A Stranger’s Touch
In early 2012, my mom had been living with cancer for 4 years.
I had to drop out of school and go out to search for work to cater for my ailing mother and siblings. Furthering my education was the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. Only the end of the tunnel kept getting farther away the more I tried to get to it.
I was at my duty post at the once-famous Rita Lori Hotels as a barman. The time was past midnight and I would be going on leave the following day. My leave is to span 48 hours.
Usually, when your leave is coming up like this - You pray for it not to fall on a Friday. This is because most of the heavy spenders come out on Friday and you are guaranteed good tips. Not forgetting to mention that you get to inflate the cost of drinks and even most times, get away with inflating the bills as well.
However, my leave was on a Thursday and this means I will miss out on the weekend palliative. My brain was working nonstop and plotting ways to make money that I could take home to my ailing mother and siblings. Mind you, I had only been able to raise #50 as at that time. This doesn’t even cover the cost of transportation from Bode Thomas in Surulere to Boundary, Ajegunle where we live.
At past 1 am, A man in his late 50s walked in wearing shorts, palm slippers and a football jersey. I took one long look at him and cancelled him out of my mind as a potential “customer”. Imagine my pain when he came to sit in my spot. He beckoned to me to take his order. I looked at him again and ignored him. I ignored him from 1 am till 2:30 am. I sent other colleagues to take his order but he waved them away; telling them that I was the one he wanted to serve him.
I continuously ignored his calling. My supervisor came around and approached his table to find out why he was not ordering anything. This man told my supervisor that he was waiting for me to serve him while pointing at me. The man went back to watching funny comedy skits on his phone.
My supervisor came charging me to go and attend to a customer but at that point, I did not care and I refused his instructions. He wrote me a query and I kept it in my pocket while I went back to polish my glasses.
The time was 3 am. I had attended to other customers but this man. I reluctantly went to his table with my pad and asked for his order. He raised his head from his phone, stared at me and had a big laugh. I just stood there. He ordered two bottles of Chamdor wine with two glasses and asked me to send him the woman from the kitchen.
In all honesty, I had minded not delivering the order as I was concerned if he was going to be able to pay the bill and I was worried about accruing debts when I don’t have transport fare home. Anyway, I went back to deliver the drinks after notifying the security men to help me keep an eye on him. On getting to the table, I realised that the man had ordered two goat meat pepper soup. He hates eating alone and asked me to dine with him. I replied to him that I was still on duty and so could not eat with him. Moreover, it is the company’s policy not to accept things from customers.
He signaled my supervisor and asked him to let me sit down with him and eat. My supervisor agreed and I didn’t need a second invitation. I dived into the meal and emptied the plate in record time. He kept on staring at me while eating with a wry smile on his face but I did not care. I cannot afford this on my salary, sir.
After we had finished eating, He asked me why I did not want to attend to him when he came in. I lied that I did not see him and he accused me of lying and cajoled me to tell him the truth.
I did not know when I started narrating my life woes in tears. It was the outlet I needed.
He consoled me and said some words of encouragement that I had grown tired of hearing and only listened to halfheartedly. Man! I need money and I doubt conductors were going to accept the queen’s English from me.
The man asked for this bill and asked me to accompany him to his car to receive payment. I beckoned one of my colleagues to follow me and begged the security men to keep us in their sight.
We got outside to see armed policemen and some other plain-clothed officers. My man was royalty and just wanted some time to himself without the fanfare. He paid me x20 of the bill and asked me to take care of my mother and siblings.
He left me with this advice and this is it in his words “Dear Ayo my boy, life is the wave of the sea. It flows back and forth. Sometimes It will touch you and other times, it won’t. Don’t look down on people. You just never know who might be holding the idea or key to make you succeed. You are a smart boy and I will be looking out for your name in the future”.
This has been my mantra ever since.
To each his own!
