One Good Turn Deserves Another by @temitopef

I cannot remember the exact date of the incident but I know it happened on July 2016 during my practical posting at Osun State General Hospital Asubiaro. I was posted to the same hospital with my roommate and we decided to rent a room and stay together for our 3-months practical posting. I called one of our senior colleagues working at the hospital to help me get an accommodation and he did.

We resumed practical, and we were happy doing our posting, I am the type of person that loves greeting and respecting everyone regardless of their status, I had once helped one of the security men to get drugs at the pharmacy, my roommate doesn't like the way I did converse with the security at the gate that sometime she would prefer we walk differently and I don't blame her because we don't have the same upbringing.

Things were going on fine with our practical and where we were staying until I traveled home one weekend only for me to get back to the hospital and not see my roommate, I signed in and went back home to check on her and she told me that the tap in our house was not working and she couldn't go to fetch water at the next building so she used small water to flushed her pad, unfortunately, the pad got stuck and when realized what happened she went to fetch water, flushed again but it was still stuck.

Our landlady came out and was shouting at me because I'm the one that rented a room from her. I also tried but not working then I pleaded with the landlady to please allow us to go to work first so that when we come back we will look for a way to fix the toilet and the woman agreed after much persuasion. When we returned the woman did not give me any time to rest before she started shouting again.

We asked around for a plumber and the one we saw charged us #10,000 without even seeing the damage and he can only do it the following day, I know waiting till the next day is not possible if I don't want to see my landlady wrath, and while still searching, I was told the hospital has a plumber that also works outside and we can get his number for the security men at the gate.

I went to them and they gave me the plumber's number and I called and explained the situation to him, he told me specifically that he cannot do any work again that day because he had been working all day and was also busy the following day but the security men collected the phone and talked to him for a while then he told me he would come in an hour.

We waited till the man came, I have never seen him before when he came, he asked if I was the one that called him, I replied and he promised he would fix the toilet for me that same evening. I was so happy, I asked for his bill and, he told me to just bring #500 for him to buy cement, that I should not pay for his workmanship. I don't know what to say but kept thanking him.

He broke the toilet and told my landlady that he was just accusing us blindly because the pad that was stuck inside the toilet was more than 10, and he charged the landlady #3500 and she promised to collect it from all her tenants. I didn't know why this man was helping me until after he completely fixed the toilet the second day.

He told me he didn't have the intention of fixing the toilet that day even when two security men called him after my call on my behalf but when he came and saw it was me, he forgot his tiredness and wish to help me because he had been seeing me every time I was passing and used to greet everyone cheerfully, he was around the day I help the security man to get the drug, he also added that I helped someone he knew when he came to the laboratory for a test and all of them used to discuss how respectful and kind I am compared to my colleagues.

He advised me to keep being good and never change, the man did another thing that amazed me when my landlady gave me #1500 to give to the plumber instead of the #3500 he requested, I took the money to him but he didn't collect the money from me instead he told me he collected the money for me, for the stress the landlady made me pass through.

I learned some lessons from the incident that I would be sharing below.

Nobody is Useless: Even my roommate agreed to this after the incident, she was the type that doesn't like associating with people below her standard or people that cannot benefit her but seeing how my kindness helped her fix the toilet without paying made her have a change of heart.

People are Watching Us: Whatever we love doing whether good or bad, people around us are watching. To me I was only doing what I'm used to, not knowing those little things are seen as something to others. I did not spend any money for them but I end up receiving money in return.

Goodness attracts Goodness: Had I been rude and sassy to the security men, I guess they won't have persuaded the plumber to come and help me neither would the plumber must have heard about me before, but because of my little that I didn't see as help and greeting and giving them respect helped me when I was in distress.

Everyone has their usefulness in one way or the other, I was raised to respect everyone and help in my little way, and truly I reaped the rewards when the toilet got spoiled, even though I was not the one that did it but the landlady frustrated me because she rented the apartment to me.

Nobody is useless, both literate and illiterate are useful in their field, and also we all need one another because no one is all-knowing, so we should always help those in need of help because we would surely be rewarded and the reward doesn't need to come from the person we have helped. I am happy because the incident changed my roommate positively and she started being kind to everyone. This is my stopping point on this topic, thank you for reading.

I invite @olabillions, @yakspeace, and @beautybb to join this contest. 25℅ Beneficiary Set to @null.