Monday, February 20, 2012

A Monday morning in Lagos

I have only been in the office for an hour and a half and already I am desperately wishing that someone would end ir by stabbing me with a fork or any other equally preferable instrument.

My day started with the usual traffic in Lagos, followed by a nice chat with a few co-workers (this will likely remain the highlight of the day) before I retired to my office to go through the usual early morning routine with my computer where I try and turn it on and it tries it's hardest to resist my advances. Today however it was more of an ice queen then ever. The usual- turn it on and off three times- routine failed to yield any results so an additional two on and offs were added to the routine. Then of course the internet failed to work. This little ploy generally represents its last ditch attempt in attempting to fend of my advances; however, today it wasn't done. It decided to crash continually until the woman in charge of the network came to save the day- clearly seeing from the window that separates our offices that I was seconds away from checking my circa 1998 HP laptop out the window..... a feat that in itself would have been difficult considering the fact that windows in Lagos generally don't open.

Then just as she was about to work her magic my boss ambled in wondering where my corrections to his article were. I replied I had sent them to him, he (shockingly) countered by suggesting I hadn't. He said he'd sent the article to me at least eight times over the course of the weekend and I had never replied, luckily I knew I had the evidence (and the truth) on my side and suggested that it had been sent once and then I received a call saying to ignore that draft and wait to receive the next draft before editing. I did so, completed the edits, and returned it..... I look forward to how this issue will play out throughout the day.

In other news, the man I share my office with is up to his usual shenanigans ie. trying, and succeeding unbelievably well, in avoiding work at all costs. It's a mission he adopts and succeeds at every day. Today is slightly more interesting however because he is yelling at someone because asbestos was delivered to his house. Now this would seem like generally a thing you would be angry at; however, it is why he is angry about it which is exactly the subject which is stumping me: he seems to be annoyed because it is too old, not enough, brought in an unattractive truck, too expensive and asbestos..... in what order of priority these concerns fall under remains, however, a complete mystery.