Saturday, November 04, 2006

Maid Sabotage

I went home one day this week and found that the maid had sold my entire stack of precious newspapers that I have meticulously collected over the last 5 years.

It’s partly my fault because I had separated and tied several stacks to be sold with instructions that the others not sorted /tied up were not to be sold. However when the newspaper buyers came round, she sold the entire lot – tied & untied newspapers and away went historic articles from the nation, standard, people, weekly citizen, financial post, defunct tabloids like Kenya confidential, Patriot and some foreign newspapers - pages & pages of business articles, company & executive profiles, election & referendum stories, career guides, strategic & other business ideas, bar-fighting, sexcapades and corrupt deals of politicians etc. - vital sources of information and references for bankelele - all gone to be recycled or to wrap/pack pieces of meat at the supermarket.

The last time I sold my newspapers was after the referendum and 60 kilos of newspapers netted about 855 shillings.

The gain this time was much less (about 500/= to go towards groceries) but the loss was priceless

Related: More maid drama.

16 comments:

Rista said...

ROFL...not at you, but with you? Afadhali you, have a family friend whose entire collection of novels, that he'd collected over at least 15 years, was sold pole pole by the maid. Tears (of frustration) still come to his eyes when he recounts the story.

Juju said...

wow!! pole, I really feel your pain.

Baltic Amber said...

why do kenyans hold onto newspapers in this age of the internet??

start relying on google for whatever information you need!! everything is on-line now.

Anonymous said...

Sijui nicheke au nikuhurumie! For someone who also loves reading, I can only imagine! :-)

pesa tu said...

@kenyanentrepreneur:Not all our print media is archived online.
@Bankelele: You should get at least sh.30 per Kg.
I have about 500kgs of annual reports and magazines lying around.

gathinga said...

very sad but also interesting
perhaps banks should have been more careful entrusting such a delicate task to someone probably illiterate. but can you fetch more than 10/= a kilo. i usually offload mine at this price

Anonymous said...

Pole sana, I feel your pain. Maybe the best thing would be to scan all the good articles and save the info online somewhere.

bankelele said...

Rista: That's even sadder, but how did your friend NOT notice books were disappearing?

xtra-cash: My bad, I took too long to sort out the one I wanted to keep

KenyanAnalyst & Majonzi: nothing I can do, have to move on now

kenyanentrepreneur: very little stuff printed in our papers get's online (maybe 1/10) for one to google. also many papers still do not have websites

pesa tu: true. annual reports you may have to find plastics recycler

gathinga: Actually she's a very great lady - hardworking, honest, literate & decent. My instructions were not clear in this case. And I think we got 20/= kilo

Mitzy: They have probably been used up by now.

acolyte: There was just too much to scan. Also they were organized for easy reference.

Girl in the Meadow said...

Ooh lOl, i know about losing information. Worse would be when they give them to Mali kwa Mali, so what did you tell her?

Nakeel said...

woishe pole sana. I know how it feels. Ask me when my nieces decided to draw on my scrap book and I had an interview coming where I was supposed to go with the cuttings. Did I tell the mums to help me rub.

Unyc said...

I seriously want 2 laugh esp after readin ur first paragraph.....but...I can imagine what u felt. U sure u dint wrap the mboch n gv her off 2 mali kwa mali...?
Pole.

Anonymous said...

Pole banks. Your story reminds me of my high school years. I used to fetch mbuyu's old newspapers and sold them at the nearby butchery. Sadly, the old man went to buy nyama, which was then wraped on a newspaper bearing his signature, not once but several times. I had some expaining to do.

Anonymous said...

Banks - What's the deal with City Trust? The price just hit 500/-... I have more updates on my blog...

Anonymous said...

bankelele idont want to bring siasa to your respectable blog but can you comment of raila's claim that the economy isnt growing and that the NSE is only awash with drug money

bankelele said...

Shiroh: Like I said, it was partly my fault - and no use crying over what can't be undone. I'm cool

Nakeel: How did you explain in the intreview?

Unyc: No, she's a great help. this was a very rare error

Kenyanomics: Myfault, because I had given her the go ahead to sell, but had not properly separated them

coldtusker: Very strange, and it's under review. somebody got screwed

Joe: I have not followed exactly what he said in the States - you can't keep up with a politican and the media can magnify their statements. There has been improvement in the economy for sure esp. agriculture and tourism. I don't see how drug money has influenced the NSE

Klara said...

Woi! Pole sana...Yenyewe that's priceless.
This blog is very informative! Where was I?

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