There was this guy, he's older than me but we are good friends, and oftentimes whenever we talk on the phone, he always laments about how tough living has been and how the work he's doing is not matching up with his expenses. I usually join him in lamenting because my expenses are also above my inflows, but along the line, I will chip in HIVE talks and tell him to come and join us so he can earn and help himself withstand the alarming life expenses.
"You mean I can earn by just writing? Wow! I can do that. I'm ready for anything that'll fetch me money," he would always exaggerate his eagerness to join, and I'd smile (mockingly) because I had seen his type many times.
After much explanations, he agreed to join the platform, and we went on to create his account. I collected the keys to save too, in case he lost them. I gave him the first task, which was to draft his introduction article, and he used three days to come up with it. And guess what—it was just 34 words! Yes, I counted the words, and I was shocked because I had explained to him how to go about it.
"Ohh, you mean the length should be 400 words? I didn’t hear you earlier."
He agreed and went back to re-draft the introduction article, and that took him a week to come up with. Guess what? It was just 113 words, and I couldn’t fathom how he came up with that because I had already queried him about his 34 words, and now 113 words? How???
Well, at that moment, I knew we were not heading anywhere, but I stayed put in order not to appear as though I gave up on him too quickly. When I asked him why he came up with 113 words, not even up to half of 400 words, he said he’s not actually into writing and that was all he could come up with.
Okay, there was no problem with that. We talked at length, and I explained extensively the things to talk about to make the article a bit longer. He struggled to do that within four days.
It was time to make the post, and when I told him about posting, he said he didn’t have a data subscription.
"You don’t have a data subscription? How do you mean? What about the one that’s powering our conversation on WhatsApp? Isn’t this a data connection?" I couldn’t believe him because he’s always online on WhatsApp, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram.
He said he had a little subscription remaining and that he would let me know when he gets a larger data subscription. I told him that he doesn’t need much data to make a post, but he still insisted that he needs a large data subscription to fully get involved because he wouldn’t want to make a post and not visit the site again.
By this time, I just knew that a different spirit was inside him and was making all those excuses. Meanwhile, I’m not a pastor and don’t have the power to cast away spirits, so I just let him be. And till today, the drafted introduction article is still with him—unused.
Thanks for reading.
This is my entry to Com contest
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