Here's yet another entry into the “human's pride may be the end of them” journal.
I boarded a bus with a tailor on my way to deliver a crochet package for a client and initially, there were three passengers in the bus. We got to a certain location and the third passenger asked to alight from the vehicle.
“What's my bill?” She asked and the driver inflated the price of the journey.
“What do you mean ₦600? From where to where?” the woman inquired.
“Madam, that's the price.”
“I can never pay such a price. It's clearly inflated. I'd pay ₦400 instead”.
“Till you die! Nobody would ever take that price from you for this journey!” The driver yelled.
The woman who was clearly provoked by this statement, retorted.
“God forbid. I wouldn't die, you would be the one to die instead” And it was at this point that all hell broke loose. With the driver going on and on about being a powerful man and the lady retorting that her power is greater than his. I knew the argument was getting more intense when the driver switched off the engine of his vehicle and turned to face the woman squarely.
Now, I've seen and watched arguments but I'm usually at a safe distance, watching as everything unravels, but today, I was within arms length and this made me feel very uncomfortable.
These folks kept going back and forth, making death threats and all of the other unnecessary threats. Being that my client was waiting for me and my tailor had somewhere else to be in about an hour, I had to remind the driver that he had other passengers in the vehicle.
I'm certain he heard me beckoning him to move but he vehemently ignored me and was only brought back to reality when the tailor yelled, “oga, some of us have somewhere to be”.
He only ignited the engine after this brief yell from the tailor, got the correct amount of money he was supposed to get from the lady and zoomed off. Throughout the rest of the journey, he kept mentioning how powerful he was and how he could make terrible things happen to the lady who was arguing with him but when he found out that he didn't have an audience, he went mute.
Usually, before commenting on arguments, I like to hear or witness both sides of the story and it happens that I was there to witness it all and without a doubt I'd say that the driver was wrong.
First, he inflated the cost of transportation knowing pretty well that this lady was one who probably towed the same path frequently and paid the same amount every time she took that route, still, he went ahead to argue enthusiastically, even when he knew he was wrong.
Second, he brought death into the argument. A topic that seems sensitive to many people. Why would you imply I would die? The sickening part was the fact that he kept raising his voice, increasing it by an octave whenever he wanted to make a silly point and the level headed woman maintained her tone. She gave off the “I'd rather knock off some of your teeth than raise my voice” vibe. A very confident lady who stood her ground.
With the way these folks were threatening to display their powers and hidden talents, I wanted no part in such an argument. The big question however remains, why try to loot a person in broad daylight? And even when the person unravels your intention, why argue? Why not just admit your crime like the crook that you are?
YouTube
The song “Liar” by Jelly Roll says a lot about the tone of my post today.
The song doesn't just call out lies, it confronts these lies from within. The honesty in the song is brutal and the vocals carry the right emotions to portray the intensity of the lyrics.
Image generated by Meta AI.
