The delivery man
April 1, 2008 by Seasons
Over the Easter weekend, I was at home alone whilst my staff had taken the weekend off. I ordered food from China Plate in Westlands.
I was in the shower when the food was delivered but I had given my day guard the cash to pay the delivery man. The guard rang the bell and told me that the delivery man was asking to see me. I assumed there was a mix-up with my order or maybe the cash was not enough.
To my surprise, I went to the gate to find out that the man is someone I knew. I had not seen him for over 20 years and he recognized my name from the order. He wanted to confirm it was really me and ‘catch up’. Trying to be polite, I asked him in for a chat but he had to rush back as he had many pending orders and it was raining.
This dude was in high school with me. His Dad was a minister in both the Kenyatta and Moi governments. This was the guy we all envied as he had access to cash and a ride. In high school, that is all a guy required to be popular. He basically had the honeyz buzzing around him and was the guy with the latest threads and sounds. I never did find out what happened after we left school and why his life turned out the way it did.
A few readers of this blog may know whom am talking about. He was in Patch and had many brothers( I think like 7) who bullied the small dudes and basically looked down on those of us who did not have two names if you know what I mean.
The thing is, I was very embarrassed and I still cant figure why.
Nice writing style. I will come back to read more posts from you.
Susan Kishner
Well its life and those who were up one day they roll to ground..
Life is like that..sadly we never know what tomorrow brings so we all better behave
Yeah, it is life. Strange things happen. Pilato, milima ndio haikutani, you also can’t run and hide forever.
Me thinks its because you have switched places. teaches us to be good o the people at the bottom or on our way up because we might meet them on our way down.
But am sure this is a reason for me to be embarrassed
i guess coz you didn’t know what to say to him without ’sounding’, er, condescending. i know the feeling, yaani even saying ‘hallo’ just sounds terrible…
lucky dube said it…”be good to the people on your way up the ladder coz you’ll meet them on the way down.”
Is this an April fools post? :
I don’t do those!
I was thinking the same way Sanaa….esp. the mentioning of staff being let off, etc.
Huh?
Seasons…..whats the dealie yo?
Am great..this is for real. The tequilas did not fry my brain. You know the Osogos? Yap this dude is one of them!
Mmmmh…dont think you shuda been embarassed one bit. That guy must’ve put guys down vibaya sana for you to feel the way you did….can’t explain….but that was a situation!
okay, should it be the dude who is embarrased- BUT HE IS NOT- my guess if he was he wouldn’t have wanted to meet you. He may have forgotten what he did to people when he was the “man” or life may have taught him lessons and he has learned. Life can just “happen” on you like that- when you are young you think like a child and act like a child and now we are grown………………
I can understand the embarrasement to an extent. Once in Kampala I walked into a restuarant with some friends and the waitress was the girl whose room was opposite mine during A’levels (boarding school)- she was holding a perfectly normal conversation with us but when it came to leaving a tip, yaani we were all hyperventilating- do you leave ALOT or just enough (does ALOT say you need it and does enough say- we don’t really care about you THAT much).
I think that if that guy wants to keep in touch- well now he knows where to find you- literally.
p.s. you can not be embarrased by what or how much you have achieved in life.We all start with a blank canvas- do we not. Yes, some get a little help along the way, some do not.Still we hold the paint brushes that hit this canvas. Hala kwani this is now a post. Tosha.
3TOC
You are free to post here whenever you wish… You have captured it well with your waitress analogy
Why have we all assumed that the delivery man must be penniless and a deadbeat? How do we know, for example, that he’s not the owner of China Plate? Or perhaps a mature student, who after quitting his cushy job is reinventing himself and doing food delivery to earn a little cash? I’m just asking. Aren’t we being a little bit classist in our assumptions?
Ok..now to clear the assumptions. The dude definitely does not own China Plate and mature student he is not! Thats his job. I am not sure he is penniless(not after the tip I gave him!) and obviously not a deadbeat.
You should not be embarrassed..life has a way of throwing curve balls at people.
be careful of the toes you step on today because they may be attached to the ass you have to kiss tomorrow.
Not that the delivery guy has any reason to kiss your ass.
why does everybody sounds like there is something wrong with being a food delivery person? whats wrong with Kenyans? the other day i read in the newspaper about the journalist called diasporans dish washers as though that is an insult. there is dignity in work no matter what it is. No condition in life is permanent.
If I made an insuniation that there is something wrong with being a delivery man, let me apologizes. I was trying to explain that things are different since we left high school and that I feel sort of guilty for how my life turned out in comparison to his..its not an issue of wrong or right. I did feel embarrassed
Why do I feel some people are taking the post out of context??
Kazi ni kazi ndio but -if I went to the same school with you and I thoroughly put you down. You became the president and I became your house help….aren’t we both bound to ask questions or even feel strange about the whole situation?!!!
Its a little obvious that the life of the president is more admirable than that of the president’s house help.
From someone who at the time you knew would not even think of doing that kind of job, instead would be the the employer, a shocker and embarassment may be because of not knowing how to treat him now as the change of status puts you in diametrically opposing sides, appearing in the manner that he is under your employ, sort of thing. Make sense? Has applied to me in quite a number of cases. Its a strange feeling.
Joe, I don’t think its embarrassing to be a waiter/waitress. The reason I asked is because Mr Seasons was aiming for the shock effect (lol)
Actually it was for clarity and not shock effect.. a few here who know me may wonder why I was ordering food when I have staff who would cook for me and the girls.
Actually it was for clarity and not shock effect.. a few here who know me may wonder why I was ordering food when I have staff who would cook for me and the girls.
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How so? when the bulk of the post focused on “the” delivery man being a delivery man? Oh well , never mind me
sounds like you are talking about one of the Osogo brothers lol
It is one of them!
Haaiiiiyyaaaaa….know them? Understatement of the day….I have a history with one of them.
Oh?…Which one?
I had a funny feeling you were talking about them but I wasnt too sure.
Now if i put two and two together, I have a funny feeling that I know you too Seasons!!!
Why? What gave me up…the Patch/Osogo connection? You probably do know me…
I will reveal more face to face….as for the knowing you part, I shall reveal that face to face as well.
Just got here when the post is becoming “intwesting” hmmmm! MOcha ! mocha! hebu pray tell…… I cant wait to meet Mocha in may..am very curious who she is! hope she was not an Osogo ‘groupie’.
halafu seasons, me (I) don’t know you! you have “staff” and you are not a hotel?
What is this fascination about ’staff’… am a full time job and seeing I need staff to take care of me! Jokes aside, of course I employ people!
What is that lucky dube (RIP) song” be good to the people on your way up the ladder couz you’ll meet them on the way down” ama who was it?
ama you mean una mboch?
Oh..is that what you call them now? Ok..Housekeeper, Cook, Nanny and gardener…. ok now what do I call those? Mboches?
aaaaiiii Pointi…si mboch ni staff pia? So if you had one then you employed them or your parents did.
I have answered pointi above
Seasons….hata mimi can’t wait and tafadhali no groupie manenoz. Hapo…tunaweza kosana LOL!!!
Haya..tuonane in three weeks..this story we will chambua
you know how life goes. the guys who blew in school end up with regular jobs while the blots who rewound class sijui how many times become Richard Branson. As KK says, the A students teach, and the B students end up working for the C students. i guess it applies socially as well.
Life does not serve us all equal portions unfortunately. Blot? I haven’t heard that term in a while..LOL but you are right
I agree with Joe,
SO what if they guy is delivering food now? It does not make anyone else a better person than he is. It is typical Kenyan to be so classist/elitist.
Even if he is not doing wht he does by choice, who knows what changes he/his chracter have gone through. You are judging him based on who he was 20 years ago! People change, learn, grow. We sometimes assume we are the only ones who have “grown” or matured overtime.
Leave the poor guy alone.
I know the family and interacted with a number of them. I think it is in bad taste to make such a big deal about this.
I think you have received my post all wrong. First of all this is a personal blog and I write personal stuff. I think the fact that someone treated me(and others) like trash many years ago and he is now delivering food to me is a deal(not big as you claim) but fodder for my blog. Am not being elitist by stating a fact that 20 years ago he (or maybe his Father) was obviously doing better than most of us but things are different. Wish he was nice to people though.
Secondly, it has nothing to do with maturity or me looking down on his job. The point is he was the dude all of us in high school used to look up to and frankly, I envied him…what is doing is a job yes but i don’t envy him no more.
Thirdly, things that happen in your teens tend to get ingrained in your system… and as I said in my post, I cant help and wonder how things have turned. I will quote one commenter here who captures it perfectly
Finally, this is not to do with his family but him. I know a few of his brothers and they are really nice people. Unfortunately..not all of the brothers can be termed nice.
i feel u s&r. i also met a chick who used to feel good for me in high school cz i ws from shags, u shuld see her! i felt so sorry for her
Wange.you are point! Walala..you have reminded me of something… yap.
Aki….I know you have said your piece Seasons, but here I had to chochea.
Sasa…Anon has read the entry in a different light and comes here with hasira. Its unfortunate that the society we grew up in has raised most of us to be classist (as you put it). Its a shame! The person in question grew up to prove just that and is later ‘paying’ for it.
Besides, when was the law passed for people not remember their past and those who crossed their paths. I must have missed that circular/memo.
Wacha I bounce before e-stones are thrown.
Have a timam weekend.
Enjoy yours Mocha Wake up early and watch the boys twanga France! Wish i was there.
People are getting all wound up for nothing…
Can I ask you..that swimming pool apo juu..is it yours?
Oh I wish. This is hotel I was in recently in Zanzibar!
In the 90’s Osogo name was synonymous to a group of brothers who could put up a fight if you messed with them or theirs, sweet tongue for the ladies and knew the who’s who in the city . Fast forward 2008..the same vibes they gave 20 years ago are the same vibes they are giving now, not to mention hanging the same way, the same discos, they believe in their heads they are still in high school 20 years later .
Can someone remind them that the nineties are soo last century and that while everyone else grew out of that phase ..our most famous Nairobi brothers missed the bus …but anyway such is life.
You have nailed it bro! The bus passed and is so far in the horizon.
Hmm.. are these the jamaas who live in Hurlingham near Yaya? one bro called Mauritz?
Yap!
Haki…..now this thread is starting to become VERY VERY PERSONAL. Seasons….ebu post something else haraka upesi.
I will have to draw something from my drafts to move this post along.
Alafu…reading FG’s comment about the pool, if you said yes ni yako….tungeisha friends. Lakini after you have kujad huku and bought me dinner at the Ritz….LOL!!!
You would kosanna with me if I had the pool? Dinner at the Ritz? Wacha ni save!
Wacha I pitia the IRB website I catch up with the scores. Huku unfortunately they don’t show it on TV.
Good weekend but a bit disappointing at the end there. I stayed up half the night watching
Am with Nandi on the assumption that one being a delivery guy is a step down the food chain (though being Kenyan, I totally understand why it would appear that way). Maybe he’s happy and has come to terms with it?
Re: your embarrassment, I think you just felt uncomfortable and not embarrassed by such a stark reminder of the ‘law of rhythm’, i.e. there are times you’ll be on the mountain top, and other times when you’ll be in the valley.
That’s why, while you’re at the top, remember to do some insulating for the inevitable times you’ll be in the valleys. (and note that though perception of valleys is relative, they will still be there).
Make you sure you don’t shock us with dispatches from the valley 5 years from now, ok?
Great advise.
Oh, and for those protesting that someone shouldn’t be judged for things they did 20 years ago… agreed. But there is this certainty called karma, and one has no choice but to ride it.
Which is why you should (anyone currently in the seductive grip of schadenfreude) send out good vibes for a while. Maybe you’ll get to ride them in 20 years?
OK, now I’m done.
I had to look up the word schadenfreude and I hope that my views are not seen as a way of gloating over his misfortune( if one can call it that).
Thats odd, whatever happened to family lending each other ” a hand up” ? One of them is doing good business in Sudan, maybe Pizza bro, should borrow a leaf.. If this pizza bro is mike, then I guess thats a grounding lesson for him, he was always very arrogant. I wonder how all of that adds up with their local celebrity nights out everyday. Anyway Old wealth can only take you so far.
Cheers ! ( I feel so much at home already after this)
As I said, this was not about the family but him as a person and the expectations we had for him. It is also about how he treated people like me in his youth.
Lol I just realized I wrote pizza man instead of delivery man.. wheres my head tonite! But you get what I mean
I know what post you should do next- ask me(can you see my hand up in the air ) teacher me, me, me pick me- Let me tell you which post to put up haraka, haraka tena SANAA. THE ONE I AM STILL WAITING FOR. hehehehehehe- yes, I am an elephant- I never forget. Pole.
Otherwise I will get “my girls” to get it off you at THAT rugby event in my neck of the woods.FG can and will be bribed!And Mocha too (kwanza let me go get Mocha some mabu….).Off to think about FG’s bribe.
Your post titled ‘labels’ is here in my drafts and whenever I read it, I remember you…it is has no punch anymore since I have so moved on from that phase of my life. The post has everything to do with when labels get applied and the signs to look for to make an acquaintance a friend, a friend to a lover/girlfriend, and eventually an ex/stalker/ residents of dumpsville hehe..Should I post it or not?
See you soon
No more comment on the delivery guys as I didn’t grow up in that crowd.
but about the labels post:
post it post it!
Am not sure the labels post will have as much ooomph knowing the relationship situation Iam in.
what did i remind u!
You know how chicks treat you disdainfully when they can tell who you really are and if you are of any value(in their eyes)? Sometimes this changes later on if they perceive value and maybe your network that they can use…it happened to me a couple of times..a post for another day
am addicted to this blog. i read it religiously, kama bible
Am glad I have you addicted
This is hateration. Virulent bile. Immaturity.
What the hell is ‘hateration’? As for immaturity…..Maybe the fact that you did not understand the post?
Don’t hate on the player. HAte the game.
An oft used shallow phrase that does not make sense…. and does not apply in this case anyway
Hey nice posts!Now a have a new blog to hook myself up to!
The delivery man just wanted to see you,he still has the money he had then!lol!!!
Hi Karibu…I don’t think he wanted to see me..but I get your point