Atoke’s Monday Morning Banter: Much Ado About Careers

With a heaving chest and her right forefinger she yelled in my direction “You gan Atoke, would you date or marry a customs officer?” So, what did I do to deserve such words this weekend? Absolutely nothing! Well, I met someone this weekend who said he used to be a customs officer and it reminded me of a conversation I had years ago in Moremi Hall in Unilag.

Anyway, on that day, I was waiting for my friend, D, in front of the faculty. She came out with this older looking guy who was wearing a suit with his tie hanging loosely around his neck. In that instant I was angry that I’d agreed to wait for her. There’s nothing more annoying than when you plan to walk from class to the hostel with your friend and then a guy shows up and you end up trailing behind them or having to walk fast ahead of them.

There was no point in stopping to buy Suya at QSS anymore but I decided to wait for her at Moremi gate. After waiting for like 3 minutes, she finally caught up with me. One glance at my scowl and she started apologizing “Sorry na. That’s the man that I told you was doing a part time LLM, the one I said was a customs officer”. Refusing to break into the smile, I said, tight lipped “So, have you now gree’d?“. It appeared my question didn’t deserve a response because she trotted speedily to the first floor where our room was. I had to plot my payback for the Suya deprivation by again asking her about her customs officer when I got to the room.

You see, hostels in Unilag are special… or at least they were when I was there. An eight-man room is usually occupied by at least 14 people because of squatters and friends of both “space owner” and the squatter; so the chances that your room will be deathly quiet at all times are very slim. Luckily, the room was full of all the guaranteed noise makers! I promptly established the premise of the gist. “D is refusing to gree for this her customs officer oh! Biko what is wrong with a customs officer?”

That is how a full scale debate began in the room about the dignity of labour. The other side of the debate argued that some jobs just have bad “P.R”. I think someone mentioned the Nigerian Police but they didn’t really push that angle as Temi’s daddy was a D.P.O. Someone argued that customs officers make quite a bit of extra cash on the side and as such D should remember her in her kingdom when she eventually says yes! I was very comfortable playing the role of moderator until the question was thrown at me. It was a good time to quickly rush downstairs to buy my Suya before the QSS people packed up.

I don’t remember what they concluded on, but it was a fun night and makes a good memory. What do you guys think? Do you think there are some professions from which you wouldn’t date/marry? And no, you’re not allowed to mention “Commercial Sex Worker” because that’s too easy… well, actually NO it’s not.

Okay folks, I gotta love you and leave you. Have a great, fantastic, fabulous week ahead. Remember that this life is too fleeting to hold a protracted grudge. Smile. Make a positive impact and be happy.

Peace, love & cupcakes!
Toodles!

Photo Credit: vfxture.com