When corporate types behave like villagers at workplace

It is always assumed that those who work in the corporate sector are the most refined members of the society. Corporate types always come off as well-educated, polished, vastly travelled individuals.

However, contrary to that popular perception, the corporate world in full of unrefined characters whose behaviour would prompt your average villager to exclaim, “ushamba nayo”!

Take, for instance, the case of Peter Kituyi who claims to have this well-schooled, sophisticated, nail-polished colleague who still consults witchdoctors!

He claims a cleaner in their office once stumbled upon witchery paraphernalia in her desk, and when her colleagues told her that they did not expect someone of her calibre to be superstitious, and asked her to explain the voodoo stuff in her office desk, she casually said, “It’s for protection purposes.”

“She had very weird things among them pig bones she claimed were to protect her from bad omens, spells, witchcraft and demons,” says Peter.

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Some Kenyans have completely refused to drop their village tendencies and they bring these backward behaviours to their work places, frightening and even irritating their colleagues. Another case in point is an unpalatable experience a certain Marsha had at work.

Blowing nose without handkerchief

“While taking the stairs up to my office some time back, I supported myself by holding on to the rail guard and realised the surface was unusually slippery. Upon closer scrutiny, I discovered that someone had actually blown his/her nose on the rail guard. I had actually touched mucus! Yuck!” explains a disgusted Marsha.

Indeed, some Kenyans can be so shady. Who does that! Why would someone blow their nose (without a handkerchief) on the stairs? You may wonder.

Sticking to matters mucus, Raymond Andeya, shocks this writers with yet another disgusting tale of his former professor at a city university.

Apparently, the good professor had no qualms blowing his nose, midway through his lectures, and directing the mucus through the window. He would also clear his throat and launch the sputum through the window whenever the need arose.

“We had this lecturer who would pause midway through his lecture, saunter to the nearest window, point his nose outside, block one of his nostrils with his thumb, and blow out through the other nostril, ejecting mucus without a care in the world. Mark you he was a professor,” says Raymond, as he chuckles.

He adds that once the hairy professor was done, he would rub his hands together in glee, and proceed with the lecture as students desperately struggled to hide their disgust. 

How about those with running noses who noisily hold back mucus by constantly sniffing air through their noses rather forcibly, and in the process irritating their colleagues?

It doesn’t end there. There are so many other well educated and exposed Kenyans who carry their village behaviour to the workplace, often offending colleagues.

Taking home leftovers at parties

During a cocktail at an NGO book launch that was held at one of Nairobi’s 5-Star hotels, Ernest Mugambi observed that in attendance were some of the best brains in the land, a number of NGO bigwigs and a few government types.

Towards the end of the cocktail party, he was shocked when English-speaking, elegantly-dressed women whipped black polythene bags out of their handbags and began packing the remaining food!

“The best dressed women literally scrambled to pack the meatballs, samosas and mshikakis into their handbags. It struck me as odd that women in such a crowd would pull such a village-like move, claiming they were taking the food home to their kids,” says Ernest, a 28-year old TV producer.

For Lucy Ogega, a manager at a famous 5-star hotel in Nairobi, corporate types behaving like they arrived from the village for the very first time are commonplace in her line of work.

“Every time we have a function here, I see adults in suits almost fighting over alcohol or meaty servings, it does not matter that they work at blue-chip companies or own their own businesses,” Lucy explains, clearly exasperated.

She adds that every so often the hotel security has to intervene when the hotel staff are accused of hoarding alcohol and meat. But does the hotel staff hoard drinks?

“Yes, some do, but it is not something that warrants wild behaviour from men in business suits and executive ties,” says Lucy.

Women stealing cutlery

Crazy Monday conducted a mini-poll among employees on some of their pet peeves when it comes to village-like behaviour in the office. And it seems, many office types are really enraged but keep it to themselves. Sample the following.

1. Petty thieves

It is not uncommon to see notices on office boards, warning individuals against all manner of bad conduct. “Do not take the tissue paper from the toilet to avoid inconveniencing other users”, or even “Kindly flush the loo after use”.