Josphat is surprised by the news of an impending restructure

At the beginning of last week, I was walking into the office when I bumped into two of my colleagues, Oscar and Tony, who I used to work with in the finance department. “Josphat,” Oscar exclaimed “So nice to see you. We rarely see you nowadays since you moved on up.”

“Nothing has changed,” I laughed and said. “I am still the same old guy.”

Tony chimed in, “No. Nowadays you hang out with CEOs, not with people like us.”

The more I listened to them, the more I realised that there was a perception that I was aloof and unreachable. I needed to change that so I said, “Well, we should have a drink one of these days.”

And that is how I found myself in a bar on a Wednesday evening. To be honest, I had been looking forward to that drink because my workload had been increasing and I found myself working late every day.

Oscar and Tony had suggested we go to this new pub called “Breezes”, which they claimed had good Happy Hour rates. Since I wanted to appear cool, I dared not say that I would rather be in a quieter place with a saner name.

When we got to the pub, I was impressed by the modern set up. Since I was the guest, I decided to let Oscar and Tony run the show in ordering drinks and deciding what we should do. They ordered for shots and before I knew it, I was feeling quite tipsy.

Tony asked me, “So Josphat, can you tell us about the restructure?”

I was taken aback by this and responded by saying, “What restructure? I have heard nothing.”

Tony laughed and said, “Stop being coy about it. We hear plans are quite at an advanced phase.”

I figured out that I had better play along and so I said, “Well you guys tell me.”

That is how I ended up hearing about this “restructuring.” It turns out that Tony’s dad is a consultant in a leading audit firm that was involved in the restructuring.

I decided to get as much information as possible. I asked for another round of shots and said, “So, when will restructuring happen?”

Tony, who was feeling pleased with himself, told me that it would happen in early 2016 and the consultants had recommended that about 50 people go home.

Maybe it was the alcohol or a sense of false bravado that forced me to say, “Oh well, they can do what they want to do. Us guys will survive anyway.”

The truth is that the news scared me because I could not stand to think about surviving without a job.

Though I wanted to hear more, our conversation was interrupted by the arrival of three young women who proceeded to join in an animated conversation as they danced with Tony and Oscar, which made me feel out of place.

However, both Tony and Oscar kept ordering for shots.

“Hey guys I need to leave,” I told them. Since I wanted to show that I had manners, I said, “We need to pay the bill. Where is it?”

The waitress appeared with the bill after a few minutes and imagine my shock when I looked at the total of Sh25,000.

I was thinking of how this would upset my budget when Tony grabbed the bill and said, “You should not pay. This is our treat.”

I let out a silent sigh of relief but as I left I could not help but wonder – where do these young men get their money from? What am I missing?