I found myself in some set of yahoo+ guys compound the other day all in the name of "I'm rendering interior design services".
It all started in my bed on Thursday morning. The previous night I had an all-night rehearsal in church hence my sleeping at past 9am.
I received a call from a senior colleague who said a prospective client called him up for an interior design service and was unwilling to wait for him to get back from his travel to attend to the said clients need. He decided to call me to cover up for him as his colleague which I did and put a call through to the number he sent.
The Client missed my call at first but I sent a text like anyone would since it was an unknown number saying I'd be there in two hours but he pleaded with me to come earlier. He mentioned the name of the junction passively but later told me to stop by a popular supermarket in Port Harcourt where he'll pick me up from.
Fast forward to when I was on my way, I sent a text to let him know I was close to the supermarket but realized the message didn't go through. On getting to the supermarket, I asked the Keke driver where the junction I heard him mention was as I remembered that was the junction he made mention of. They all said it wasn't far from where we were, I decided to go there and not wait.
On getting to the said junction, I realized my message just got delivered. I tried calling but the person wasn't picking. I was a little impatient at this point because the sun was scorching but he finally took the call and sounded surprised when I said I was at his junction. He asked if I could wait for him to come to pick me but I told him not to bother so he gave me the address. I boarded another Keke but on getting to the number, it was a school and not a residential building, I had to call to confirm, only for him to ask where I was at and when he sighted me he said he made a mistake with the address of his house. Who does that? (eyes rolling)
Omor, as I saw this tall young dude with dreadlocks, sagging jeans and bloodshot eyes from afar, I felt uncomfortable. As soon as he dropped my call, he made another call and hung up as I got close to him and then we exchanged pleasantries.
When we stepped into the compound, I greeted an elderly woman with a little girl I saw spreading clothes outside and started creating conversations about what exactly he wanted us to do for him so that his neighbors can hear that it's business that brought me there.
When we got to the front of his flat, I had a very strong intuition not to move further than that point, so I stopped there and continued our conversation from there.
The first question this guy asked me was "do we have an office? and How do we run our office?" He also asked if we had staffs or randomly got artisans to work for us.
Me I sha was just wondering why someone would be asking me such irrelevant questions so I had to ask him if his interest was in the service or the structure of our firm.
This guy suddenly started getting impatient with me after touching me a couple of times so I told him he would have answered my questions on the phone as that would have enabled me to know who or what I was to come with for the job.
The part on the outside he said was bad, just had a crack and only needed a thorough cleaning.
He even talked about not getting exactly what he ordered and probed me to check it out in his room.
My dear readers, me know say nothing go move me enter that house so I just kuku dey talk over en talk.
I showed him a picture and he said that was what he wanted so I told him I had to come back with my people to take measurements.
He said he wanted white paints all over the house, red flooring, he wanted a change of lighting and his bathroom tiles. Meanwhile, in the midst of all this, his friend had come out three times with this impatient gesture. After then I noticed the guy used every opportunity he had while speaking to touch me. He started asking to know how many people I'd be coming back with and shenanigans.
I said three, he told me to start with two😅. The hemp I perceived from him, his friend and the house when the door was opened by his friend on several occasions was too strong and then a third friend came out and was just staring at me.
When he realized that all his requests to see what needed to be done didn't take me in, he then apologized for not inviting me in for a drink at least, that he thought I might be scared. I immediately thanked him with a charming smile and told him it wasn't an issue that there was still time for that when I got back with the people who needed to do the job.
We ended the discussion with his budget for the job and just as I was about leaving, he asked for a hug.
I laughed and reminded him it was not a friendly visit so he opted for a handshake which I gave him and zoomed out.
The three guys were just looking at me leave and they had anger/ frustration written all over their faces.
As I got out of the gate, the people on the opposite side of the compound had shocking looks on their faces as though they were seeing Obama's wife for the first time.
I immediately called the person who sent me and told him what had happened.
Truth is, it was just God that intervened. He gave me the wisdom to pull through their many tricks, and refused their charms from working.
My question then was, if God wasn't with me what would have happened?
Obviously, they had probably the 'front seat charm' in their car cause that's the only reason he was upset he didn't pick me up from our agreed location. Secondly, they had to be kidnappers to have asked me questions that had to do with the companies system of operation.
They had to be ritualists to be using every opportunity they had to touch me and want to hug me.
My thoughts were, if I entered that door, How many more people would I have seen? What would they have done to me? How would it have ended? This all would have happened to a hardworking young girl that is trying to make ends meet in a decent and legal way. Meaning it's not just the so-called runs girls that need to be careful, everyone ought to.
Some people might say "you might have just been scared for nothing". My question to those kinds of readers is "why hasn't the guy called till now to find out why I didn't come back for something we had already agreed on a budget for?"
If I didn't have God by me, what would have been my story?
God surely proved Psalms 91 and Psalm 23, This assurance I have in Jesus also made me not have an iota of fear in me even when danger was glaring.
Do you have Him in your life? If no, please invite Him in.
I rest my case.
My Story
©Ala O. Wilcox
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