Finally I can take a break, thanks to Alex who just popped in. I have been talking to cartons the whole morning since i got to work. Oh let me start from the beginning.
Well,SAS Impressions our company(SAS) had purchased a few goods from Philippines. The items were to be sent by air because we gathered it is fast, in fact we thought they would arrive on Saturday 7th May. Anyways the day(Saturday) came and we were told we can only pick the cargo on Monday and indeed the call that the cargo had arrived came on Tuesday.
A friend referred me to a clearing agent whom her brother knows. So I went to their office in industrial area, gave them the documents and the guy promised I would get the goods on Wednesday. As I left the place I wondered how we just trust so much as human beings. Check this out, I am referred to a stranger,I go to their office alone(of course I have informed Alex of my whereabouts), I leave the stranger with a good sum of money, documents for the cargo and most of all a passport(yes am holding my breath as I say that). It kinda reminded me of pyramid schemes, I was a victim like many other Kenyans. Oh well I came back to SAS and Wednesday came and went, so did Thursday, Friday and Sunday. Yes am so serious it took that long.
Anyways, the KRA online systems crashed or had issues country wide and no clearing could go on until Friday morning. My agent whom I was communicating with kept updating me and the last time we spoke was 2p.m.same Friday. He said he was waiting for an officer to come from lunch then we clear the goods. Guess what happened? That was the last I had from him..yes I called him no response, I sent him a text message no response. So try and imagine how my night was.
Next morning we had been invited for my niece's 2nd birthday/breakfast and so went with Alex& Samara and all this time am trying the agent and no response. Clearly am anxious and Alex and I excuse ourselves from the party, we leave Samara who happened to gobble down lots of Tana's birthday cake(see Emma's blog on real mums).
We went to their offices they were locked(instantly I thought its over), so we went to third floor just to ask around about the company and luck was on our side ,we found their mother company.The clearing agent's boss was aware about my goods and said he too was trying to reach his agent whom he had also sent to go buy him a goat and the guy was not picking his call and he had given him 24hours to return his goat meat. So at least I relaxed but before then my mind had gone crazy thinking we or is it I had been conned.
The agent's boss said "you will get your goods on Monday just go home and have a good time, enjoy your self". Yeah right I have heard that statement before and well yes we went home, decided there was too much traffic jam because of the Mater Heart Run and hence the shop remained closed and we joined Samara at the party.
Monday came and I was told my goods are finally out but would be delivered on Tuesday morning. I didn't want to take any more risks and we agreed with the clearing agent's contact person that I could pick the cargo. So I set off on Mombasa road at 5.40p.m. and the traffic was crazy. Anyone ever used the route to Embakasi from city cabanas? My goodness, I saw the sunset, I saw time just fade away.I had the news over and over again, i could almost recite them and worst of all I was driving towards a different direction at 7p.m. while my baby girl was at home with our house help. I just called home and said am running late and requested that Samara be fed. I also kept calling Alex over and over again just to update him of my whereabouts because you never know because my contact person kept changing our meeting point. At that point I wondered do I really love my job now, with the sacrifices and its uncertainties? I wondered about career mums, when we so badly want to spend time with our families,circumstances like this one force you to be away. I talked with Samara on phone and guess what.she asked for Daddy..woi i gave up.
I got to our meeting point(a gas station) at a few minutes to 8p.m. and to my surprise the agent who had gone missing was there with the contact person. Again I thought, I am alone with this 2 men, I said a quick prayer opened the car as instructed, they loaded the cargo into the car and all I could tell them was they conned me to come all this way with traffic being crazy. And for the agent who had gone underground, I called him a con man and he was not apologetic, he just said with a smile"you have now got your things eventually". Why don't people take their work seriously? Am I too old? Who taught us to take our jobs seriously? I wasn't amused but I said a quick thank you, jumped into the car, said a quick thank you to God for the return of the passport and the goods.
Oh boy the journey back from old airport road to home was another 1 hour.Lucky for me, Alex had reached home and was with Samara.I thanked God for a supportive partner and was happy for Samara because one of us was home. Now I can listen to radio as they talk about prayer and how its hard work and we should pray like Jabez did.Am caught by a statement they make"Shallow prayers are selfish prayers and not necessarily short prayers" wow that is deep.
I could start another topic on how unruly Nairobi drivers are but right now I have to get back to my stock taking and pricing the items.In short I got home at 9p.m. to a happy family and thank God for Alex and Samara who gladly off loaded me the oranges I was carrying and quickly wanted to bite them through the paper bag.Talk about patience, we will work on that later, for now am happy to be home with the cargo in the car. We slept about 2 hours later and somehow my mind couldn't shut off, either because of the excitement of finally having the cargo or the frustration of being stuck in traffic for 2 hours.
So Tuesday came, I requested someone to help me carry the 4 cartons and I have been unpacking from 10.00a.m. to about 2p.m. when my beloved showed up at the door. What a refreshing feeling to just see Alex,reading through receipts, matching the codes and the items and keying them into the computer are not an easy job, but I still love my job. I finally took a break, thank God for the Tafuna restaurant down stairs, bonded a bit with Alex, he asked me whether I had blogged and I was happy to note I have his support on that.I got back to the furniture store ready to finish what I have started with lots of energy.
Its 5.15p.m. now, ideally I would be leaving for work in the next 45minutes but not today, still got loads of work and so again, I will call home, request auntie to keep an eye on my daughter and silently promise myself that I will make it up to her someday soon.
Well,SAS Impressions our company(SAS) had purchased a few goods from Philippines. The items were to be sent by air because we gathered it is fast, in fact we thought they would arrive on Saturday 7th May. Anyways the day(Saturday) came and we were told we can only pick the cargo on Monday and indeed the call that the cargo had arrived came on Tuesday.
A friend referred me to a clearing agent whom her brother knows. So I went to their office in industrial area, gave them the documents and the guy promised I would get the goods on Wednesday. As I left the place I wondered how we just trust so much as human beings. Check this out, I am referred to a stranger,I go to their office alone(of course I have informed Alex of my whereabouts), I leave the stranger with a good sum of money, documents for the cargo and most of all a passport(yes am holding my breath as I say that). It kinda reminded me of pyramid schemes, I was a victim like many other Kenyans. Oh well I came back to SAS and Wednesday came and went, so did Thursday, Friday and Sunday. Yes am so serious it took that long.
Anyways, the KRA online systems crashed or had issues country wide and no clearing could go on until Friday morning. My agent whom I was communicating with kept updating me and the last time we spoke was 2p.m.same Friday. He said he was waiting for an officer to come from lunch then we clear the goods. Guess what happened? That was the last I had from him..yes I called him no response, I sent him a text message no response. So try and imagine how my night was.
Next morning we had been invited for my niece's 2nd birthday/breakfast and so went with Alex& Samara and all this time am trying the agent and no response. Clearly am anxious and Alex and I excuse ourselves from the party, we leave Samara who happened to gobble down lots of Tana's birthday cake(see Emma's blog on real mums).
We went to their offices they were locked(instantly I thought its over), so we went to third floor just to ask around about the company and luck was on our side ,we found their mother company.The clearing agent's boss was aware about my goods and said he too was trying to reach his agent whom he had also sent to go buy him a goat and the guy was not picking his call and he had given him 24hours to return his goat meat. So at least I relaxed but before then my mind had gone crazy thinking we or is it I had been conned.
The agent's boss said "you will get your goods on Monday just go home and have a good time, enjoy your self". Yeah right I have heard that statement before and well yes we went home, decided there was too much traffic jam because of the Mater Heart Run and hence the shop remained closed and we joined Samara at the party.
Monday came and I was told my goods are finally out but would be delivered on Tuesday morning. I didn't want to take any more risks and we agreed with the clearing agent's contact person that I could pick the cargo. So I set off on Mombasa road at 5.40p.m. and the traffic was crazy. Anyone ever used the route to Embakasi from city cabanas? My goodness, I saw the sunset, I saw time just fade away.I had the news over and over again, i could almost recite them and worst of all I was driving towards a different direction at 7p.m. while my baby girl was at home with our house help. I just called home and said am running late and requested that Samara be fed. I also kept calling Alex over and over again just to update him of my whereabouts because you never know because my contact person kept changing our meeting point. At that point I wondered do I really love my job now, with the sacrifices and its uncertainties? I wondered about career mums, when we so badly want to spend time with our families,circumstances like this one force you to be away. I talked with Samara on phone and guess what.she asked for Daddy..woi i gave up.
I got to our meeting point(a gas station) at a few minutes to 8p.m. and to my surprise the agent who had gone missing was there with the contact person. Again I thought, I am alone with this 2 men, I said a quick prayer opened the car as instructed, they loaded the cargo into the car and all I could tell them was they conned me to come all this way with traffic being crazy. And for the agent who had gone underground, I called him a con man and he was not apologetic, he just said with a smile"you have now got your things eventually". Why don't people take their work seriously? Am I too old? Who taught us to take our jobs seriously? I wasn't amused but I said a quick thank you, jumped into the car, said a quick thank you to God for the return of the passport and the goods.
Oh boy the journey back from old airport road to home was another 1 hour.Lucky for me, Alex had reached home and was with Samara.I thanked God for a supportive partner and was happy for Samara because one of us was home. Now I can listen to radio as they talk about prayer and how its hard work and we should pray like Jabez did.Am caught by a statement they make"Shallow prayers are selfish prayers and not necessarily short prayers" wow that is deep.
I could start another topic on how unruly Nairobi drivers are but right now I have to get back to my stock taking and pricing the items.In short I got home at 9p.m. to a happy family and thank God for Alex and Samara who gladly off loaded me the oranges I was carrying and quickly wanted to bite them through the paper bag.Talk about patience, we will work on that later, for now am happy to be home with the cargo in the car. We slept about 2 hours later and somehow my mind couldn't shut off, either because of the excitement of finally having the cargo or the frustration of being stuck in traffic for 2 hours.
So Tuesday came, I requested someone to help me carry the 4 cartons and I have been unpacking from 10.00a.m. to about 2p.m. when my beloved showed up at the door. What a refreshing feeling to just see Alex,reading through receipts, matching the codes and the items and keying them into the computer are not an easy job, but I still love my job. I finally took a break, thank God for the Tafuna restaurant down stairs, bonded a bit with Alex, he asked me whether I had blogged and I was happy to note I have his support on that.I got back to the furniture store ready to finish what I have started with lots of energy.
Its 5.15p.m. now, ideally I would be leaving for work in the next 45minutes but not today, still got loads of work and so again, I will call home, request auntie to keep an eye on my daughter and silently promise myself that I will make it up to her someday soon.
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