About 12 hours after
the first call was made to the call centre, her top-up had still not been
loaded to her line and it was already too late to go to the nearby store to buy
another top-up card. Gbemisola was really upset. She was to make a call in the
course of the day and she had to borrow her mum's phone to do just that. 'How annoying can this telephone company be?!'
she thought. It had been more than 12 hours so she decided to dial the call centre
again to find out what the real issue was. Gbemisola picked up her phone to dial
the call centre the second time that day. She had to go through the annoying
process of getting someone to talk to again. The call ended before she could
get someone to talk to so she decided to try again deciding within herself that
even if she had to try for an hour she was definitely going to talk to someone
that night. This time more annoyed than she was initially, Gbemisola dialed again
going through the process of listening to the now very annoying automated voice
and the annoying music the telephone company had on when a caller is placed on
hold. Minutes went by and finally she was connected to an actual person. 'Good evening. My name is Gbenga. How may I
help you?' 'Good evening. My name is
Gbemisola. I am calling from Ikeja.' Gbemisola quickly said her name and
location before her time was wasted with a question and explanation she considered
irrelevant at that instant. 'I called
earlier today precisely about 12 hours ago complaining that I could not load my
top-up. I was told the issue will be rectified and my airtime would be loaded.
Up to this very moment, my line has not been credited with the airtime'.
Gbenga waited to ensure she was done with her complaint and then went on to ask
if she was calling from her own line. Gbemisola was in no mood for all these
long stories but calmly replied that she was. Gbenga then told her to hold on.
'Gbemisola I can see that a query was
raised this morning concerning the complaint you just made but issues like this
usually take 72 hours to resolve that is why your line has not been credited
with the airtime. Is there any other thing I can do to help?' Gbemisola was
so pissed at that moment and she could not fathom what Gbenga just told her and
in addition, Gbenga was trying to get her off the phone. 'Firstly, the person I spoke to this morning did not tell me it would
take 72 hours to rectify the issue I complained about. Secondly, how can
loading airtime on my line take so long?! It is just airtime o. thirdly and
most importantly, why are you trying to get me off the phone when I am not even
through with my complaint?! Who does that?! I am obviously upset about not
having airtime on my phone to crown it up, it is too late for me to get a
top-up card at this hour and the person that is meant to be helping me out is
trying to get me off the phone. This is not nice at all!' Gbemisola was so
upset and every second seemed more upsetting thanks to the Gbenga fellow. 'Gbemisola, the airtime cannot be credited to
your line in less than 72 hours because that is the protocol of this telephone
company. Your query has to go through a process. I'm sorry the first person you
spoke to did not tell you it would take up to 72 hours. She should have told
you that, well there is nothing that can be done about that. It would take 72
hours! As for trying to get you off the phone, I have many customers I have to
attend to and you are just one customer.' Gbemisola was yet to meet someone
as rude as this Gbenga fellow. Imagine, to be told that he had other customers
to attend to, as if to say she was wasting his time. She was really really
pissed. 'Excuse you! Are you insinuating
that I am wasting your time? I really do not understand the purpose of the call
centre. How can you tell me there are other customers to attend to as if I am
not important? I am obviously upset about my top-up card and an oversight by
your colleague and you just dismiss me like that? Nawa o...what a way to treat
a person! Good night!' Gbemisola was about to click off when she heard
Gbenga's voice. 'I apologise I did not
mean to be rude. I am sorry about my colleague. Ok, how else can I help you?
Please let me call you back in about 10 minutes from another line to apologise
again. How about that? Is that ok?' For
Gbemisola, the subject was closed. 'Thank
you very much. I do not need your apology and I most certainly do not need you
to call me from another line. You have said all you need to say and there is
nothing left to discuss. I just want my issue resolved! Good night' By that time, Gbenga sounded really
sober but Gbemisola did not believe he was sincere; it was the appropriate
thing for him to do to secure his job in case 'management' listened to the recorded exchange. Gbemisola was about
to click off when she heard the annoyingly rude person saying, 'I will still try to call you from another
line. Thank y....' Gbemisola clicked off because at that moment she did not
want to be thanked, she just wanted her line credited. With eyes rolling, she got
up from her location and went to join her family for prayers as the day was
practically over. While the family was saying prayers led by Gbemisola, her
phone started to ring. She opened her eyes while she was still praying and
checked her phone, it was a number she did not have stored on her phone but she
suspected it was Gbenga. She ignored the call; what else could she have done as
she was the one leading the prayers. What manner of excuse would she have given
her heavenly Father and earthly father for stopping prayers mid-way when it was
not a case of emergency and even if it was an emergency she would not have dared.
'Oh well! If the call is important the
person would call back after prayers' Gbemisola thought to herself. Her phone rang again about four more times
before prayers were over. The ringing almost distracted her concentration and
she almost started praying amiss. Prayers over, Gbemisola reached for her phone
to see if it was the same number calling over and over; indeed it was the same
number! She typed the number into her other phone to see if she had it saved
on her other phone but as she already knew, it was not saved on the phone. She headed
to bed assuming that the Gbenga fellow really wanted to apologise and talk more
nonsense. 'Thank God we were praying
sef...mscheeew. Nonsense fellow! What else did he have to say? It was not
enough that he got rude to me the first time. He wants to continue with round
two...well done. If they sent you, tell them you did not meet me...ehn ehn what
did I want to do jare?' Gbemisola soliloquised. She headed for the shower
and then off to bed.
Meaning
*mscheeew.... kissing my teeth, hissing
To be continued...