Dumping the Pigsty

I remember the day I left my job at a ‘
TV station.
The station started in September 2013
and recruited all the staff members in
November of the same year.
We were given letters of employment
with average packages
The MD/C.E.O of the company struts
about like a chicken every day
We spent a month waiting!
At the end of the month, he didn’t pay
He said we ate free lunches during
the training and since his equipment
didn’t arrive, we have not worked yet
and so he wouldn’t pay for the month
of December 2013.
We bore it, remained with him till
February when the equipment
eventually arrived!
Three months without pay
Then he said he had to employ an
accountant to handle the salaries and
that took him a whole month
Eventually, he got an accountant in
March and invited a bank in to take
our details
The bank came, details were taken
and yet there was no salary!
He said he couldn’t work with that bank
and we had to go through the motions
with another bank entirely!
This was April
The month ended and we got paid
The first salary in five months!
Everybody thought we had finally
settled down and the pay will now
be Constant
We didn’t get any salary in May!
He said the fund he was expecting
didn’t come in
Those who complain or didn’t show
up at work got suspension without
pay at will
Then we heard that the MD went to
the UK with three girlfriends because
it was cheaper to fly babes to the UK
Than pick up a call girl in the UK
When he returned from the UK, he
started sleeping with our Human
Resources Manager, a maried but
promiscuous lady with three children,
(one of them was a ten months old
baby) who basically used every minute
of any conversation with most of the
male staff members dropping hints
that she was available for sex
The management staff members
went to Abuja to establish the Abuja
end of the station and by the time
they returned all the staff members
knew they had started having sex
I started weighing my options at that
time, I was trained to work in the media
and I love the job but I never could
understand or settle into the way
many media practitioners treat their
staff members
The lack of discipline was galling!
The newsroom became very toxic, a
lot of gossip, bad blood, theft and
unwholesome communication glued
to the ceiling like the smoke from a
cheap cigarette!
I created the YouTube channel of
the station and produced their breakfast
belt.
I kept asking myself why I didn’t leave
as soon as I started noticing the rot.
I finished my shift one evening by 6pm
and ran home so that I can make it to
midweek service on time
The MD called me and told me to
return to the office immediately
I did.
When I got there he started rambling
about loyalty, claiming he hated the
fact that most of us acted as if we
were working for money instead of
building a dream!
What he said didn’t make any sense to me
The following day I closed at 6pm and
went home
When I got home my phone rang!
It was him again
He asked me where I was
I said I just got home.
He said “Why do you always hurry home
when you know the reproduction desk
needs you?”
I laughed and said my shift was over
He said “Since your shift is over, don’t
bother coming back”
I said “Yes sir”
And I didn’t bother going back
He expected me to come and beg for
my job or something
He didn’t see me the next day and yes
they needed me badly!
I got another call
He said I should return to work
immediately because he has lifted
my suspension
I said “I am sorry sir, I am now employed
somewhere else”
He didn’t like that response!
He went to the office and sacked eight
people out of anger
He said he spent money training ingrates
who would leave for another organisation
after he had trained them
I started getting calls from the other
staff members
“Come back and talk to him!
You know this place needs you”
I just laughed!
Nobody Is indispensable
He slashed salaries by 60% the following
week, he said that was the only way the
office can run effectively
Some people stayed, some people left
As for me I have learnt my lesson, I
never worked in such an unstable
environment again.

-GSW-