Uncondoned

I'm usually a very quiet person, a calm person, and everyone around me knew this. But today, something happened in our WhatsApp group that completely changed the atmosphere. Someone posted that we had to pay an extra 3,000 Naira after we had already paid 5,000 Naira for the month's NEPA bills. Electricity bills shouldn’t consume our salaries, but it seemed like this latest charge was digging far deeper into our pockets than we had anticipated.

When I saw the message from our gatekeeper, it ignited a frustrated fire within me that I hadn’t experienced before. I quickly vented out my feelings and told him that we weren't going to pay anything more. I knew I sounded a little rough, but I didn’t intend to be rude. However, to my surprise, he responded with a very rude text that I did not take lightly.

After he responded very rudely to my text, I didn’t relent. I vented out all the errors he had been dismissing in the group chat and pointed out his nonchalant attitude. I highlighted how untrustworthy he had become, expressing my disappointment that he could just come in and drop a critical message, treating us as though we were fools easily just followed his instructions, no matter how ridiculous they were.

To my surprise, many members of the group rallied behind me, expressing their frustrations too. The atmosphere became charged with a sense of unity as we all voiced our discontent. Later this evening, he sent me a direct message, apologizing for his earlier response. But deep down, I felt that the right approach would have been for him to address the entire group.