I developed a bad strategy in school to avoid cooking.
I always give this girl a few cups of rice whenever she wants to cook, so she can add it to her own meal for me.
This bad strategy will not only help me save money on gas and ingredients but also enable me to allocate those funds to purchasing data and enjoying suya meat at night.
As students, we consume more rice, and I always enjoy my delicious portion after she finishes cooking and serves me what I invested.
This same girl, who has been incorporating my cup of rice into her own meal without complaining about her gas or ingredients, asked me for my power bank yesterday, and I refused.
“Sorry, I can’t lend you my power bank right now,” I told her. “I need to charge my phone with it because I will be writing a story soon.”
“Yeah, I know it’s a pretty lame excuse, especially to someone who has been using her gas and ingredients to cook for me without complaining.”
To my surprise, she actually believed me. She said, “Okay, good luck with your stories,” and walked away.
Fast forward to the evening of that same day, I went to meet this girl as usual and told her I will be adding two cups of rice to her food anytime she wants to cook. But I didn’t know I was in for a surprise.
She looked at me with annoyance from head to toe, hissed, and told me to go and cook my rice with my power bank.
Well, I knew I deserved that after what I did to her, so I left and went to ask another girl in the lodge if she would be cooking, and she said yes.
I asked what she wanted to cook, and she said spaghetti. So, I asked her if it’s okay for me to add one more spaghetti with hers, and she said it’s okay.
To cut the long story short, this new girl cooked spaghetti and came knocking on my door saying that this is the return of my investment.
I looked at her and the small portion of spaghetti she was giving me.
“Didn’t I give you one pack of spaghetti, what is this small thing you are giving and telling me this is the return of my investment. What did I invest in, I ask her.
“Bros abeg take your food jor, don’t you know I will deduct gas expense, my ingredients and also VAT fee from the food”.
“Oh, so you think you’ve found an idiot that you can give raw food to cook for you without contributing money for ingredients or gas, huh? Take your food now before I drop it on the floor.”
I collected the food from her because I knew I was the one that messed up.
So I returned to my helper, the first girl who had been doing it all without asking me for anything or complaining.
I begged her, and she said there was no problem, but I should be ready to pay tax anytime I come to add food to whatever she planned on cooking that day.
“Tax?” I asked her when she started collecting tax, and she said since I refused to give her the power bank. “So there’s nothing free in this Lodge anymore. Everything now comes with a fee.
Fada lawd !
Moral: generosity should be reciprocated and not be taken for granted.
