Rumour mill on resignation catches Josphat by surprise

Today I had purposed to get into the office by 7 a.m so that I can get ahead of my tasks but alas that was not to be.

The thing about getting to the office by 8 a.m is the foot traffic into my office at that time. I have come to realise that we Kenyans as a whole to like to talk too much and offer opinions that really do not matter. Like the other day this guy called Joe walks into my office and closes the door and then whispers, “have you heard?”

I hate it when people ask me that question because in some way they insinuate that I am not in the know about issues.

I was also a bit bothered by this guy’s morning chat because I needed to beat some deadline for the boss. 

I stared at him blankly which I guess made him realise that I was clueless on what he was talking about. He then said, “Cecilia is leaving the company! She has quit, this is her last week.”

Now this is juicy! I even stopped working on my presentation and said, “that cannot be! She is untouchable!”

Joe was clearly dying to tell someone and he decided to spill all the beans.

According to him, Cecilia — who has been on an upward path to the C-suite — had been promised the job of operations head boss.

According to Joe, “in September, she found out that the chief executive had secretly hired a head hunter to look for her replacement. This ticked her off and she decided to go out and look for a job. Now she is joining a major multinational as a COO in January.” 

I did not know what to make of this so I said, “well good for her.. hope she is happy.” Since Joe was feeling rather chummy with me, he decided to continue and say, “frankly I am surprised that you did not know — you and her are tight and also guys say you are the CEO’s right hand man.”

I sometimes wonder where people get these  ideas from — I am not anyone’s right hand man. I am my own man.
Joe proceeded to share more gossip about who had been caught doing what where — supposedly some guys have been stealing from the company and others have been having affairs with colleagues.

After about 10 minutes, I was actually bored of his tales so I decided to tell him, “I need to work on something for the boss. He needs it by nine”. He laughed and said, “see! I told you that you are the blue-eyed boy.”

As soon as he walked out of the office I called Cecilia and told her, “I thought we were friends!” She said, “but we are, you are my big brother!”  I laughed when she said that and she said, “listen! I am in the lift let me come over to your office for a chat.”

A few minutes later Cecilia was in my office and despite my best efforts to manage the conversation, I blurted out, “you are leaving!” She was taken aback by this and said, “how did you find out?” I said, “the fact that you are not denying it means it is the truth, so spill the beans.” She spent the next half hour telling me about where she is moving to and her reasons.

According to her, “I saw no future and I thought I would be promoted but no chance. So, I have taken a leap and I will make 30 per cent more than I  was making with lots of perks and benefits.”

From the sound of things, Cecilia seems to have a good thing lined up for her and I could not help but envy her. I made the right sounds and said, “I wish you all the best and you can always count on me.”

She promised that we would have a farewell drink. As she was leaving she asked me, “Josphat! Given the way these guys treat you, why do you stay?” That was a deep question — even I do not have an answer.