Every office has that one person who always seems to know who is leaving and when. At a busy marketing firm in Accra, that person was Lariba. She was friendly, cheerful, and well-liked by her colleagues. Lariba greeted everyone with a smile, remembered birthdays, and never missed an opportunity to chat in the office kitchen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lariba had a peculiar habit. Every evening, just before closing time, she would scan the office monitor for those who drove, mostly towards her area. More often than not, she spotted Akrashie. \u201cAkrashie, you\u2019re going towards East Legon, right?\u201d She would ask, already gathering her things. \u201cYes,\u201d Akrashie would reply. \u201cPerfect! I\u2019ll join you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At first, Akrashie didn’t mind helping out. It felt like a harmless favour. With heavy traffic and rising fuel costs, colleagues often assisted each other. A day ride turned into a few weeks, and a few weeks turned into several months. Before long, it was no longer even a question. At precisely 5:00 p.m., Lariba would appear beside Akrashie’s desk, handbag in hand. “Ready?” she would ask, and Akrashie would force a smile in response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What Lariba didn\u2019t realise was that those drives home often provided Akrashie with his only moments of peace throughout the day. Sometimes, he used the commute to call his parents; other times, he listened to podcasts. On occasion, he simply relished the silence after a long day filled with meetings and deadlines. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
During one memorable drive home, stuck in traffic, his senses were suddenly awakened by the aroma of grilling chicken. He turned to see a group of grillers at the Legon City Mall, where a banner read: Ghana Chicken Fair \u2013 Happening Today. With grilled, fried, and spiced chicken from the best vendors in the country, it sounded like a detour worth making. However, with Lariba in the passenger seat chatting about office gossip, he ended up driving straight past it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There were days when he needed to run personal errands, make stops, or meet friends, but he felt uneasy about changing his plans since he knew someone was relying on him for a ride. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As time went on, Akrashie started leaving the office later than usual and occasionally took different routes home. One day, he even pretended to have another appointment just to avoid the awkward situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His colleagues noticed. “Akrashie, why are you still here?” one asked. He laughed and changed the subject, but the truth was simple: he didn’t know how to explain that a kind gesture had slowly become an obligation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One Thursday evening, the issue finally came to light. As Lariba settled into the passenger seat, she noticed that Akrashie seemed unusually quiet. “Is everything okay?” she asked. Akrashie paused for a moment before responding carefully, “Lariba, I don\u2019t mind helping out occasionally, but I think we’ve reached a point where I don’t always have the flexibility I need after work.” The silence that followed felt longer than the traffic at Dzorwulu. Lariba looked out the window and reflected on what he had said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For months, she had assumed that the rides were convenient for both of them. She never considered that someone else’s car represented personal space, that someone else’s commute was their own time, and that someone else’s kindness should not be taken for granted as a permanent transportation solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I honestly didn’t think of it that way,” she admitted. The next day, Lariba began making other arrangements for getting home. Occasionally, when she truly needed help, she would ask Akrashie for a ride, and when she did, she made it clear that Akrashie was free to say no.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To her surprise, their working relationship improved significantly. There was no tension, avoidance, or awkward excuses, just mutual respect. Sometimes, the biggest workplace misunderstandings arise not from bad intentions, but from the assumption that access, favours, and generosity have no limits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Lesson<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Being a good colleague means recognising boundaries as much as appreciating kindness. A favour freely given is a gift, not an entitlement. Before relying on someone else’s time, resources, or personal space, it’s worth asking: Have I considered how this affects them?<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Every office has that one person who always seems to know who is leaving and when. At a busy marketing firm in Accra, that person was Lariba.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":169,"featured_media":21646,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1116],"tags":[1739],"content_author":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-21645","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-life-at-work","8":"tag-office-buzz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jobberman.com.gh\/discover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jobberman.com.gh\/discover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jobberman.com.gh\/discover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jobberman.com.gh\/discover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/169"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jobberman.com.gh\/discover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jobberman.com.gh\/discover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21645\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jobberman.com.gh\/discover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jobberman.com.gh\/discover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jobberman.com.gh\/discover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jobberman.com.gh\/discover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21645"},{"taxonomy":"content_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jobberman.com.gh\/discover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content_author?post=21645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}