So much for the plan

The spoon fell from my hand and I ran. I flew down the stairs, hoping to catch the man before he left. But he was gone. He had taken a bike because he was in a hurry.I started to panic. Who do I call? What do I do? I forced myself to stay calm and called the manager."Sir, this is what happened," I said."How can you make such a grave mistake?" he replied. I got some harsh words. I told him I was familiar with the work, but I knew this was going to cost the company.Before they could reach the man, he had already arrived at the place where he was to submit the file. And customs officers are always looking for a reason to take advantage of a company. They saw the error and accused us of trying to scam them and avoid paying the right entry amount. The goods were seized.I was confused. The manager rushed back to the office, asking how I could have made such a mistake. The tension was everywhere. My food was still sitting there, and I could not touch it. The boss called the customs officers, and they begged and pleaded. For the goods to be released, the company would have to pay ₦500,000.When the manager told me, I was dumbfounded. I didn't even have ₦5k saved, and now I felt solely responsible for ₦500k. Hell no. The goods were held for the day, so we had to wait until the next morning.Getting dressed for work the next day was hard. I called my mum first. If this escalated, it would be my family that paid, because I had nothing saved. She told me to stay calm, go to work, and that we would handle whatever the outcome was.I normally resume at 8, but I was only a few weeks into the job and wanted to show commitment, so I arrived at about 7:45. The door was already open. My boss, the manager, everybody was up and working. I thought, wow. I sat down and prayed.Then the office line rang. I was called to the boss's office.He didn't shout. He was far calmer than the manager. "How did this happen?" he asked. I explained: the manager had sent a message saying someone was coming, that I should print the receipts with the amount and hand them over. I did exactly that, only to realise later there was an extra zero at the bottom that I hadn't seen."How did you miss it?" he asked. Then he asked for my phone.He explained that when you type an amount, it normally sits on one straight line. So he went through my chat with the manager, and we discovered something. The message had been edited. After the manager sent it, and after I had copied it into the system, he had changed the amount. Edited messages show a small "edited" label, and I never noticed it. My boss pointed it out to me.The manager was called in. He admitted he had noticed the error right away and corrected it, but never told me. He thought I would see it. I didn't.It was not my fault. The relief I felt was indescribable, because I had barely slept the night before.And the customs officer, like a good Samaritan, said this was a common mistake, just a zero of difference, and showed mercy. The goods were released without the ₦500k.Even though it wasn't my fault, I was still reminded to be precise, to check my work again and again, because in this line of work one small mistake can cost the company a lot. I took it to heart, and that was how the issue ended.Later, one of my colleagues, the one I had bonded with when I first resumed, called me over. "I thought that mistake was going to cost a lot," he said. "I'm so glad it didn't go that far." "Me too," I said, and we laughed for a bit before he was given a task.Soon after, another colleague came to talk to me. He was from my tribe, and we connected quickly. He also told me about the secretary who was there before me.Before I knew it, it was the end of the month. The first weeks had been so hard, so when salary day came, I was thrilled. I thanked my manager, made a few purchases, and told myself I would save the rest.Then I opened my account.I stared at the screen. I blinked. I refreshed it. I locked my phone and opened it again, thinking it had to be a network error.It wasn't.Out of my entire salary, the salary I had suffered a whole month for, the salary I had already planned in my head, there was only ₦5,000 left.My hands went cold. I read the alert again and again, hoping the numbers would change. They didn't.So where did the rest of it go?The scare I got was serious than the ₦500k shockTo be continued in Series 06…Thank you for always engaging. I love you guys.❣️

Other insights from She

Contributor Points

Points-to-Coupons

Referral Earning