Take it or Leave it

"Sir, Mr. Yami is ready for you," said the receptionist amidst the loud slurping sounds of chewing gum as she led him towards a narrow corridor to the left. She opened a blue wooden door to the right of the corridor and held it until he walked in, then slowly closed the door behind him.

"Mr. Yami, nice to meet you. My name is Robin Shama," he said extending his hand to greet the short, pot bellied man. Mr. Yami was just biting off the last grains of maize from the cob before he opened the window behind him to throw the cob outside. Shama had held his hand out for more than a minute now and it felt awkward continuing to hold it out so he quickly retracted it and waited for Mr. Yami to finish his meal.

Mr Yami turned back from throwing the cob and sat in the creaking chair to face Shama.

"The Monk Who Sold his Ferrari huh! " Mr. Yami shouted with a proud look on his face, almost to signal that he was a well-read man.

"No Sir. It's 'Shama' without an 'R'. Shama was my great grandfather and Robin because my father loves the character of Robin Hood. It's purely a coincidence that it sounds like Robin Sharma the author." Shama realized he had said too much when he noticed Mr. Yami had moved on from the topic that was just meant to start a conversation and not find out the origins of his visitor's entire existence.

"Your father tells me you have been having trouble finding employment."

"Yes. I have been looking for a job for almost one year now."

"You studied law right?"

"That is correct Sir."

"And what were you doing before you became unemployed?

"I was working as an advocacy officer for a Non-Governmental Organization called Truth, Nothing but the Truth Foundation. Their offices were closed down after they were accused of funding terrorists.

"Your father tells me you are looking for a government job is that correct?

"Not really. I am looking for another NGO job but my father thinks they are not stable so he recommended a government job.'

There was a long silence before Mr. Yami swung his chair to look at the broken computer screen on his right. Shama could see that he was looking at the resume his father had asked him to email to Mr. Yami. He quickly scrolled through it before sighing in disbelief and dragging the document to the recycle bin.

"You can never get a government job with this Curriculum Vitae," Mr. Yami retorted, almost shouting.

"We are going to write a new one. Your father paid a consultation fees for us to list you in our data base. I am only helping you write a CV because your father was my classmate in Secondary School. Otherwise I will have to charge you more." Mr. Yami trailed off as he opened a new Word document and started to type furiously.

The room remained silent for another 15 minutes before he rang the phone and asked the receptionist to bring the documents he had printed to his office.

The receptionist walked in with a bundle of papers and handed them to Mr. Yami who separated them into two bundles then stapled them. He handed them out to Shama while directly staring at him.

"You will sign that Cover Letter then go to the the Central National Government Building on Freedom Avenue. You will go to the 3rd Floor and ask to speak to Mrs. Freda Kazi from the Legal Department. Tell her Mr. Yami send you. You can report to work on Monday. I will talk to your father about the rest of my fees and Mrs. Kazi's fees."

He had finished his speech when Shama flipped the pages to read the documents that had been handed to him.

"You do not have to read those. They are standard documents we do all the time."

"I am a lawyer. I read everything before signing." He said with a wry smile on his face, waiting for Mr. Yami to smile back but he never did. So he shifted his eyes back to the documents.

"Mr. Yami, I do not have a Masters Degree yet, I am yet to graduate in a month's time." Shama said pointing at the education section of his newly acquired CV.

"You will have it in a month's time and that is all that matters to these employers." Mr. Yami responded with finality. "Besides, it's not like you are getting the job on your own." he added with condescending tone.

" You have omitted my entire work experience with 'Truth, Nothing but the Truth Foundation'. That is the most valuable experience I have in my career,' Shama said, his voice shaking from the apparent betrayal that was now his new CV.

"Shama, no government will hire you with those people on your CV . Besides omitting it is not lying," said Mr. Yami as he stood up to close the window behind him.

Mr. Yami took the coat that was hanging off his chair and opened the door to leave the room.

"I am leaving for lunch. Do as I have told you unless you are not serious about getting a job," he said as he motioned Shama to stand up.

As they both stood up to leave the room, Shama held the documents loosely, almost like they would contaminate his hands. Mr. Yami locked the door behind him and they silently walked though the narrow corridor past the receptionist who was now talking on phone with another client. They entered the lift lobby and Mr Yami pressed the down button. Confused as to how to proceed, Yami pressed the up button to avoid any awkwardness that was bound to arise if both of them used the same lift. Luckily, the lift going down arrived first and Mr. Yami got in.

Shama had barely tossed the torn up pieces of Cover Letter and CV into the dustbin when his landlord called to demand rent for the previous month.

"See where honesty gets you," he muttered to himself.