Interview Calls at an Ungodly hour.

Every youth in Kampala understands how hard it is to seek fulfilling employment in this day and age especially given the high levels of unemployment prevalent. Early on this year, I was in that very situation having to send my CV in response to positions that had been advertised. However, I came across an opening on Facebook with no organisation listed that my skills seemed well suited to. Even though this is not usually a source for me to seek gainful employment I responded and sent an email to the listed address.

I received confirmation of receipt a day later and then nothing for about 2 weeks and even forgot about it all when, one Saturday evening about 10:15 pm while on my way home I received a call.

Me: “Hello!” I responded after much hesitation in taking the call especially given how late it was.

Lady on Phone: “Hello, you have an interview on Monday.”

Me: “Excuse me?” I responded quite perplexed.

Lady on Phone: “What, I said you have an interview on Monday.”

Me: “Who is this?”

Lady on Phone: “Irene, you have an interview on Monday.”

Me: “Okay, how did you get my number?” I responded very curious as to how this evidently confused individual had my number.

Lady on Phone: “My boss gave me your number and told me to call you.”

Me: “I see, which organization is this?”

Lady on Phone: “Gal…” she said although I could not hear half of what she was saying as her line had a great deal of interference.

Me: “I beg your pardon!”

Lady on Phone: “Gal....” she said but I still could not hear a word.

Me: “I can’t hear clearly, are you sure you have the right number.”

Lady on Phone: “Yes, shaa… what do you mean? Aren't you Tracy?”

Me: “Actually no I am not,” I responded getting rather irritated at this point in time because this crazy person had made me park at the side of the road to take this call.

Lady on Phone: “Ehh, what’s your name?”

Me: “Joyce I responded,” with some hesitation like you would if you were talking to a would be assassin or kidnapper.

Lady on Phone: “Eh anyway, my boss gave me your number to call you for an interview at our office on Monday.”

Me: “I am sorry that will not be possible, you call me and don’t introduce yourself, you address me using different name and then invite me for an interview. Are you sure you have the right person?”

Lady on Phone: “Are you coming for the interview or not?’

Me: “….Do you know what time it is?” I asked with some hesitation.

Lady on Phone: “Ahh … no!”

Me: “10:15 pm on a Saturday night.”

Lady on Phone: “Ah I told you where am calling from, ahhh you are even finishing my airtime.”

Me: “Hhhm goodness alright I will call …”

Before I could finish my sentence her line went dead.

Well am sure that you all know she did not call back and when I realized that Monday was a public holiday, I decided that this must have been a prank call and I brushed it off. Tuesday however was a working day and I went about my morning as I would any Tuesday only to be interrupted by a phone call. I rushed to the phone but I had missed the call and realized I had missed 2 other calls 15 minutes apart from the same number however, when I returned the call no one answered. I did not think much of it until I checked my messages and saw this.

8:10 am

“This is Galooli you are being called for an interview callback.”

I called back 3 more times 30, 45 minutes and an hour later only for my last call to be picked up by a gentleman.

Gentleman: “Hello!”

Me: “Hello, who am I speaking to?”

Gentleman: “Michael from Galooli Uganda.”

Me: “Oh okay, Michael I received 3 calls from this number and was returning the calls but no one seemed to answer for the last 2 hours.”

Gentleman: “Oh sorry, I think it was our admin trying to get in touch with you.”

Me: “I see.”

Gentleman: “She was using my personal line to call you but she is away from her desk.”

Me: “Okay so...”

Gentleman: “I think you have an interview today.”

Me: “I see, I got a call from someone who did not introduce themselves properly but informed me I had an interview yesterday and did not give me the time. Now yesterday was a public holiday.’

Gentleman: “Alright I do not know the program, but when she gets back I will tell her to call you back.”

Me: “Okay, thank you very much Michael. I will wait to hear from her soon, good bye.”

Gentleman: “Goodbye.”

11:15 am

Lady on Phone: “Hello!”

Me: “Hello,” I said as I answered the phone.

Lady on Phone: “You were supposed to come for an interview between 9 and 11.30 am at our office.”

Me: “Well you did not inform me of the time and the organization. I could not hear a word you were saying as your line was not clear. Are you aware what day it is?”

Lady on Phone: “It’s Tuesday.”

Me: “Exactly, you said the interview was on Monday so when the day of an interview changes you call the person and inform them before the actual day. How sure was I that your boss or the interviewer was still available today? So it is 11:15 am what does this mean?”

Lady on Phone: “I don’t know, you were supposed to be here by 11:30 am.”

Me: “I know, its 11:15 am now so … obviously I will not make it in time.”

Lady on Phone: “…...”

All I heard was silence on her end as I heard her begin to talk to other people in the office while I was still on the line. Seeing as I was not going to get an answer and my airtime was being wasted, I hung up and never called back and neither did she.

This is classic case why our Kenyan counterparts are taking all our senior positions in our job market, Ugandans are terrible at follow through and customer service.

Note: Some names of individuals have been changed to protect their identities.