May appearance and packaging not kill us in this country 🙄

Verily verily, I say unto una, the wobe is under attack.

Your dear street kid can’t go to work in regular clothes no more, now he has to wear those coats that all those bank peepu use to wear upandan. Because…appearances.

And I understand, really, how appearances form the basis for most of our decisions. If it looks good, it’s good. If it looks ‘onekain’, then it’s probably bad.

Makes sense abi? Till you see a tattooed white lady saving an abandoned baby’s life – a baby, so neglected because of an accusation of sorcery. What spell did he cast, “Foetus deletus”? All this in a very religious community, dressing right, saying the right things, etc…😒

Speaking of tattoos, I was gonna get one but was wary about how it would fit into work because awon corporate irunmole will see tattoo, conclude that being a wobe means I’m an incompetent shide of the world and not gimme work. Well, till I saw our head of corporate comms, discretely masking the tattoo on her wrist with a bracelet. Game on! I’m kuku wearing long sleeve shirts upandan these days.

But I digress…

This morning, a car was free so I drove to church. Now our church is in an estate and the security guards tend to defer to driving folks, rather than those who go in on foot. That was how one was begging me for money to buy water as he opened the gate for me.

I know we tend to be more charitable on Sunday but I nor give am. Same dude will see me drop from a bike and walk in every other Sunday without as much as a “Good morning,” but will start calling you ‘Oga’ once you’re driving. Miss me with that bullshit abeg. Not that I care about the pretentious respect anyway but if I’m ignored on foot, kindly ignore me when driving. 😏

Appearances won’t kill us in this country.

I was having a conversation with a colleague the other day and he mentioned a prestigious firm that could fire a staff seen to be commuting in ‘less than befitting means of transportation’ e.g. Okada. If you see my laughter in covfefe ehn…😂😂😂

He was serious AF and I found it incredulous. Yeah, it’s because of the clients but what has your preferred mode of transportation got to do with experience/competence? Not like I don’t get the fact that branding and packaging is important – it’s what I do – but we seem to have taken some things too far. Things like sound corporate culture are sometimes jettisoned for stuff that doesn’t run deep.

I’ve seen agencies with plenty packaging fall short when pitching. It might get you through the door bit won’t keep you there. Complement your packaging with the good stuff and you’re set. Or ignore it altogether and let your work talk for you. For this, you however have to let your work make a lot of noise. Nobody cares about Steve Babaeko’s hair; his company does all the talking for him.

For us young people, it can be a slippery slope which is why it concerns me so. Key things that shouldn’t be compromised on are: dedication, hardwork, neatness, respect, composure, etc. If you can’t afford that car yet, enter bus. You only need to look at the workforce in developed countries going to their jobs on scooters, bicycles, in trains and buses. Peter rides a bicycle, 10 minutes to work – he’s a lawyer in Canada.

My sister was telling me of one geh that just got a job, only to spend more than half her salary on Uber. I was like, “My fren, go and enter danfo and stop living a Ciroc life on Orijin budget.” 😒

It is not a sin if you’re not there yet, keep working hard.

I’m not gonna tell anyone what to do but it’s no use impressing people who really don’t care.

Think about it; The British PM still uses public transportation.

PS: While driving home after the spiritual feeding kini, I decided to feed my body with Iya Segun’s ewa agoyin as usual. I parked and bought what I needed, then left. Even if there’s taty billion in the accant, I still love me my street food abeg.

PPS: The ponmo however made me question some of my life choices. It looked so soft and luscious but was hard AF! 😭😭 See what appearances do?

#WobeDiaries
#WobeLivesMatter