have considered the waiting time in my schedule.
The filling process of the bus was not progressing at all, people were not coming. I checked my time and saw 10:09 a.m. boldly displayed on my phone's screen.
"Haaa! I can't take this anymore." I got out of the bus, met the conductor, and requested a refund. At first he refused, but when I told him I was going for an interview, his senses reacted, and he handed me my money.
I ran out from there and went to the roadside to enter Along. In a jiffy, a passing bus stopped, I told him my direction, and he charged me a high fee—a 40% increase on the actual bus terminal fee. I didn't mind; I just entered.
We began the journey at exactly 10:27 a.m., and I had to tell him to fly the car if it's possible because I was late for an interview. He looked at me and nodded his head in affirmation, coupled with a smile.
Oh boy, the driver flew the car beyond my imagination, it seems he once competed in a race tournament. I was enjoying the speed of the car, but my mind wasn't there at all. I was even scared to look at the time on my phone so I wouldn't die before I get there.
We got to the town, Asaba, which I highlighted, still scared to check my phone for time. I stopped a bike and described the venue to him, and he gave me the biggest shock of my life, "Such a place does not exist in Asaba".
I looked at him and checked through his clothes to see if he was an amateur in town, but he was well studded with a typical biker's dressing pattern.
I brought out my phone to call the number that sent me the invitation, and my eyes caught the time, 11:17 a.m. Goosebumps took over my whole body, even in the midst of sweat and standing under the hot sun.
"Hello, hel...hello, sir," I starmered as the man picked up the call.
"Yes, where are you? Are you at the gate already?" He replied with a calm voice, and I was totally surprised at the calm voice he replied with, I was expecting a harsh voice.
"No, sir, the bikeman I stopped said the location you gave me does not exist," I said in a loud voice to make sure the bikeman heard.
He hissed, "Give the bikeman the phone."
I handed the bikeman my phone, expecting a quick talk with him, but their talk lasted for ages, and along the way, the call hung up...My airtime got exhausted.
I angrily collected my phone from the bikeman and chased him off; he just wasted my time and resources.
I logged in to my bank app and recharged my phone, and this time, I decided to be smart by using a Google map to trace the location.
Yes, I was able to locate the spot on the map, but how do I explain it to the illiterate bikers? I checked the time again and saw 11:46 a.m., and I almost went crazy because 1 hour was almost gone from the interview time.
I began to follow the Google map to get to a straight-forward road before getting a bike, and this trekking took me up to 30 minutes before I could get a bikeman that knew there.
I boarded the bike, and he drove off to the outskirts of town. If not for the fact that I was checking the map, I would have said the man was driving me somewhere else to use me for rituals,as that's the current trend in Nigeria.
We got there at exactly 12:25am. I paid the biker, and he left while I knocked at the gate.
"Who's there?" a deep masculine voice answered from behind.
"It's an applicant, sir."
I saw the small square opening in the gate, which opened with an eye peeping at me.
He opened the gate, scanned me with a scanner, and directed me to the hall for the interview and Lecture and walked towards the building.
"Are you for the interview?" The lady at the entrance of the door asked, and I answered, "Yes, ma".
She directed me to the hall where others were sitting and paying attention to the lecturer.
I sat down, and it was not up to two minutes; they passed two booklets each on our desk.
"Those papers are your answer booklets and Question papers containing what you just learned and some basic engineering questions." Your score will merit you for the job. You time start counting". The Lecturer instructed.
They had been on Lecture for almost two hours, and I wasn't scared at all because I knew I had messed up with time already, and that's a big score on occasions like this.
Although I was lucky to meet some engineering questions that I answered correctly, that would have given me a good score, but I didn't get the job after the whole event.
Thank you for reading