Reputation is like your shadow, it follows you everywhere you go, except in the dark. (Sylvester D. Dordzi)
Abusua a well-trained auto mechanic who can decipher any problem in just a second gets himself entangled in a trade that dips his reputation to a point of no trust. The mechanics\’ job at a point just wasn’t fetching him enough to take care of his family so he decided to venture into the driving business.
He felt he was at an advantage because he was a mechanic and could fix any problem that could arise in this new line of work, forgetting that not all problems are solved by using tools. The hardships of our times and life problems didn’t care whether you were ready or not.
One day he heard of his former master who trained him to become a mechanic searching for a driver so he quickly made contacts and acquired this vehicle. With no prior contractual agreements, he just intended to start without considering the dynamics of varied conditions that could arise.
The first question is, was Abusua that desperate? And was a contractual agreement necessary?
The health condition of his former boss, now his car owner, required that he be taken to the hospital twice a week since he was recovering from a mild stroke. The hospital appointment mostly took three hours and he had to pick him up from home to the hospital, wait for him to finish, and then bring him back to the house. The economic dynamics were not considered because there was no contract and this eventually was getting in the way of proper financial reasoning as he was never paid for such services.
The second question is, will it be right to ask you, boss, to pay for a service rendered?
Many will ask, why continue to do a job that doesn’t pay and is full of challenges and unfair circumstances. He started to voice out his grievances when he was accosted by the master’s son and the car was taken from him. The reasons for these actions were that he fails to make weekly sales and also at certain points decided not to pick up the father to the hospital.
Abusua’s case was, the master’s hospital appointments were just three hours but he will always move around greeting people which also took like three hours making it 6hours of productive time and fuel which was never paid for and non-deductibles from the weekly sales.
The Half truth is that who in this story has that full truth. We can only work with the half-truth of all the characters. Desperation pushes men into more desperation, sane men more insane, and makes honest men liars. When you interview both sides, you are sure to be convinced beyond reasonable doubt that everyone is telling the truth, due to the level of emotion attached to their stories. Many avoid written contracts just to beat the system or have their way, but when things don’t go their way they categorize themselves as victims.