On the last day at work before the Christmas weekend, as I went to take out some money from the cashpoint to do some last minute shopping, some girlsbehind me were talking loudly about how they hoped they had been paid Christmas bonuses. And that took me back to Nigeria, where there was never a guarantee that you would be paid before Christmas....I remember the nail biting suspense as each day before Christmas drew to an end and there was no indication that salaries had been or were going to be paid. People working in the accounts department suddenly became repositories of knowledge to be courted, the information about when salaries were to be paid to be milked out of them........and as we waited and watched transport fares soar, chased by the prices of the obligatory clothing without which no child's Christmas was complete, not to talk of the turkeys and chickens and goats whose prices seemed to appreciate geometrically as Christmas approached, we gritted our teeth and cursed our employers......
Strange I had almost forgotten that feeling.....not one that I miss, though. This year there was no question of that, and so I was able to enjoy a Christmas lunch of coconut rice and moimoi with "assorted" meat and of course, a proper Nigerian salad....
Hope you all had a good Christmas and that 2006 will bring good things in its wake...
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1 comment:
yes that secure pay packet is a good feeling.
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