Life Is Cruel...
Omo… running a business is not for the weak ooo. Because the people you place in your businesses will be a great determinant in how good or bad it ends up. If you’re not careful, you could end up hiring the very weapons fashioned against you and placing them on a salary while they systematically ruin everything that you’ve worked so hard for.
For some, it may be intentional, and just greed driving them to do certain things. For others, it may just be the fact that they don’t know enough to keep the business running as you would. Because one way or the other, if you’re not grounded and careful, the people you entrust your business with could end up being the ones who ruin you.
I’ve been in need of a carpenter for a while now. However, I realized that the number of my favourite carpenter wasn’t saved on my phone, so I had to go to his shop to meet him in person. However, to my shock, his shop was locked up and empty. Most of the furniture there was tattered, and there was nothing new there. This was a shocker indeed, because that guy was always active, and even if he wasn’t there, his boys were there, ready to serve customers.
Anyway, his number was painted on the wall, so I copied it and managed to call him. When I told him who I was, he was happy to hear from me again after all this time. He then told me that the shop I went to had been shut down, and he was no longer there. It turned out that the boys who were learning from him were nothing but thieves. When customers come for carpentry or furniture work, they’d take the deals and take the money, but they won’t inform the man himself.
And because he was rarely in the shop due to the nature of his job, he was always on the move; he had no idea. They would take money, and when customers come back for their furniture, they’d be giving them stories. They did this for so many people, until some of them managed to snag his number and started reaching out to him directly. And that’s when he found out that these guys had managed to collect close to 800k from customers, and they ate the entire thing.
It was almost turning into a Police case, but to avoid it, he had to pay back all the customers himself. And due to the case getting so public, he shut down the shop, never to return. I asked him if he was planning to punish the boys who put him in that mess, and he was like, “What can I do?” Turns out one of them is his nephew, who was learning under him. And that was their ring leader, who also had the lion’s share of the proceeds. Despite everything these guys put him through, he was letting it go because of “family”.
Well, I don’t know what they discussed behind the scenes, but from what he told me, he wasn’t pursuing the case. He was just facing forward. Thankfully, that wasn’t his only workshop. He has another on the other side of town, and also his main shop, which is in Surulere, and where he mainly operates now. When he told me the story, I felt deeply for him. Imagine having to pay back 800k of money that you didn’t even spend.
If this were his only shop, that was how his life could have been destroyed, and his source of livelihood taken from him. Meanwhile, the boys would just move on with life. And this is something that we see happening all too often in society. Sometimes, the people you trust end up running your business to the ground. Other times, nepotism would place people in positions they have no business being in, and they’d make all the wrong decisions, leading the business to collapse.
Life is cruel. That’s why we have to keep our eyes open and always be on our toes. Because no matter what, anyone at all can stab you in the back. For this my carpenter friend, I know he’s trying to move on from the pain, but I also know that no matter what, family dynamics have changed for him. His relationship with his brother (the nephew’s father) is forever ruined. And he’d never be able to look at that nephew the same without seeing the boy that cost him not just 800k, but an entire shop as well.
Life can be cruel.
Hmm. I got it situation as I have seen some cases similar to that. I have seen that the trusted person stabbed the knife from back. I think it's better to be emotionless when it comes to business. In business, there is no chance to consider anyone's relatives.
As in ehn... do what's best for your business. Because once you start getting emotional, you'd get hurt big time.