PRIDE AND COMMON SENSE

There is something that peppers my intestines with alacrity - people who are too proud at heart especially when they know something and think they are too good at it and are therefore, irreplaceable. It is peppery and discomforting. It is highly irritating to my senses. You have to understand the gravity of the situation when I place emphasis on "highly irritating", the degree to which I cannot categorically qualify or quantify. This is the honest truth. Let me gist you this incident that happened two months ago.

There was a certain young lady, N, who needed the services of a graphic/web designer. She wanted to "upgrade" her blog and create traffic for a business she hoped would thrive well. Her longstanding friend, S, knew someone who could be of help to her. S gave her Mr Designer's number with strict instructions to "contact him via Whatsapp and tell him what she wanted" and to "endeavor to mention that she is very closely related to S, so that she can get the benefit of a discount price for the job."

N, a very keen lady, followed the instructions to the letter and contacted Mr Designer. She sent him a message on Whatsapp. It delivered, but there was no reply. The first reply came a few hours later. Without wasting any time on frivolities but standing firm on formalities, N introduced herself and told him what she wanted him to do. He had acted like someone who was ready to do the job on her blog, get a personal domain for her. He asked a few questions, to which she replied with the ease of a brush scrubbed against canvass. This was business and business only. She knew what she wanted and she was out to get it. Money was not an issue because she was prepared to pay the associated costs for the job.

N went ahead to ask him the cost of this job but he did not reply. She asked him the next day and the day after that but she got no reply. Apparently, Mr Designer had seen the Whatsapp messages but did not reply. Not even a simple "Hi, I am sorry I am very busy and you caught me at a bad timing. I will get back to you." Nada! She decided to brush away the no courtesy stunt but was more concerned that he had agreed to do the job - or so she thought - but wouldn't mention the cost for her to effectively plan herself.

Two weeks and some days passed by and she still did not hear from Mr Designer. Neither did she text him after seeing that he did not reply her previous messages. She was vaguely concerned that this designer guy she initially assumed was going to help was the same person who acted wierd. He had a customer, N. It was supposed to be straight forward. Discuss what she wanted, discuss and agree on the price, weigh the pros and cons and make a decision. Simple. Very easy, right? If only humans were that easy to handle.

She made up her mind to scratch him out. As long as she breathed, she was sure there were a thousand and one web designers willing to do the job. She remembered her classmate from Unizik who was now a computer scientist. During her NYSC period, her classmate once mentioned that he was into web design and IT related stuff. She had not taken him seriously until she recalled every word he spoke to her.

Without further ado, she contacted him and explained what she wanted him to do. Her classmate was excited, willing and ready to help with a solution. The typical igbo man was so happy he had got a customer. N was ready to pay him after he gave her the details of what was to be done. She decided there was no need informing S or Mr Designer about the recent developments or change of plans. Her instincts confirmed that Mr Designer was incapable.

Out of the blues and reds, Mr Designer waltzed into Whatsapp with a troll-ish set of messages, referring to her as sweetheart. He had given her number to a complete stranger and stated that since he was the expert, he could decide on who to help or who to refer to. That grated on her nerves. The nerve of that niggar whom she had never met physically and never seen! Immediately she intercepted the messages, she automatically expressed her annoyance at calling her a name other than her name since he was nothing to her but a complete stranger whose services she wanted. She was annoyed that he had lied to her, played her for a fool, misled her into thinking he was going to be of help and then had the audacity to give another stranger her number without her permission. After carefully expressing her annoyance, she did not wait for a reply. She silently blocked him from Whatsapp and deleted his number. Then she went ahead to narrate the ordeal to S. Her irritation was heightened when S told her that he is a proud fellow and lies a lot like there is no tomorrow. For the love of humans, she could not understand why S did not tell her this at the start. But she was all done for.

Within an hour, N's irritation had subsided to minimal levels. She could care less since she had found a replacement who had started the job without wasting time. So she focused on paying up the first installment price to get him gingered.
***
My people, do you know that pride is a disease? Just because you think you know something and call yourself perfect, so you decide to dash your common sense to pride?

Now, listen to me carefully. You don't know jack shit, my friend, sit down and shataapu! Will you please mechie onu gi there!?!
If you know something and you are in a position and capacity to profer a solution, instead of acting like a proud Boss Voltron, why don't you humbly render your services? If you are incapable but know someone whom you can refer to, inform the person.
That thing you think you know, a thousand and one people will know it better than you do. Tomorrow, a million and one people will become experts at it while you sit there, rotting away with pride like maggot-infested carcass for the vultures. You are not irreplaceable!

Help someone if you can and stop being proud hearted.

Humility is a priceless virtue. Put some ''respeck'' on it. Apply common sense and save us all the trouble of breathing in rotten pride.