One of 2019's Highlights and how I got there!!!

Let me start with a little flashback to November 2016, which was when I got my first employment as a PR person. Prior to that, I worked as a writer for a lifestyle magazine…so PR was a different field for me because I had no solid experience. But my boss took a chance on me. Oh my days…I was so excited to start work. My first day went well…in fact, my first week went well….I loved the people I worked with and brainstorming on PR ideas for clients was such a thrill. But things got sour shortly after.

In my first month there, I lost an expensive company property at Eko Hotels (it actually got stolen but I’ve now learnt to take responsibility). I felt so embarrassed and angry but mostly scared of how my boss would react. I hadn’t even been paid my first salary and I was already my company's pain in the butt. I couldn’t bring myself to tell him that I couldn’t find the property but eventually, I summoned courage and told him (with an apology). His response was unexpected. He said ‘Don’t worry, be more careful next time’. He even gave me my transport allowance. What!!!! I couldn’t believe it…????

I wanted to return the allowance but he wouldn’t take it back. He said I should go home and have a nice weekend. Nice weekend fire!!! I couldn’t sleep. I kept reliving the experience in my mind. In fact, on Monday morning, I didn’t want to resume because I felt so ashamed but I said. ‘Yemi…you better carry your bag and go before they start thinking that you stole and absconded’. So I went to work. I was still expecting some sort of scold from my boss but it never came. In fact, he gave me another project to handle. At the end of the month, I got my salary alert. No deduction.

Shortly after that…we went for the company’s end of year party at the beach and I was given a phone to take photos with…while jumping up and down near the shore, the phone fell and water ‘carried it away’. Remembering this now, as I type, brings back painful memories. I almost ran mad. It felt as if I’d been cursed. 'Yemi, are you the only one??????? Within 2 months, you have lost 2 company properties’. It wasn’t even a matter of ‘paying the company back for the losses’. It was just so annoying and frustrating because usually, I am not a careless person, especially with other people’s property. This was so unlike me. How do I face my boss again? This time around, I cried hot tears. I was so sure they would ask me to pack my things and leave but my boss consoled me and said the exact same thing he said the first time. We went home for a short break and honestly, I didn’t expect to get any ‘end of the month alert’ but I got salary for both months. JESUS!!! What kind of sorcery is this? How could someone be so forgiving??

I told myself that henceforth, I would be an ‘A’ employee. I decided I was going to impress my boss so much that he would not remember the losses I had caused him. I resumed and poured myself into my work and I put in my best EVERYDAY. Of course I became more careful, and I never caused the company any loss again. I began to add VALUE. I stayed there for a year and half and got sent off with a ceremony that made me blush all week.

I will always trace how I developed my current work and personal ethics to that experience. These principles stayed with me and I carried them into my most recent employment at Kraks. Within my first couple of months there, I ADDED VALUE. Value so obvious that a newly recruited employee, i.e. me, was awarded the STAFF OF THE QUARTER. Oh my, I was grateful and proud. It felt good and because I had set a standard for myself, I knew I had to keep up. When I left my family at Kraks for the Master's degree at Pan-Atlantic University, I still held the title.

I will always be grateful to you Timilehin Bello for the first, second, third & numerous chances you gave me. You taught me to extend the same courtesy to others and to be more careful & diligent with my work. Because of the way you treated me, I am a tad a better person.

Thank you Femi Bakre and Tobi Olawale for the confidence boost.

Cheers to bosses who give us second chances and cheers to bosses who reward us for a job well done!!!

I hope to make you all super proud someday.