Exiting one hell to enter another - CNF

William: the man I knew and the man he became. William was 12 when he started his career in a local hospital situated in Islamabad. He was a brave, hardworking boy of his time who didn't feel ashamed of doing work like cleaning toilets in hospitals, disposing of medical waste, running 5 kilometers daily here and there, irrespective of hot, cold, rain and even during thunderstorms. He was known very well in the market due to his hard work and reluctance to say no to work. For 5 years, he learned to climb ropes, memorized the medications, and handled many patients with senior doctors.

After 5 years, he finally got a certificate in Nursing, due to which he had the opportunity to work at any place. He knows a lot about medicines & prescriptions, so he joined a local pharmacy. There he worked hard day and night, even after doing overtime, just to build a valuable reputation. After two years, he was appointed as senior pharmacist of that same pharmacy. He was enjoying that day for sure, but he didn't know what was coming next.

By the time I joined the pharmacy as a junior, he was my senior, and he knew how everything worked. At first, we were like brothers because we both were from the same locality. He showed me what to do, and I worked hard to keep up. But things at the pharmacy weren't fair to William. Even though he worked harder than anyone, the owner never praised him for the good things he did. Instead, he only got hate and criticism whenever he made a small mistake.

As the months passed, I kept my head down and worked hard. Soon, my skills matched his. We were on the same level, but the atmosphere changed. The brotherly bond we had turned into quiet jealousy because of the owner. The owner always praised me in front of him even when I was not at his level. The lack of respect from our owner, combined with me catching up to him, was too much for William.

He decided he’d had enough. One day in windy morning, a supplier came into the pharmacy with a very weird look on his face,

He said;

Hey William, hope you are doing great today. Here is the supply that you ordered yesterday from us

However, William knew him very well, so he trusted him and told him;

Okay, leave it at the last counter, and I will check it

& William also joked that " hope the wind will not blow you away😂" both laughed at each other and the supplier went to the last counter....

There, he left the supplies silently & went back towards the door, saying bye to William. I was in charge of taking supplies unless others could take them when I was not there. By coincidence, I entered the pharmacy and greeted William, but he didn't respond because he was, as usual, busy with the customer. I saw the stock from the pharma company that I ordered, so I simply started matching the product with the list. There I found out that some products were missing.

I asked William,

Hey William, did you sell anything from this supply because I can't find some products in it?,

He looked at me and replied,

No, I didn't sell & verify the item with the list because I was busy, and it was delivered by Wilson. You also know that he is a trusted person and has been delivering to us for more than 7 years.

I was in a tense situation, said

Okay, let me check the camera first so we can get a direct answer without wasting time

I grabbed the remote to power on the screen, and coincidentally, the owner entered the pharmacy.

After seeing me with the remote, He asked,

What happened, kid?

I told him that,

Uncle, some products were missing from supplies, so I was just checking the video recording of the cameras to find out what happened.

He said,

Are you blind like why you didn't verified when the supplier was here?

I replied with patience,

I didn't accept supplies because I wasn't here; William did.

He looked at William for just 2-3 seconds and turned his face towards me, saying,

Okay, start recording and let me also see

I started recording on the LED & after a few minutes we found out that the supplier was putting something in his pocket, so I turned on the recording of camera number 2 so we could see what was happening. There we all saw that the idiot supplier, whom we trusted more than others, simply lifted up some items from the box and put them in his pocket; we all were shocked for a few seconds.

Then the owner slammed both hands on the counter and said,

Now enjoy,, William, enjoy,

William knew what was coming, so he quickly said that I would pay for that loss. Now, after hearing this, Owners dopamin level reached high and said

I don't need you third class money, you idiot. I hired you to give my business growth, not losses

Hearing this, I feared like what will be William response, so I looked at him, but he was looking at the floor with a numb, red face, not because of anger but of losing respect Infront of me and other workers. There was complete silence for the next hour, and William wasn't doing anything but standing in a corner. I didn't know what he was thinking, but he suddenly said;

Okay, the mistake was mine, so I am leaving this job

After listening to that, the owner said to me, "Kid, give him his salary and fire him", & left the pharmacy.

My body was shocked & my mind was saying,

Why William, why? Just say sorry, man,

I didn't look at William & started doing my work in the hope that everything would be fine, but William had already decided in his mind to leave, so he came to me looking atthe shelf of medicines with sadness and said,

Ahmed, clear my remaining so I can go

I told him not to react; it's just for now, and everything will be fine, but William said "No" with anger.

I said to another worker, "Mark, please help William", & left the shop to breathe and digest what's happening. I was seeing through the glass in curiosity to see what was happening. I saw William taking his salary from Mark and saying goodbye to everyone and hugging them. I was seeing this all, and William was looking at me when he was coming out, so I simply stepped up to hug him in grief, but he was looking in another direction and hugged me, halfway running toward his bike. At that time, I didn't think about anything else except Will.

After some time, one of our staff members told me that he joined another pharmacy. After hearing this, I was thrilled & happy for him because it sounded perfect to me, but William went into another hell after leaving this one.

He wanted respect and a fresh start, so he found a new job at a different pharmacy across the city. The owner was thrilled to hire him. Their senior staff member was on a month-long leave, so William stepped right in at the right time, handled the workload and finally got the praise he deserved. It seemed like he had made the perfect escape.

But a month later, the senior staff member returned from leave. At first, there were smiles and handshakes, but things quickly turned sour like the sky turns dark after a dust storm.

The senior took back control, but he didn't want to do the hard work. Instead, he started taking all the credit for the good things happening in the shop, and he blamed every single mistake entirely on William. To survive, William started working harder and harder, carrying the weight of the whole pharmacy on his shoulders like a donkey.

It got worse. Because the senior was constantly insulting and belittling Mike in front of the customers and staff, the new junior employees completely lost respect for him. They wouldn't listen to him or help him.

Yesterday, William came to see me & I was very happy to see him after so long time but he looked exhausted and defeated as he poured out all his problems in front of me. I was just shocked, like I thought he was having a better life, but he was way more in trouble.

I confronted him & said,

I don't know why you left the pharmacy because of me, William. I take you as my big brother, and you were thinking wrong about me. If you said this to me, I would simply leave the pharmacy because to me our friendship & brotherhood matters not

He looked at me and hugged me with tears in his eyes and said,

I am so sorry, I became what I don't want to become, I just put myself in the whisperings of the devil due to which I became jealous of you, please forgive me,

I said,

Okay, William, leave it & you are my brother even after this because I don't care what you did. I am here for you, my brother, in times of sourness and happiness

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He had jumped straight from the frying pan of our old owner's criticism, right into the fire of the oven of a senior who was breaking his spirit.

Image credits

1- Free to use under Pixabay Content License & edited in Canva

2- Free to use under Pixabay license

Credit to owners of images are give in word Pixabay so feel free to visit

Thanks of reading & Peace with Pe🕊️

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Posted via blog.suseona.com