A Job or Hellhole? (Part 1)

One evening after the close of work in December, 2022, a young man in desperate need of a better job received a call from his mentor asking him if he had gotten any call from someone, because he submitted his CV to somebody, and he said no. His mentor then forwarded the person’s phone number to him. So he called this ‘person’ who happened to be a woman and the owner of IRIAD-THE ELECTORAL HUB in Abuja, and she said she had already called and even sent him a text message, but he told her that he got none. However, she asked him a few important questions, and afterwards, gave him a task to do (something about a research) wanting it to be done properly-references and all, and she also wanted it submitted by 1am. He finished it and sent it to her by 12am.

She commended his work to be “impressive”.

On Sunday, he received a WhatsApp message from her asking him to come for an interview at 4pm, and he responded with “Ok, no problem”. Apparently, the response did not sit well with the woman, Ms. Princess Hamman Obels as she wasted no time in correcting him by saying “I take good communication skills very seriously. This includes adhering to etiquettes of communication. You cannot respond to me the way you have done. That’s the response you give to a friend or acquaintance. I do not fall in either group.”

He apologized and promised to do better, after explaining that he reason he replied in that manner was because he was occupied with something.

All seemed well after that as she asked him to forward a formal application, a CV and a letter, applying for the position of a Research Assistant in the organization before coming for the interview. He went for the interview, she acted nicely, answered the questions asked, and at the end of it, he was offered the job.

However, this young man sought to find out if working with IRIAD (Initiative for Research, Innovation and Advocacy in Development) gives room for self-development, and if he would be allowed to earn from other sources. In response, the cards were fully laid down for him: We require persons that can commit one hundred percent to work. Our work is demanding, very demanding. Particularly from now till June next year; which means he will not be able to do anything else except work for the organization.

Pushing further, he asked if the job would require him to work on weekends and she answered by saying, “You were already informed about this during the interview. Apparently, you were not listening…anybody working with us should be ready to work weekend as needed.”

Knowing this now, he accepted the job.

But he also laid down his own terms: he had to formally resign from his place of work, which according to the agreement, would take about a month’s notice, or else forfeit the salary he had worked for, but he would try to convince his boss to give him a week or two, and she accepted.  She called him both on Monday and Tuesday wanting to know the update with his current boss. He informed her that should he resign immediately, he would not be receiving his salary, and she said she did not care.

He had to resign, because he could not continue to hold on to that job when a supposed better opportunity had been given to him. When he reported the latest development to her, she tagged him an “unserious” person, which was making her have her doubts about him.

Nevertheless, he resumed on Monday morning in January, 2023, but what he had never experienced before happened!

On arriving at the office and just barely into it, he noticed that the environment was very hostile, and this is because she yells at her staff, scolds them harshly, and throws insult at them. But that was not what surprised him…it was the fact that while he was still standing by the door, he greeted her, but Ms. Princess Hamman Obels turned to him and instead, shouted at him saying, “You, what are you doing there? Get out of my sight! Go and look for somewhere to sit!…get yourself something to do!”. Naturally, he was astonished at such harsh welcome, but then confusion was quick to replace astonishment as he did not know what to do or the direction to take, considering that it was his first day at work.

The right thing any reasonable employer would do is, familiarize him with his new environment, then afterwards, assign him to a task, or ask an old staff to do it. However, a staff took it upon himself to show him around and get him settled. The other members of staff encouraged him to forget about it, saying that it was her character.

But such a character and episode would be difficult to forget and overlook as it got more intense working for her. She yells and insults her employees, and every task he carried out for her did not meet her satisfaction at all. Her employees do not have the liberty to converse among themselves in the office; they always spoke to each other in hushed tones.

In fact, barely some weeks into the job, he became frustrated and drained mentally and emotionally. So bad was it that he had to resign just a month into working for her, and in his resignation letter, he did not fail to mention some of the reasons why he had to quit too soon:

“…Most sincerely, I have been able to network with the numerous amounts of people who walk into the office as employed staffs only to be frustrated out in order for new set of vulnerable people to take their place…However, I want to leave for obvious reasons, the continuous insults, fussing and yelling for no tangible reason…”

Anyone in their right mind would know that those words came from a place of deep hurt, but it appears that for some persons who have obviously given out their conscience to charity, no amount of words can get to them or make them take a self-reflection on how they treat people, because in response to his resignation, she considered his words as “Untruth.”

To be continued in the next episode…