Vice President Houseboy
Last night, I decided to get a head start on the weekends chores and clean the kitchen. I soon decided this whole swifter business wasn’t cutting it and I graduated to a bucket and a scrubbing brush. (After all, I be Naijaman!). As I was on my knees scrubbing the floor, I started to reflect on the contents of a leadership class I had taken earlier on in the day and while I was thinking about my strengths and the different roles I play in the organization it suddenly dawned on me… At that particular moment in time, I was nothing but a HOUSEBOY!
At my age, if I was in Naija and someone from the village walked in and saw me washing the floor, they would think I had been cursed or something. Na wetin America don cause be dis o!
Now, not to say that I can’t pay someone $100 to clean my house every 2 weeks. I actually started doing that last year and wasn’t that impressed with the quality of work or comfortable with the idea of having random strangers roaming around my house and decided to go back to doing it myself.
This is the first in the series of what I am calling Naija Dreams. Can somebody PLEASE wake me up from this American dream?
March 14, 2008 at 5:36 pm
Houseboy he? I cook, I clean, do laundry and drive myself. I pass housemaid. The worst part be say, anyday I decide to answer to any man now. I automatically become his maid. This life sha, maybe I should seriously consider moving back to Naija.
March 14, 2008 at 5:37 pm
And lest I forget, wake up from that dream or pack your “ghana must go” and move back to Ibadan.
March 14, 2008 at 5:49 pm
Plus, you go become his Oskolo and have to start performing in the “VIP” room!
March 14, 2008 at 5:54 pm
E be like say na my Naija must go (40 foot Container) I dey go pack!
March 14, 2008 at 6:22 pm
Saged Arakunrin, might we 4 a moment ponder the “glass half full” version of this “demotion”: U get 2 determine the taskings in U’r own houseboy-dom, U can commit at will & delay or even dismiss any adverse consequnces, U get 2 grade the quality of work done, U’r “yes sir’s” & “yes ma’s” can be dispensed at will (OK, wait 1…that sounds a little schizophrenic! Scratch that!), U can partake of the “VIP” room whenever Oga is around, we Ibadan boyz can drop by unannounced & ruin all U’r zen-like, Okafor’s-law-induced, euphoria at no detriment 2 ourselves whatsoever (oh wait, did I say that aloud?!), & U get 2 go out a little less than 340 days of the year & “pretend” 2 be a vice-president in a fortune 5 yankee company!
March 14, 2008 at 8:28 pm
Dream if you can a picture of the “glass full” version of this in which I am really the Oga and Clarus & Giringory, the true houseboys!
March 15, 2008 at 1:27 am
Eyan mi,
sadly that version (c-cup full & spilling over) is reserved for me.
[Man!! Did I say that aloud?]
March 18, 2008 at 7:18 pm
[…] our own Linda responded to my Vice houseboy post with the following comment… “I cook, I clean, do laundry and drive myself. I pass […]
March 18, 2008 at 9:05 pm
On this topic, I felt like a genius yesterday. I found the best way to crush a maggi cube… Using a garlic press!
April 23, 2010 at 7:49 am
Naijaman, how life now? just found this site while randomly looking for inspiration.i must say you have made my day.
be happy,
ps i like your style
April 23, 2010 at 7:52 am
Hope you found some. Glad we could be of service! :-).