For Better And For Worse
Chapter 3

A week later, Roger calls Isabelle into his office.

Roger: so, what do you say about my proposal?

Isabelle: I had already given you my answer sir and it remains there.

Roger: you have more to gain than to lose so why are you refusing?

Isabelle: I would lose my dignity, and it means a lot to me.

Roger: very good, hold on.

He takes a shirt from the table and gives it to her. She opens to look and she sees, Termination letter.

Isabelle: have a good day sir.

She leaves her office and goes to say goodbye to her colleagues and friends who don’t want her to leave but it wasn’t up to them. So she returns home. In the meantime, Roger calls his friend, Doctor Justin.

Justin: hello Roger!

Roger: hello my friend, how are you?

Justin: I’m doing very well and you?

Roger: It’s okay, it’s okay. I need you to do me a favor.

Justin: sure, what is it?

Roger: well, if one day you receive a visit from a certain Isabelle Mbaidenné, you must reject her files.

Justin: Can I at least know why?

Roger: she disrespected me and she left, slamming the door, telling me that she would find work elsewhere. I want to teach him a lesson.

Justin: Very good, you can count on me.

Roger: Please also talk to your doctor friends for me, this woman really made a fool of me.

Justin: no worries my friend.

Roger: thank you, have a good day.

Roger also calls the other doctors he knows and asks them to refuse work to Isabelle. Having given them false reasons, they accept. Each doctor also talks about it to his doctor friends. Meanwhile, Isabelle returns to find her husband at home.

Isabelle: hello darling, what I feared has happened.

Krist: Did that idiot doctor really fire you?

Isabelle: yes unfortunately.

Krist: don’t worry, you can easily find work.

Isabelle: yes certainly. And where are you? Didn’t you go today?

Krist: no, what’s the point of traveling all over town in vain?

Isabelle: you shouldn’t discourage darling.

Krist: I know, I’m just taking a break and besides I think I have to turn elsewhere than to businesses.

Isabelle: we have to look everywhere, we need work to survive. Okay, I’m going to put together the files to start my research.

Krist: Okay.

So said, so done. Starting tomorrow after breakfast, everyone goes their separate ways looking for work. They end the day with their arms hanging. Isabelle was very surprised not to have found work given her skills. She starts again tomorrow, the day after tomorrow and so on but because of Roger, she can’t find a job. Now they have gone two months completely forgetting to pay the rent. The owner comes knocking on their door and demands his rent.

Landlord: it’s been two months since you paid the rent, you pay me now or you leave my house.

Krist: but Mr. Marcel, we have lived here for years, we still pay our rent normally but if we have not done so for two months, it is because we no longer have a job, please grant us one more month and we will pay you.

Landlord: no, pay you now or you vacate my house.

Krist: why are you behaving like this towards us?

Owner: listen, you pay or you release, that’s all.

Isabelle goes inside and brings him her two months’ savings. He leaves.

Isabelle: I gave him a third of my savings. We need to find an income-generating activity.

Krist: yes you are right. Why don’t you open a hair salon since you know a little about it?

Isabelle: it’s a good idea but for a hair salon, it’s quite difficult to start and we urgently need money.

Krist: don’t worry about that, let’s submit this project to God and the quality of your services will attract customers. And besides, nothing can be born and become big on the same day, it is always little by little that it will become big.

Isabelle: you’re right, I hibernated this talent for a long time, it’s time that I exploit it.

Krist: we would need to find a well-positioned location.

Isabelle: for that, I know a friend who has a store that is no longer working for the moment, I’m going to try to see if he can lend it to me for a while.

Krist: excellent, hope he lends it to you.

Isabelle: and you, what do you plan to do in the meantime?

Krist: I don’t know, I’m almost discouraged but I’m going to see if I can find a job as a waiter.

Isabelle: ok, good luck to us. I’m going to call my friend to talk to him.

Thus, they submit their project to God before she calls her friend Alain to warn him of her visit in the evening, a visit which he accepted. So, in the evening, she goes to his house.

Isabelle: … so, that’s why I’m here, I would like to open a hairdressing salon and I don’t have premises yet so I would like you to lend me a little bit of your old shop so that I can set up there while waiting to find a personal premises.

Alain: well, I rented this store so I can rent it to you if you want.

Isabelle: there’s no problem.

Alain: ok, I’ll give you two months free and you will pay me from the third month.

Isabelle: really thank you very much Alain, you save my life.

Alain: no problem, good luck to you.

Isabelle: thank you, thank you with all my heart.

He gives her the key to the shop then she comes home very happy. Her husband has already prepared dinner.

Isabelle: good news darling, my friend Alain rented his shop to me and guess what, he gave me two months free.

Krist: wow, that’s great news, your friend is nice.

Isabelle: you can say that. Tomorrow I have to go and rearrange and equip.

Krist: We’ll take care of that tomorrow. At the same time, you need to create a WhatsApp group and a Facebook page for your salon. That might help.

Isabelle: obviously!

Krist: little by little we will get back up. Let’s go to the table now.

Isabelle: what have you prepared?

Krist: you’ll find out, go settle down.

Isabelle: I’m already salivating!

Krist serves the meal and they eat together. Tomorrow morning they go to the shop in question to rearrange it, then they go to the market to pay for some essential equipment to install. They put up a plaque with the inscription: Hair salon: Best braid at Madame Isabelle. Once home, she created her Facebook page as well as a WhatsApp group. She is looking for models that she feels capable of making to publish them in the group.

Isabelle: perfect! Tomorrow I start my new job.

Krist: congratulations my love. For my part, I will go very early to the most prestigious restaurant in the city. I will start looking from larger to smaller.

Isabelle: okay, let’s pray to the Lord to open a door for you too.

So, they pray together and tomorrow morning, Isabelle goes to her Salon for the first day of work. Krist, for his part, goes very early, without even having breakfast, to the five-star restaurant (5★) to ask to offer his waiter services. Miraculously, as soon as he arrives, the boss asks him to hurry up.

Félix: Christian, Christian…

Krist turns towards him.

Felix: what are you waiting for, come on, hurry up!

Krist joins him and follows him into a room.

Felix: Come on, hurry up and get dressed.

Krist: yes sir!

Felix: The work you have to do is simple. When the customers arrive, you approach them, you ask them how they are and everything then you take their order and then you come and pick up their orders to bring to them. Besides, you can also learn from your colleagues, understand?

Krist: yes sir.

Felix: good. I hope you agree for 10,000 f per day?

Krist: 10,000 f! Yes sir !

Felix: ok, how do you want to be paid, per day or per month?

Krist: I prefer per month.

Félix: ok, come on, let’s start, we have a meeting later. Follow me !

They go to a room to join the others and the boss briefs them before they start working by setting up the tables. Krist still doesn’t understand what is happening, but he is happy and works very well. He does not hesitate to make acquaintances and to sympathize. Until the end of the day, that is to say at 6 p.m., the day employees decide to return while the night employees replace them. Krist comes in through his wife’s living room and finds her hard at work. Indeed, during the day, Isabelle found many customers. All her friends that she had already braided came to be braided by her. They also advertise to others. Besides, her work speaks for itself. Krist comes home before her to prepare. Isabelle stays until 8 p.m. and her husband comes back so they can go home together. The day was good. On the other side, Mr. Félix receives a call from his friend Martin.

Felix: hello Martin!

Martin: yes Felix, how was the day?

Félix: it went well, and the night continues very well.

Martin: oh okay. I would like to apologize to you.

Felix: your excuses for what?

Martin: I should have warned you that my brother wouldn’t go to work today.

Félix: but no, he came and I admit that he works with love and enthusiasm, I already admire him a lot.

Martin: what are you talking about, my brother is lying in the hospital.

Felix: no, he was there this morning.

Martin: I’m at his bedside in the hospital right now. In fact, on his way to work this morning, he had an accident and he is in a coma in the hospital like that.

Felix: but then, who was there this morning?

Martin: oh there, I don’t know.

Felix: ok, I’ll find out tomorrow. I’m sorry about your brother.

Martin: Thank you.

Martin hangs up and wonders.

Felix: but who was this man who worked here this morning? He’ll tell me everything tomorrow.

On the other side, at Krist’s, he and his wife tell each other about their day.

Krist: You won’t believe what happened to me when I went to that restaurant. As soon as I arrived, I started looking around and suddenly I heard someone calling me by my first name. I joined him and he asked me to dress and he told me how I should work then he told me that I would receive 10,000 f per day. I simply accepted even though I had lots of questions.

Isabelle: it’s surely a miracle from the Lord my love, this boss must surely take you for someone else so let’s pray that he doesn’t fire you when he realizes it.

Krist: yes let’s pray for that. Before returning, he congratulated me because I did a good job, I hope that can work in my favor.

Isabelle: It will count, I’m sure.

Krist: and how was your day?

Isabelle: it was very good, thanks to my ads on Facebook, several of my friends who I braided before came to get braided. I made a recipe for 55,000f.

Krist: wow, this is really excellent! I was wrong to say that God had abandoned us. It’s not just with diplomas that you earn a living.

Isabelle: it’s true, I don’t need a midwifery diploma to weave, but I earn my living.

Krist: and I don’t need a manager’s degree to be a waiter but I also earn my living.

To all the unemployed, those waiting for work from the state, there are several ways to earn a living, you just have to look and find the right path. You should never fold your arms and wait for integration. Exercise the talents you have within you. Some of us will feel or maybe think that we have no talent, but let me tell you, everyone has a talent. You just need to know which one and how to use it to make a living.