By: @Zamaradi_M
I am one of those customers who are referred to as difficult customers. And it's an honor to be called that. I am earning my money the hard way, if I spend it I definitely want what's worth my money.
As every other human being I am a customer. A customer to so many companies and small businesses. From Mangi dukani to Ustaadh gengeni to Vodacom and Zantel all the way to Stanbic, Banc ABC and Standard Chartered.
But I hate being a customer! If celebs hire stylists I wish I could hire someone to represent me to all my service providers! Growing up I thought Mathematics was the most difficult course but now I thank God I did not opt for Customer services. The way customer service reps work, I think theirs must be the most difficult course. Like, did any of them get at least a D-?
Mangi dukani, I come first. Wait in line as a good customer that I am, then out of nowhere comes a smoker, cuts the line and you serve him first! Seriously? I guess smoking is an emergence!
Ustaadh gendeni, I am cooking and I realize that I need to get something quickly. I run to gengeni with my mismatching ndala and what do you do, ask me to wait when you talk with your buddy on the phone!
Telecoms! Where do I start with you? That famous solution from your call center agents; 'tafadhali fika ofisini kwa msaada zaidi.' You realize that we all have jobs to keep enh? The problem is not with my device, why do I need to come to your office?
I have worked as a call center agent for almost two years and when we get to this point, let's just say somebody is having a shitty day already, and that somebody's name does not start with Z!
Then, my dearest banks! From paying TZS. 40,000 just to get a 6 months bank statement (do you manually make statements or just print from the system?) to keeping me on hold for five good minutes. You know I am paying for that call enh?
My inspiration for this piece came from my bank (Thank you). I reported a problem since morning and was told it was resolved only to go check now and find out it was not! I finished my 20 minutes of Cheka Nao screaming! I asked the customer care rep to call me back as I could not afford even one more minute today. It is 1530hrs and I am sitting here patiently waiting. Banks close at 1530hrs.
I don't wanna wait in vain for your call....
UPDATE:
It is 31st May and I did not receive that call but checked and my problem is resolved. If that customer care rep called he would probably get a big shout out. His loss anyways...
By: @Zamaradi_M
On our way to work with some colleagues we were talking about the current events. And nothing is more 'current' now than the Mtwara unrests. When it comes to politics I am just a tiny step above those who still believe that Mwalimu Nyerere is the president of this beautiful nation.
My point is, I do not know the political side of this issue or of any issue for that matter. What I have heard is that the citizens of Mtwara are protesting against the government's decision to build a gas pipe that will transfer gas from Mtwara to DSM where it will be processed.
These protests went as far as burning government buildings, torching cars that are owned by the government employees (I hope their insurance covers this) and worst of all people have lost their lives and some keep endangering their lives. This got me questioning, if it comes down to it, will I willingly die for my country? Will YOU willingly die for your country?
Depends, if they take all corrupt politicians and put them in one stadium (I am not sure they can fit anywhere else) I will happily wear a bomb and go with them. But wait, we can just put the bomb in the stadium, close the doors and save one good person. As Devi would say, why should bad things happen to good people?
And make no mistake though, if the country is invaded and I have to fight to save lives, I will fight.
May be I am a coward, a traitor, a disgrace to this lovely nation, but if I am to be honest, I will not die for my country. Besides, the after life freaks me out!
I respect the people who will and who have lost their lives in the names of their countries. I admire their courage and their unselfishness.
I think of dying for my country and I ask myself, who will take care of Mama Mkilalu? Will my fellow patriots look after my 3years old Tanisha? Will this country that I died for make sure she gets a decent education and a chance to a better life?
And then I ask again, what will my death accomplish? Will it be just another statistic? Will those corrupt leaders resign, or better yet commit suicide because I died for my country?
So. all these questions whose answers we will never know got me saying NO to dying for my country. It is just too much of a risk. I love my country. Instead of dying for it I'd rather stay alive and fight.
Why don't we go to school, study whatever it is we need to study and fight for our country in the safest way possible. And if we have to protest why don't we do it in a way that we will all stay alive long enough to see our children grow up and our parents enjoy their uzee?
Call me selfish and all the names you can think of but if I have a say in it, I will not die for my country kwa kweli. I just don't see the point.
By;
@Zamaradi_M
I have this lovely Mama Mkubwa who has retired and is now working for
a private firm. We were not very close before but we are now what
people say super tight. We are each other's shosti even with almost 40years age difference.
Well
enough with dolidoli. So, we were talking and me being the planner and
dreamer I always am I told her that if I have it my way I would like to
be able to retire by 35, meaning if I will be working it will be for the
love of my job but not for financial dependence to my employer.
She
was proud and went on telling me about her friend who was told by her
daughter that she is working past her retirement age because she did not
plan her life well enough. (I swear I am not the daughter!)
So, we talked and
talked talked. And the two generations of Mlege came to agree that it
was not easy for the retirees to plan an early retirement in those days
as opportunities were very limited. The only things people could do was
work for a government, or a private company if they can find any and the
very lucky ones made it into politics.
That was their curse, there were no enough opportunities.
Come
to this generation, millions and millions of opportunities. People are
employed yet own businesses that sometimes make even more than their
salaries. And let us not talk of those who double/triple their salaries
while working no overtimes and exceeding no targets, we reserve them for
another day!
So we are blessed with opportunities, Thanks to the Almighty.
But
our curse is, we know no loyalty, we have no respect for friendship and
we don't even value family! How many of us have been betrayed by their
friends? How many of us have been conned by our very own relatives? How
many of us have lost money just because our decision was based in
trusting the information from a person close to us gave?
Now,
we hear stories of shop owners in Zanzibar who would leave their shops
unlocked for almost 30 minutes and go to the mosque to come back to the
exact same shop they left! (WARNING: Don't try this anywhere.)
We hear stories of people who worked under one company for more than 40 years! (This is my second job/company in 4 years.)
We
hear stories of friends who cut themselves to mix their bloods just to
show how deep their friendship is! (Don't try this now, unless your
Doctor approves).
Those are now just stories. Stories I wish I lived to see!
So,
we might retire at 35 but we will get there with no friends and no
family. Our emotions will be so played with that we will not even trust
our own children and the poor kids will probably be below 15!.
And
sadly, we might not even live long enough to be 35. We just have to
stay out of people's ways, people we are not even aware of their
existence, because nowadays killing and harming another human being to
protect one's interest seems like an okay thing.
You
are still working at 60+ but I could trade places and live in that era
where there was loyalty, true friendship and relatives were your last
line of defense, I will do the trade in the blink of an eye!
By: @Zamaradi_M
5. He is strong
4. He is flexible
3. He doesn't party like a rock star, he parties like Cesc the Fab
with a lollipop and juice at 1AM!
2. He is so cool that he can autograph even Ozil's shirt, with a smile!
1. The only healthy person we know that takes a nap after 11hrs of sleep!
.svg.png)
