2021 was a tough year for me, somehow I am yet to get over how life changed completely for me, it felt like a heatwave called adulthood hit me so hard that I had to experience a lot in a rush.
I have never seen the right time to tell my story but seeing this week's prompt “generosity” i knew it was time I tell a tiny part of the story
The question asks
Generosity is a wondrous thing and comes with great benefit for the giver and receiver. Has someone shown generosity towards you? Tell us who it came from, what form the generosity took, how it was delivered and what impact or effect it had upon you or your relationship with the giver.
I have mentioned in a previous post about my last business which is logistics service, and how I couldn't deal with my staff any longer well what I didn't mention was how one of my staff put me over a Million Naira /$2000 debt before I closed the business.
I was just a few months into my pregnancy so I needed lots of bed rest, decided to leave the manager in charge and just work from home. the job entails picking up packages from our partners who are owners of one of the biggest e-commerce in my state. We pick up the item and deliver it, most time we collect the payment too and remit the money to the company monthly but I chose to do it weekly to avoid money issues.
For over 6 months business has been going fine, no errors and we were good, till I got a mail from my partners at the end of the month showing I owe this huge sum of money. It was ridiculous.
I called a meeting with the staff to trace where this debt may have come from and we realized one particular customer always paid with a fake alert. He orders items such Flat screen tv, fridge, and cooker. He ordered items to furnish his house. He was a regular client according to the record but because of the trust, we didn't even notice he started using fake bank alerts on my staff, and because of the inflow of cash into the account, nobody noticed that these items had accumulated to that amount and it was not in the account.
image source
I was shocked, confused for not being more careful..that wasn't even all we also noticed some other unexplainable errors that summed up the whole 1.2 million Naira I was to pay in 30days before they get the police involved. Everything was wrong with the business at that point and there was nothing I could do.
We involved our lawyer and financial adviser but there was nothing we could do but pay for our mistake. It was a lot of money that we didn't have at that time, we just renewed our house rent and office space too.
I was pissed at myself for not taking notes and being more careful but it happened already there was no blaming myself now.
You must have wondered if we didn't look for the person, yes we did..we went to the address and it wasn't even his place, to begin with, the phone number switched off and emails no response.
I didn't know where to begin, my partner was about to raise a quarter of the money for me but I still had a long bunch to go, I didn't want to stress my parent because naturally, I do not know how to ask for help..it is a terrible trait I possess, I tried taking loans but I knew it was a bad idea to get a loan to pay a debt.
On a random day, with 5 more days to the deadline with about 400 thousand Naira left I got a call from my cousin. He called to apologize for not attending my wedding and not calling sooner because he wasn't in the county. , my cousin is known for being so selfish and arrogant, well that is what I heard about him because we were not close at all.
We spoke for a while, he told me about his girlfriend and hoping to get married soon and then he ask me if I was happy because I wasn't sounding too good, well that was because I was pregnant already, I always sounded tired😂 but I didn't tell him that for some reason I just told him about my debt problem because I knew there was nothing he would do so I thought 🙄
He asked for my account details and he sent the balance in minutes. I was so cold and shocked, I called and promised to pay back as soon as I can and he was cool with it.
Yes I made a plan to pay back monthly, after paying half of the money, he called and told me to take the rest as my wedding gift he failed to give earlier.
This was the sweetest and most generous thing anyone has done for me. Words failed me when he told me to keep the rest money.
The same cousin everyone shunned and called selfish and arrogant. I told my parents months after I sorted everything out and they could not believe that happened.
This taught me not to make assumptions about people based on reviews by others and since then we have been communicating more often, I keep him in the loop about family talks and occasions. He is my favorite cousin at the moment.
I still thank him now and then, and he laughs or gets off the phone when I bring back the Past about his generosity.
It was one good thing that happened to me when I almost lost hope about a lot of things happening in my life at the time.
Hi Esther
I can just imagine how much that debt must have stressed you out and it was the last thing that you needed before closing the business and having your baby. I totally understand the fatigue from pregnancy.
It was a lovely gesture of goodwill and generosity of your cousin to help you with that debt and giving you half as a wedding gift? Awesome gift. Always lovely to breathe a breath of fresh air when you can get a debt squared away.
Thank you for your post, have a wonderful rest of the weekend.
Thank you and do have a wonderful weekend too
Awwwwn family is really everything...
God brought your cousin at the right time. His ways are past finding .....
Yes he did
That was so nice of your cousin.
Yh it was
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Wow, I can imagine the big relief you got after receiving the alert from your cousin.
He was indeed a God set as at that time! It's so kind of him even when other members of your family think otherwise.
Yes o
I can imagine how stressful it must have been also because you were pregnant and shouldn't be under any sort of pressure. I'm glad your cousin came through for you when you least expected it.