A Feel of Deceit

On the 11th of June, a family friend came to me requesting the services of an environmentalist. I told him I could help but it was only going to be part time. I also added that I would even offer the services for free and act like I’m interning in the company.

He was happier about the comment I made about not taking anything from the company than the fact that I was even helping the company with a need. He then vanished into thin air and reached out to me again just yesterday, 10th July.

He didn’t explain why I didn’t hear from him or why he hasn’t reached out even once all this time and just went ahead to tell me he has an offer for me from the company. He then began by asking if I remembered I said I was going to work for free and I said yes. In that moment, I just knew he was about to take advantage of my kindness but I didn’t think it was going to be so wicked.

He then told me the company has decided to give some shares instead of letting me work for free because they realized my worth after going through my CV. All that while, I was just quiet because I just wanted to hear the whole point of what he was saying.

He spoke at length without really saying anything I could understand so I asked why the company would give me shares for working part time and not even for more than 2 weeks. This is where it gets interesting. He told me they wanted to make sure they appreciated my worth. Something still felt off, so I asked him if he could send me the written offer.

I’ve never been so shocked in my life as I was after opening that PDF. Let me summarize everything for you. I was going to sign an agreement with the company where I work for the rest of my life for 1% of shares, which weren't sellable, but I could only pass them on from myself to my generation. My brain went so blank after reading that because it made no sense. All that I could think of is he was about to take advantage of me for life.

I told him I was too occupied to help him with whatever he asked and was sorry for any inconvenience caused. He then had the audacity to ask me if my previous offer was still on the table. He asked me if I was still willing to work part time for free and I repeated it again that I was too occupied to help him with anything.

I wanted to tell him that he was very wicked for even bringing me such an offer from the company in the first place but part of me felt like he was the one behind it all and just kept quiet. I saw him calling like three times today but didn’t answer and later saw him apologizing. I wanted to ask why he was apologizing but decided to let his conscience deal with him.

No matter how supportive, kind, nice and all the cool things you decide to do for people, others will just decide to take advantage of you so be vigilant and take care of yourself out there.