The last time I combed my hair was 26th of Nov 2005, yesterday was the 9th of May so that’s 6 months and 20 days. I guess I tried, that’s the length of time I got away with my natchy curls. Today I was asked to either comb my hair or get a wig by one of the ED’s. I kept an emotionless face as I listened to him tell me he could say this because 'we are in Nigeria not the UK or US' (where I could have sued his ass). 'This is a corporate environment, and we need to be conservative in our dress' he said. f you were a musician now that is a different case.' I am not a banker I wanted to scream I am an IT geek, you should be happy I take a bath and I don't have wild animals poking out of my hair! Of course I am not combing my hair, as a sharp girl though I will be going wig hunting this weekend!
I was really thinking I was going to get away with it. I start vacation in about 3 weeks hopefully; I will just try to survive till then. But you know how it is, Murphy’s law will always kick in and now everywhere I go I am sure to bump into that guy even though his office is 5 floors above mine. The funny thing is the day before yesterday; I bumped into two very senior officers in my bank as I left the staff canteen with my colleague. AGF hadn’t seen me in a very long time (6 months), while TIO sees me like once a day. AGF commented on my hair, and whispered to TIO that I looked like a mad person. Of course I heard him and he and asked that I not be offended. I wasn’t and told him of the time I was walking to work from the car park and met a real mad man who looked at me and seemed to think crossing the road was a good idea!
I saw TIO today like 30 mins before seeing the ED and he was actually apologizing for AGF the day before. We had a long talk about the conservative people in the bank and all of that and ended on the note that we would go out for drinks with him in a polyester suit and a wig to complement my hair!
Note:This has got to be a sign, India.Arie just came up on MTVBase with ‘I am not my hair’
2 comments:
LOL! It's always the way. 3 weeks to go and then someone speaks to you about your hair.
I love your hair and am, as you know, a big natural hair fan, but I am amazed that people in your conservative bank have not said much until now. It's very un-Nigerian to keep one's opinions to oneself and for them not have said anything is quite remarkable indeed.
Infact me sef wonder. Most of the people I work with are not 1st generation bankers and as such are not really bothered by my hair. The two that spoke up on the other hand are real first generation bakers and ultra conservative. Its not like I am custoer facing or anything, but I am not going to bother defending the hair to anybody. It won't be long now!
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