Topic: DISCOVERING YOUR STRENGTH

My name is Jennifer Eleojo James

I am a Surveyor by profession and an entrepreneur by hustle.

I got a job at a firm in July, started working, and had worked for over three months as an administrative assistant. I worked with the company by obviously using one of my phones as a communication channel with the company's line. Two weeks into the 11th month of the year, my fifth month with the company, I received a text telling me not to resume work until the first of the next month. I had no idea why, but I assumed I was going to work from home. Even so, I couldn't help but wonder why. I soon received a call from my boss stating the reason why I had to stay back home till the first of the next month: I had not been keeping up with my tasks prior to that time, so I was to go home and stay for the rest of that month, and I was not going to be paid any of my salary to resume on the 1st of the next month. So my boss said he was going to save up—like, use my salary to save up to buy a new phone for the office? OK!

That leads me to the reason why I had not been keeping up with my task. A few months before that particular week, my phone had stopped working, and I informed my boss. He said he was going to buy a new phone for the company. 1, 2 months passed with no phone in the office, affecting the output of my work, and every day I failed to meet my task of making phone calls, sending texts, and responding to clients via WhatsApp messages, #2,000 was deducted from my salary. So, at the end of the month, I will receive less than my actual salary, but I didn't complain. I worked that way until I got a call saying I couldn't start working again until the first of the next month. My response was, "OK!" Interestingly, he stated that I used to have three phones. What happened to all of them? I answered that I never had three phones.

I only had two phones, and I used one for the office, and I informed him when my phone was packed. He said again, "I understand you have a business; let’s see how your business will sustain you till the end of next month." You're not resuming work until the first week of next month, and there's also no salary for you. I said OK! Towards the end of the month, I received a text from my boss stating that he had gotten a phone for the office and that I should take the sim to the office for the phone to be set up and ready for use. I waited until the first of the next month. I took the SIM to the office on the 1st of the month. I was asked to resume, and then I was given a task, which I completed without complaining. I got back home, and I started thinking. "Really, my boss wants me to resume without a stipend or anything to sustain me throughout the month, and then I wasn't paid salary for the previous month?" I wondered. There was no compensation for my phone going bad, no appreciation for using the phone for the office; instead, I was paid by not being paid my salary and being asked to go home. I just realized that if I allowed it, it would happen again, if not in the same month, then at the same time of year. So I decided to tender my resignation. So I didn't want to leave the office out of anger or create a scene before leaving the office; I wanted to just leave the office peacefully like nothing happened...

LESSONS

● I learnt to say no when things don’t go right; I learnt to respect myself especially where my right was being trampled on; I also learnt to believe in myself, my skill and my business because it kept me through till this moment.

ADVICE:

● Not all bad situations are bad. You sometimes discover your strength in bad situations.

So whenever you find yourself in a bad situation, sit down and patiently make lemonade out of the lemons thrown at you.

Thank you!