Being Mrs Dantata

07

"Hanan Sufyan...We've been expecting you."

It was past 9am on Monday, October 19th and Hanan sat in front of one of the work desks in the Human Resource office at Zayd's. Her family members were on their way back to Edo. They kept her updated through texts as they knew better than to bombard her with calls on her first day at work.

The man who attended to her was named Tunji Olatunbosun and his smile was warm. Hanan smiled back. "Is that a bad thing?"

"Not at all. We were told you'd take a while to resume so we've been expecting you." His smile widened. "You're earlier than we expected which is a very good thing."

That was relieving for her to hear. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." He handed her a bunch of papers. "I just need you to fill all these and then we'll get you on the database."

She nodded and took the papers from him. "No problem." She went through her bag and it took a near minute to realize she left her stationery case on the top of her refrigerator at home. Nervously, she raised her head. "Sorry, can I get a pen?"

A brow of his shot upwards. "Aren't corp members supposed to have pens?"

She laughed lightly. "We are. I left mine at home. It won't happen again, I promise."

With a chuckle, Tunji pulled out a pen from his small pile and handed it to her. When she thanked him, he told her there was no problem. People came in and out as she filled out her details on the given employee documentation forms. Various languages were spoken, Hausa and Yoruba being the most dominant.

When she got to the Direct Deposit Authorization form which asked for her bank details for payment, she raised her head.

"I hope you don't mind," She spoke slowly. "But may I ask how much I'm going to be paid?"

Tunji's warm smile stayed on his face. "I don't mind and yes, you can ask how much you're going to be paid." He paused briefly just for the fun of it. "We agreed on sixty thousand. That's fair for the work you'd do over the year." He chuckled when she gasped. "What? Is it too small?"

She immediately shook her head. "No, it's not small at all. It's a lot."

Tunji shrugged. "Lucky you, I guess. You're the only corper we plan on accepting in the long run. Zayd made it clear that you're not to be treated any less of an employee. We can't pay you the same thing we pay our employees though because you are a corp member for now but if you end up being retained, be rest assured you'd be paid much more than this."

She nodded slowly and let the words sink in. When they did, she returned to the forms and happily filled out what was left. Tunji took them from her when she finished and politely asked her to wait while he entered her details into the company's database.

One of the Human Resource managers – a female named Jalala – came in then with bottles of chilled zobo. Hanan ended up with one because according to Jalala, she was cute and she deserved a treat. Her ID card was printed there and then. Tunji handed it to her alongside its case and the official tag rope with the company's logo.

"You'll use it in clocking in and out at opening and closing times." He told her. "The machines are down in the lobby. The ID also grants you access to the back elevator which is strictly for staff members. If you do end up going to the main company, you can access private facilities too."

Hanan did her best to keep up. "That's a lot."

"You'll get used to it...Lunch is by 12:30 on Mondays to Thursdays. On Fridays, it's by 12 because people have to go to the mosque. You just need to go to the lunch room and either pick up your lunch pack or sit with others and eat."