Aminu Lawrence
New member
One thing that really breaks my heart is how some people will be entrusted with another person’s sweat… and they treat it like dust.
My driver and I stopped at TotalEnergies filling station to buy fuel. We drove in quietly and parked at one of the pumps because we weren’t familiar with the place.
This particular attendant sat there looked at us.
And ignored us.
My driver spoke politely.
“Good afternoon, we want to buy fuel.”
No response.
My apprentice even raised her head from the car and said,
“Please, can you attend to us?”
This girl looked at us, rolled her eyes, and continued acting like we were invisible.
The side eye?
The attitude?
The contempt?
It was painful to watch.
My driver almost drove out angrily until he noticed another attendant behind her attending to customers with smiles and energy. He reversed immediately and asked if they were selling fuel there.
That second lady welcomed us warmly.
Cheerful. Respectful. Professional.
When we asked her why her colleague ignored us, she just smiled and said,
“Don’t mind her, that’s how she behaves. I’m here now, I’ll attend to you well.”
And honestly, that moment touched me deeply.
Because employers need to understand something:
Sometimes the greatest enemy of a business is not the economy.
It’s the wrong people representing the business.
A customer can enter your place once and never return because of one bitter employee who behaves like your business is a punishment to them.
I understand Nigeria is hard.
I understand people are frustrated.
I understand salaries are not always enough.
But if your pain has gotten to the point where you now punish innocent customers with attitude, disrespect, silence, wic*kdness and pride… then resign.
There are thousands of people praying daily for that same opportunity you are wasting.
What pained me the most is this:
When it becomes THEIR business tomorrow, they will pray for customers.
They will pray for favor.
They will pray for growth.
They will pray for loyal buyers.
But when another person’s business was handed to them to nurture, they treated customers like trash.
And life doesn’t forget things like that.
This experience reminded me of my own days.
When I used to run POS business for my madam, people genuinely thought the business was mine.
I would stand at Ignatius school gate from morning till evening shouting:
“POS! POS!”
Before lectures, I was there.
After lectures, I was there.
Selling recharge cards, doing transfers, withdrawals, deposits.
My classmates even nicknamed me “POS.”
Meanwhile, the business wasn’t mine.
I was earning just ₦15,000 salary.
But I carried that business on my head like my destiny depended on it.
And maybe that’s exactly why God blessed me.
Till today, that same woman still helps me financially anytime life gets hard.
The kind of help I know I cannot easily get elsewhere.
Because when her business was placed in my hands, I treated it with sincerity, loyalty, and love.
A lot of people don’t understand this principle:
The way you handle another person’s blessing determines how Heaven prepares yours.
If you’re working somewhere and intentionally frustrating customers, stealing, lying, insulting people, damaging the business because “it’s not your own”… be careful.
Character has a way of returning to people.
May we never become the reason another person’s sweat goes to waste.
My driver and I stopped at TotalEnergies filling station to buy fuel. We drove in quietly and parked at one of the pumps because we weren’t familiar with the place.
This particular attendant sat there looked at us.
And ignored us.
My driver spoke politely.
“Good afternoon, we want to buy fuel.”
No response.
My apprentice even raised her head from the car and said,
“Please, can you attend to us?”
This girl looked at us, rolled her eyes, and continued acting like we were invisible.
The side eye?
The attitude?
The contempt?
It was painful to watch.
My driver almost drove out angrily until he noticed another attendant behind her attending to customers with smiles and energy. He reversed immediately and asked if they were selling fuel there.
That second lady welcomed us warmly.
Cheerful. Respectful. Professional.
When we asked her why her colleague ignored us, she just smiled and said,
“Don’t mind her, that’s how she behaves. I’m here now, I’ll attend to you well.”
And honestly, that moment touched me deeply.
Because employers need to understand something:
Sometimes the greatest enemy of a business is not the economy.
It’s the wrong people representing the business.
A customer can enter your place once and never return because of one bitter employee who behaves like your business is a punishment to them.
I understand Nigeria is hard.
I understand people are frustrated.
I understand salaries are not always enough.
But if your pain has gotten to the point where you now punish innocent customers with attitude, disrespect, silence, wic*kdness and pride… then resign.
There are thousands of people praying daily for that same opportunity you are wasting.
What pained me the most is this:
When it becomes THEIR business tomorrow, they will pray for customers.
They will pray for favor.
They will pray for growth.
They will pray for loyal buyers.
But when another person’s business was handed to them to nurture, they treated customers like trash.
And life doesn’t forget things like that.
This experience reminded me of my own days.
When I used to run POS business for my madam, people genuinely thought the business was mine.
I would stand at Ignatius school gate from morning till evening shouting:
“POS! POS!”
Before lectures, I was there.
After lectures, I was there.
Selling recharge cards, doing transfers, withdrawals, deposits.
My classmates even nicknamed me “POS.”
Meanwhile, the business wasn’t mine.
I was earning just ₦15,000 salary.
But I carried that business on my head like my destiny depended on it.
And maybe that’s exactly why God blessed me.
Till today, that same woman still helps me financially anytime life gets hard.
The kind of help I know I cannot easily get elsewhere.
Because when her business was placed in my hands, I treated it with sincerity, loyalty, and love.
A lot of people don’t understand this principle:
The way you handle another person’s blessing determines how Heaven prepares yours.
If you’re working somewhere and intentionally frustrating customers, stealing, lying, insulting people, damaging the business because “it’s not your own”… be careful.
Character has a way of returning to people.
May we never become the reason another person’s sweat goes to waste.