Having Illiterates At Work Is Pretty Dangerous

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A True Story That Is Not So Funny And a Gentle Reminder That Not Everyone Is Employable

This week we had a incident at work and it is not something you would normally consider, but then again you are in Africa. We employed a cleaner back in March who comes in 3 times a week just to keep the public areas clean. This person was previously unemployed and was grateful for the opportunity.

The incident happened with the gents toilet and as funny as it may sound it was rather serious. The soap dispenser which dispenses soap to wash your hands had been filled with toilet cleaner which is basically colored bleach. This was the same color as the soap and one would normally think it was just a mistake, but what was the underlying problem is she cannot read or write. Having cleaning materials the same color did not help because she couldn't tell the difference even though they smell differently.

Thankfully no customer used the gents toilet and only after a few staff members complained about flaking skin on their hands did we realise the problem. This could have been a whole lot worse and we got lucky this time around, but highlights that not having an education not only are you a danger to yourself, but to others around you.

Instead of admitting the error she denied any wrong doing mainly because she is embarrassed to say she cannot read or write. I think it maybe a bit of embarrassment and pure ignorance on her part and she probably genuinely did not know. The solution is to make sure the hand soap is a different color form the toilet cleaning fluid next time when purchased or she cannot be employed.

The problem with this is the vast majority of the country are illiterate and they don't make themselves employable. I can recall back in the 1990's the company I was working for advertised a position and had over 100 candidates to interview which they said was not a problem as 95% will fail the first hurdle and that is filling out a form leaving you with possibly less than 5 candidates to interview.

This is why the Zimbabweans and Malawians with the open borders tend to find jobs because they are better educated. The majority of South Africans are good for manual labor with a small percentage who can read and write and why so many are unemployed. The government has failed it's people through lack of education.

Around 10 years ago I experienced this first hand when paying staff and asking them to sign their name against the pay slip recording they had received their money. A few took out their identity books so they could literally copy their name because they cannot read and write. This could be compared to being back at pre school and I have never seen anything like this before. The sad part is they are hard workers as that is the only thing that makes them stand out form all the others because they are lacking all the other basics you would just expect.

Back to the cleaner as she will now be monitored and helped making sure she does not mess up again or else she will literally be unemployable. This is the level of job she has and can go no higher in life which again is sad to think you have reached your peak cleaning.

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