"Daniel, I'll be back soon ok? Take good care of Grand Pa oh. Don't just stay in your room, have you heard?!" My mum screamed at the top of her voice. "Ok, I've heard." I shrugged. Grand Pa did just three things all day: watch TV, talk and fart. The latter is my least favourite. All I had to do was turn on the TV and I would be free till mum got back. I had so much to do, like edit my CV, chat online small oh yes and play football manager. I can't believe I lost 2-0 to Reading. Now I'm 6th on the league table and time is not exactly on …oh right, back to the story.
Grand Pa didn't mind being left alone; I mean he lived alone for goodness sakes. I turned on the TV to his favourite news channel and sneaked upstairs. When I turned on my computer, I went straight to Facebook to see what was happening there. Just then a chat window popped up. It was Akosua, my annoying ex-girlfriend. She wanted to know what I was doing that night. I said nothing and you won't believe her reply. "Oh, if I wasn't working late we could have gone to watch a movie." I thought to myself, "So what's the point?" Then I typed, "That's rather unfortunate." Then she asked the same irritating question she asks all the time. "So have you got a job now? It's been long oh." I felt like giving a dirty e-slap. Just when I started typing my response, the lights went out. Oh no!
I heard a growl from downstairs and remembered Grand Pa was still there. I dragged my feet as I went to the hall. "Grand Pa, should I bring you some newspapers to read?" I asked politely. He turned to look at me and nodded. I grabbed as many as I could from the kitchen and dumped them on the center table and he grabbed one. "These are old. I read the paper every day, you know." He complained. This wasn't good. He glanced through a few more and dropped them back on the table with a squeaky fart. "Ma boy, sit down and let's talk." He finally said. I couldn't say I didn't see that coming.
I sat on the chair next to him and prayed mom would be home soon. "How is the job hunting going?" He asked excitedly. I couldn't help thinking about Akosua. "It's good. At the last interview a certain man asked me to better my CV so I'm doing just that." I responded. Grand Pa smiled and crossed his leg. "So will he hire you when you do that?" He asked again. "No, but he was advising me for the next job I go after." I said, slightly irritated. I started losing my patience when he shook his head. "Grand Pa, getting a job now is not as easy as it was in your time!" I shot at him. He didn't seem offended at all. It seemed as though he expected that reaction. "Algebra and atomic physics are also not as easy as they were in my time but students are still passing it. You know why? Because the basic things have not changed and they know them." He said calmly. Ok so what he said makes sense but what was his point? This old man feels he's so smart, competing against a fresh university graduate. "Grand Pa, when you graduated from the university how many were you?" I asked and patiently waited for him to recollect. "Oh we were about three hundred." He said proudly. "You know how many we were? Two thousand! So how do we all get jobs? You can't compare three hundred to two thousand." I stated boldly. Now what did he have to say?
Grand Pa didn't hesitate to respond. "Ma boy, we didn't have as many banks, hospitals, NGO's and even government offices as we do today but that isn't the point. What exactly would you want in a job?" Mtcheeew this old man kwraa he always found a way out. "Money: I want money to be able to cater to my needs." I answered. "You mean your wants. Your needs are food, shelter and clothing but those have been taken care of right? He enquired. "Well yes for now, but there comes a time when a man needs to fend for himself and his own nuclear family." I replied. My grandfather started clapping. "Yes indeed. That's the best point you have made all day" He said and I smiled.
He took a sip of water and went on talking. "I think looking for a job is like looking for a girlfriend." I paused for a second and burst out with laughter. No disrespect but that sounded like the silliest thing I had ever heard. He waited for me to finish laughing and went on. "You may or may not get one based on how you go about it." I had a thousand questions to ask so I started. "Ok let's try something. I mention a step in girl hunting and you relate it to job hunting." He nodded so I went on. "You need to have money to get a girl. Now let's hear the translation." He smiled and replied. "Money is equivalent to qualification. Even though I don't agree with your statement, that the answer." That was an easy one. Now let's play hard ball!
"You need to call her often and shower her with gifts." I stated. "Hmmm, I guess we used to do things differently but the point is the same; to stand out from the rest. I need not explain." He said. I asked three more questions and his answers were flawless. This old man really knew what he was talking about. Just then mum walked in. She stared at us suspiciously as she dropped the car keys on the table. "What are you guys doing?" She finally asked. "The lights are out so Grand Pa and I decided to have a talk." I answered. She smiled broadly and that was when I noticed the TV had been on for almost ten minutes. I equally didn't notice the farts he had been releasing either.
Grand Pa went on when mum went to the kitchen. "When you want a girlfriend you think about how you want her to be. You have an image in your head. When you meet someone who fits, you go after her. Daniel, what type of girl do you like?" He asked. Oh my goodness, I was discussing girls with my grandfather!(Let's keep this between me and you) "Errrm I like funny, down to earth and patient girls. She shouldn't nag too much, she has to be pretty and she should be stylish too but not slutty. I like girls with long hair, she should be well educated, at least to my level…" I listed, getting a little carried away. "Ok let's end there. There are millions of girls out there but not many will fit your criteria." He explained. I began to see where he was going with this. "Just like jobs." I said. "Exactly, but you want that particular one so it might take you a long time to find it. You see, like getting a girl you have several choices: 1. to keep searching for that special one. 2. to take one that doesn't really fit your taste. 3. to create one to be exactly what you want." He explained. "I'm not sure I understand the third choice in relation to a job." I said, clearly confused. He took another sip of water, creating unnecessary suspense.
"It stands for creating a job for and by yourself, starting a business to be self-empowered. This is the hardest option but the most fulfilling. The choice is yours really. It is not bad to work for money but it's better to work for fulfillment."
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