Is it worth waking up!

So you woke up again today, strutted lazily out of bed, unsure of the time. Is it 5, 6 or 7am? Am I late for work? You wish the night could last for just a minute longer but alas, its time to wake up. The question is, is it worth waking up?

You reach out to the bathroom only to realise theres no water coming from the shower. Its been almost a week that you have been showering with cold water in the morning as there has been an 'unresolvable' power problem that seems to require the intervention of the Almighty. Since you have gotten tired of complaining, you simply recede to your fate. Its gonna be dark for a little while longer.

The lack of water now forces you to bravely face the bucket shower. This water has been on the floor for weeks and its really cold. You cannot afford to be late so you take on the cold water. Words cannot describe the feeling, but look on the bright side, you are fully awake now!

You must be out of the house in five minutes else you will be caught up in the morning jam. Luckily, no one takes long in the shower with that cold water. You are out of the house in no time only to get the next shocker.

It rained heavily last night. The massive roadworks being done in the area have left roads dug out so t gets really muddy each time it rains even a little. Now comes the wading game. One needs to be really flexible to skip through the mud traps. You barely make it in time to the bus stage, only to realise you are one minute late. There are no matatus.

You have two options, start walking towards the main road hoping to meet the first incoming matatu and fight your way into it through the other people who have been waiting much longer than you, or just stand there and wait .Mother nature makes the decision for you, it has started drizzling.

Briskly you start walking towards the main road. You are already ten minutes behind schedule. You see a matatu enter from the main road."Yes!" you scream in your head as you make the frantic dash toward it. Unfortunately, there are another fifty or so other people dashing for the same fifteen seater. You miss a spot just as you reached it. Too bad.

You are getting wet and late now, theres no turning back. you must get to work as your boss has been on your case for a while. He is those bosses who when pissed at you, may 'forget' to include your name on the payroll. No one ever wants to be on his bad side. Being left out of the payroll means at least 2 weeks without money as you must get paid by cheque, which takes a week to process and another week to clear.

Help arrives, an empty matatu stops right next to you, actually almost knocks you as it makes a crazy turn in the middle of the road. As the other drivers are hooting madly, you scamper into the matatu and take a seat next to the driver."Phew!". Maybe, just maybe you will make it in time to avoid a thirty minute tongue lash from your boss, in the open plan office.

But before you get to smile, you hear the price of the day: "Tao 150! Kumenyesha!'. "What!" Thats ridiculous! A few passengers protest and alight. You start to move but one glance at the watch near the driver makes you maintain your seat. Its approaching eight o'clock. So what if I pay one hundred shillings extra. At least I get to work in time.

You finally arrive at work at 9.15am. The conductor insulted you for having a 1000 shilling note for which he did not have change. You argued for the whole trip and you had to wait for him to look for the change, which he took his time and came back fifteen minutes later.

As you are walking in the front door, you try your best to avoid locking eyes with the boss, who sits facing the front entrance. Just as you are about to pass and disappear, you hear your name being called! "Hey you, come here!".

You brace yourself. Yesterday someone was fired for 'lateness'. She had come ten minutes late to work. So it seems this is your day. As you open the door and walk in you are calculating how much is remaining in your account, how you are moving to a cheaper place so that you can look for another job, who to call for help....

He takes one look at you. It seems like an eternity.

"Lets get this over with!", you say to yourself.

"Rough morning its been!", he says.

"Um, yes", now you are sure that you are fired.

"Here, give these to finance as you settle in", and he hands over some files to you.

Thats it! Am not fired! Suddenly you feel like you are really lucky. The rain, the noise, the jam, the mud, all of it suddenly disappears. You just want to sit down and work. As you smile at yourself and slowly walk yo your desk you realise that yes, it was worth it waking up today.