It's a Hard Knock Life
The door creaked loudly as she pushed it open and walked in. "Another fruitless day!" she exclaimed angrily as she threw the file on her bed and bent over to unstrap her shoe. The shoe bore scars of countless journeys, the sole's once prominent thread now mere whispers of its former self. Its once vibrant colors faded to muted, and the leather, weathered and creased were evidence of the miles it has travelled.
Her little one bedroom apartment was musty as it held more things than supposed. A small bed in one corner, piles of plates in another, weathered shoes, and a few clothes hung on a poorly constructed wooden wardrobe. Lazily, Alice picked the match box that lay close to her stove, took out a stick and striked it against the box. It sparked up and went off immediately as if a mighty wind took it out. After three lazy trials, the fourth one worked and she put it on the candle and the room came alive.
Alice, lost in thoughts gazed at the candle for a while before placing it on the steel that lay on her crooked night stand. She hissed as she looked around the tight, messy apartment. After running her gaze through the four corners of the wall, she fixed her gaze on the file on the bed which held her credentials and CV.
She picked up the file, caressed it for a while then she opened it, brought out every document it held and arranged them on her bed. Her eyes glistened with tears as she looked at each one. "Why am I living in this kind of space when I have these credentials in my name?" She murmured and immediately wiped off the bead of tears that almost dropped on her CV with the back of her palms.
For four years since Alice graduated from the University as a first class student, she's been job hunting but to no avail. The system seemed to be corrupt as nepotism has become the order of the day. Recruitment was no longer based on academic credentials but on favoritism. After some moments of silence, she packed up the documents she had spread out and arranged them neatly into the file and placed it under her bed.
The next day, she was up again, with the same shoes on. Just as she was locking her door, her neighbor passed by and the first thing he noticed were her stressed out feet and weathered shoes. "When are you going to realize that this country has a bleaked outlook? Find what you can do with your hands and stop going out everyday to look for a job where there's none." He said, shook his head in disappointment and pity and walked away.
Alice bent her head forward and stared at her shoes. "I didn't want to be pessimistic but where has being optimistic led me?" She muttered and opened the lock, threw her file inside the house, locked the door again and trudged away. This time she wasn't job hunting, but was just taking a walk despite the harsh condition, at least to clear her head.
As she journeyed in the hot sun, she met a few gray-haired, with stopped posture men who were supposed to be retired, also with files, trekking in the hot sun, seeking jobs then it occurred to her that indeed she had been blinded by optimism to not have seen the bleak outlook of the country to which she and the likes of her didn't chose to be born in.
Nepotism had become the order of the day and the masses who had no influential person in their circle, had to settle for whatever they could find for survival.
Awesome portrayal of what is experienced in countries where the economies are less than desirable. Unemployment runs rampant in many countries. Your story resonates in that what you say is similar to what I have known and experienced in many years of working in a corporate environment:
Many graduates now find that their diplomas are not worth the paper they're printed on. Locating work in their fields is extremely difficult. They settle for odd jobs where the compensation is meager compared to the cost of living.
The character in your story faces the same situation. Young and old competes for the same positions. Currently, senior citizens either pushed out or retired from companies must now re-enter the work force.
Thanks so much for sharing your story. A thoughtful read. Take care care and have a good rest of your week.
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When I saw the prompt, I didn't find it difficult to write on it because of the situation in my country. There's this professor currently teaching my department. The man is stooped, fragile and has almost lost all his teeth but he's still lecturing. Each time he slowly walks into class, I can't help but ask myself what happened to retirement. I mean he's over due for it but I guess it's the situation of the country where if a civil servant retires, he or she is paid peanut as pension or isn't paid at all that has made many of these old professors, lecturers and some other people in different work places to refuse the idea of retirement. Another concern is that if they don't leave office, there'd be no vacancy for the upcoming individuals who also have passion for teaching or whatever it is they want to venture into. It just keeps getting worse and worse as the day goes by.
I really appreciate your thoughtful and very detailed comment on my post. I feel honored. Do have a lovely weekend ✨