A Fair-Weather Friend and My ₦500 Settlement

Today, I jumped out of sleep around 6 a.m. reflexively and quickly grabbed my wrapper. The kind of cold I experienced sent me into reflex mode immediately. I couldn't help myself anymore.

I was supposed to go to church for a two-hour programme from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. The programme is usually held every Thursday morning and is tagged "Solution Hour." Unfortunately, I couldn't go anymore because of the cold.

Then, a few minutes past 10 a.m., a friend of mine whose birthday is tomorrow started calling me as if her life depended on it. She wanted me to generate some AI photoshoots for her.

Mind you, she's not paying me. Even the data she was supposed to send for me to do the job, she claimed not to have "shishi," in her own words. She said she would settle me by month end.

She's always like that. She's actually a fair-weather friend. Once I'm done giving her what she wants, she disappears into her tent until she needs me to do something for her again.

Now, here she was, bombarding my phone with calls simply because she needed something, without knowing exactly what I'm going through.

She's quite aware that I've not been working, but the only help she has ever given me has been some used clothes that no longer fit her and, occasionally, food that she probably wasn't in good terms with anymore.

I once summoned the courage to ask her for financial help when my roof was leaking. In her usual language, she claimed not to have "shishi," and till today, nothing came from it.

A few minutes ago, the lady entered my house accompanied by another person who showed her the way because she had only been here once. She doesn't even remember where my house is anymore.

And guess what?

She came to tell me that something was wrong with her WhatsApp and asked me to help her fix it.

Anything concerning phones or technology, she comes to me. And honestly, I've never denied her my little help.

What she probably thought would be a quick fix ended up taking more than two hours.

After going through the phone and troubleshooting the problem, I discovered that her phone storage was almost completely full. It was so packed that the phone was practically struggling to breathe.

That was the major reason behind the problem. The majority of her apps were no longer responding properly, and the phone was generally misbehaving.

So, I had to spend quite some time going through the phone, identifying what was taking up all the space and trying to get it back to a usable state.

And throughout those two hours, I kept thinking about how interesting life can be.

Someone who hardly remembers me unless she needs something can call me repeatedly, come all the way to my house and expect me to drop everything to solve her problem.

Yet, I still helped her.

I don't help her because I think she deserves my help. I help her because of the kind of person I am. I simply like helping people in whatever little way I can.

Helping people gives me great joy. Even when I feel like nobody is there for me, I still find it difficult to turn away someone who needs my little knowledge or assistance.

While she was leaving, she handed me ₦500 and told me to use it to buy minerals.

I couldn't help but laugh to myself because, deep down, I'm almost certain that this is the end of the promised settlement.

The "I'll settle you by month end" has probably been settled with ₦500 for minerals.

But it's well.

At the end of the day, I know myself. I helped her because I could, not because I was expecting anything from her.

Of course, I would have appreciated it if she had kept her word, especially considering the amount of time and effort I spent helping her.

But sometimes, you simply have to accept people for who they are and move on.

Maybe one day she'll realize that the people who genuinely help her deserve more than being remembered only when she needs something.

For now, I'll take my ₦500, buy my minerals and leave the rest to God.

It's well.