He checks the time on his alarm clock and it is 4:36am. Still sleepy, he makes his way to his bathroom to shower and prepare for his big day. For some, it might be a normal thing but for him, considering how long he has waited for this moment, he knew he could not let anything go wrong. After some few minutes, he comes out of the bathroom and makes his way to the side table to check the time again. The time reads “4:58am.”
She twists and turns in her bed. A knock and shout on the bed wakes her up. She does not move but lays there and stares at the ceiling. Stretching, the knock comes through again and this time round, harder. Her mother shouts, “You will be late. Wake up, it’s almost 6am.” She stretches one last time and lazily drags herself from her bed. She goes to check the time and it is 5:41am. She yawns and makes her way to the bathroom.
Kwame, fully dressed in a fine suit and tie with a piece of paper in his hand, sits and waits almost impatiently. He checks his watch and then gets up to go. The time reads, “6:01am.”
Nana Ama, now done with getting dressed, goes to the dining hall and takes in some breakfast with her family. They pray for her and then she leaves the house too. The time reads “7:10am”
Outside of an office edifice, a taxi parks and Kwame gets down beaming with confidence. He sees a few other people around but asks no question and walks straight inside the building. They watch him as he walks inside. Some few minutes later, another taxi halts and Nana Ama gets down with confidence too. She looks around and sees other people, greets them, politely asks about where the interview is taking place and is directed there. She enters another office building altogether.
In the building Kwame entered, he sits and waits for some few hours but no one walks by. He starts getting nervous. He fidgets with his phone in anticipation of someone walking in anytime. He keeps thinking to himself, “This must be the place. It sure must be.” After some few more minutes without anyone coming into the building, he decides to walk out and ask around for where the interview is taking place. The security guard at the place directs him to where Nana Ama went. Hurriedly, he walks inside the building.
Upon entering the building, he sees Nana Ama and a few others being tutored. They all turn to look at him. His nervousness turns into sweat and increased heartbeat. He asks, “Is this where the interview is taking place?” The man who appears to be tutoring them politely replies, “Sorry, sir. You’re late and we will no longer need your services.” Kwame retorts, “Sorry sir, but I have been here for the past 2 hours. I happened to have waited in the wrong room.”
“That was the interview.” The man tells him. “We wanted to see who amongst you had what it takes to be employed and trained. You never greeted nor asked any question when you came down from the car. You just walked past all of us. You failed the interview.” Kwame is shell shocked. “We are a customer service based company and we love to work with people who have courtesy. You do not seem like one. Try again another time. You may leave now. Thank you.” The man added.
Without saying a word, he slowly turns and walks away dejectedly.
Lesson: Your CV will get you the interview but your character and or courtesy will get you the job.
