Anita sat in the reception room waiting. She looked at her wrist watch, it was 9am, she had been waiting for one hour. She didn’t mind though. This was her first interview in months and she would wait for as long as it took.
When she finally got this job interview, it was all she could do not to throw cartwheels. Finally! She thought. Something good was happening to her. So on the morning of the interview she had taken great care with her makeup and her clothes. This was the first real thing she was getting in months and no way in hell was she going to screw this up.
The email had said the interview would be at 8am but it was already an hour and thirty minutes and still no word from the interviewer. No worries though, she thought. She would be ready whenever they were. It’s not like she had anywhere else to be. She was looking at her wrist watch again when the receptionist called her.
“Miss Anita Okonkwo?”
She shot up from her seat and then chided herself for being too eager. Be cool she told herself. Just be cool.
“Yes that’s me.” She answered
“The human resource manager will see you now” The receptionist replied. “It’s the first door on your left.”
“Thank you Anita” said as she walked to the office. She adjusted her skirt as she walked. Being sloppy today was not an option.
She got to the manager’s office and knocked, a man's voice told her to come in. She took a deep breath, turned the knob and walked in.
The office was spacious and beautiful. There was a long cream coloured couch at the side. Several paintings of nature and still life hung on the wall. And a finely crafted shelf was piled with books. The man sat behind a glass table. He was working on a fancy looking laptop and a picture of a woman smiling while holding a little boy and a girl sat on a corner of the table. Anita smiled at that, someday she was going to have kids as cute as that.
“Take a seat” the manager said.
“Let’s get started.”
“Thank you Anita said as she sat down. You have a beautiful family.”
The man smiled back at her. “Thank you. You don’t look bad yourself”
He pulled her CV from his drawer and arranged his glasses on his face. He cleared his throat.
“It says here that you graduated with a 2.1?
Anita nodded vigorously. Getting a 2.1 wasn’t easy but she had made it happen.
The manager continued.
“And you worked for two years at your previous job?
“Yes Sir.”
“Why were you let go?”
The company had called it downsizing, Anita had simply called it bad luck.
“The company was going through a downsize Sir, it had nothing to do with my performance.”
“Yes. Your previous employer spoke very highly of you.”
Anita smiled again. Thank God for that.
The manager kept flipping through her CV. Pausing occasionally to double check something or the other. And while he did this Anita sat down anxiously praying, for the first time in months, that the man didn’t find anything wrong, that everything was in order. She had been too anxious to pray before she left the house, but now she wished she had. She shrugged that out of her mind. Everything will be fine. Everything had to be fine.
He stopped flipping through her CV, took off his glasses, cleaned it thoroughly, set it on the table and said
“Everything appears to be in order.”
Anita breathed an audible sigh of relief, causing the manager to laugh.
“Don’t worry my dear.” He said. “The job is yours.”
Anita was ecstatic
“Oh my God!! Really. Thank you so much! I promise, I’ll be the best employee you have ever had.”
This was so easy, Anita thought. So very easy. And she had been anxious for nothing.
“That’s good my dear.” The manager said breaking into her thoughts.
“But we are have not finished yet.”
Oh. Anita said. There was a way the man said it that made her pause. What else is there to finish? The man got up from his chair and came around the table. He stood behind Anita and placed his hands on her shoulder. Anita cringed inwardly. What was he doing?
“You know you are a beautiful girl” the manager said as he massaged her shoulder.
“Uh Thank you.”
“And you know where I am going with this”
Anita shook her head “I don’t .”
“Nothing goes for nothing na. You have to give me something. You want the job right?”
When his hands started to travel down her white shirt. Anita immediately stood. No. No. No! She thought, this cannot be happening right now.
“Stop it Sir.” She snapped. “This is wrong. You are married.”
The man laughed.
“Married and so what? I’m still a man na and you are a beautiful girl. Stop acting like a child please. You know how these things are.”
“You want me to have sex with you?” Anita asked disbelieving. “You want me to have sex with you?”
“Abeg stop saying it like it’s a bad thing. Are we not human beings” He moved to touch her again. Anita pulled back.
“Please don’t touch me.”
The man laughed. He walked back to his seat and sat down.
“Look at you. All this one is forming. I don’t think you want this job.”
“But I do.” Anita said almost pleading. “Of course I want the job. I really, really want it.”
“You know what to do then.”
“But you said I’m qualified. You just went through my CV. You said I got the job.”
“Where do you think you are? The manager asked.
“There are a thousand other girls who are qualified. And I’m sure they won’t make this stupid fuss you are making.
Let me break this down for you. If you want this job. You will meet me at this hotel” he wrote something on a paper and threw it at her “at 6pm, Friday. If you come. I’ll know you are serious about working. And if you don’t come. Oh well… I’m sure some other girl will be happy to take your place.”
He put his glasses back on.
“Please close the door when you leave. I have business to attend to.”
Anita stood there staring at him, completely speechless. This was the first job she was getting in months. What in God’s name was she supposed to do now?
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