It was a day I can never forget.

I cried that day.

Hard guy hard guy was totally in tears that day.

I was wondering how did it happen?

What did I do to deserve this?

And for you to know how severe it was, I quit that same day.

You see…

When I finished secondary school in 2015.

I was juggling some jobs to keep life and soul together before admission.

Moreso, I was not a fan of sitting at home doing nothing (I prefer sitting at home now sha)

So I decided to get a teaching job.

But guess what?

I quitted after scolding a very dull kid.

Forgive me for using dull, but that’s the easiest way to describe him.

And maybe one day, I will tell you what I did to scold the kid even though I didn’t beat him.

The proprietor and his wife said I should stop doing that to kids, their parents will complain and they will withdraw their kids from the school…

And instead of staying in such an environment, I quit.

But that was not what made me cry.

What made me cry was the second job I took.

Oh, I disappointed you?

You thought I cried because of heartbreak?

C’mon, put some respect on my name now.

I have never cried because of heartbreak and I believe I won’t.

But that’s not the point.

The point is that…

This second job is more than heartbreak.

And what is it all about?

A petrol station attendant.

See, forget… I was very sharp with calculations and that made me take up the job.

At least they are paying me 25k per month which is better than the N5,500 that I was collecting at the private school or so I thought.

The first week at the fueling station was all good because I was under training.

The lady is very sharp too and I observed something.

After the closing period when she goes to do account inside…

She’s not always smiling.

I asked what’s up but she said…

You will understand very soon.

And the second week when I started mine…

I really understood what’s up.

The first day was a good day.

I even got some tips of around 1k.

But the second day was hell.

Damn.

I cried fire.

Not because of the work stress.

But because of my account.

I don’t know if you understand the process of taking the petrol pump account.

And I will assume you don’t, so I will explain to you.

You see…

When you start your shift, you will check the opening balance of the fuel pump.

This shows the number of liters of petrol that have been sold.

You and your manager will write that down as your opening price.

And when you finish your shift too…

The closing price will also be taken by you and your boss.

You guys will now get the difference between the opening and closing price.

The difference is the number of liters you sold.

You multiply the number of liters by the amount of 1 liter…

It will give you the total amount you should have as cash.

And na there yawa dey always sup.

Because I am this good boy that’s always getting tips.

Someone can buy fuel of 900 and give me 1k, keep the change, they will say to me.

Others with big cars will buy a full tank and give me 10k, I will see like 3k on that.

But at the end of the day…

I am always getting shortages.

Shortage in this aspect means my money is never complete.

I thought it’s village people.

But it’s happening to all the fuel attendants.

And later, we got to hear that the manager adjusted the fuel pump.

I was told that no matter what we do, money can never be complete because it’s not what we sold that was recorded.

Even though the manager did it for her pocket…

She’s a big bastard.

She’s preying on us that doesn’t even have money because at the end of the month…

After removing all shortages, you might be going home with a 2k or even 1k salary from 25k.

Isn’t that sad?

I didn’t use a month completely in the fueling station…

I couldn’t bear it.

I was broken.

Infact, on the day I got a shortage of around 3k…

I cried.

• Am I not good enough?
  Village people dey follow me?
  I am looking for money and here I am losing money, is the world against me?

And many other nonsense thoughts.

It was hell, I won’t lie to you

But when I got to realize that the manager is the cause of the problem.

And She’s not the only one on the conspiracy…

The owner was fully aware of her acts…

I hated the rich.

Why?

The owner is a very rich Alhaji but he’s also very stingy.

Infact, if there is any other thing apart from being stingy…

This man is it.

And then, we were so entitled to his money that got us thinking why didn’t he dash us money?

You know such thinking?

Exactly.

But that’s just entitlement and I got to realize it’s bad later.

Yet, this man keeps taking from us working for him again.

Like how?

You are paying just 25k and you are taking like 20 to 23k every month from us.

Haba.

See %contact.first_name%,

It was a really rough journey I won’t lie.

• Some people are out there to devour you.
• Some are out there to wreck you.
• Some are out there to make sure you are no more in business.

It’s now left to you to allow them or not.

So when I was doing money-back guarantees for my course…

And a lady requested her money back after downloading my materials and creating her own outta mine…

I had a mental dejavu.

Someone trying to cheat me.

So I fought against it as hard as I could which led me to…

No money-back guarantee.

I knew it will affect my conversion but it will give me the peace of mind I want.

Simple.

And is there a marketing lesson in what I said today?

Me I don’t know.

I just decided to share a story embedded with lessons with you.

It’s now your choice to either find the lessons or not.

To your success,

Dolapo Hamzat.