Kwame Darko a quiet data analyst who works at Darko-Mensah & Associates. He is never really the type to complain about his workload. He does everything meticulously and quickly. He just doesn’t like attention. But his colleagues at work always had something other than his good work ethic to tease him about. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kwame has always been a big man and has made his peace with it. What he did not expect was that his office had not. It all started with Nii, a project manager who teases everyone and considers it love. A comment about his lunch portions that got a laugh soon became a pattern. “Kwame, the food we go get some chop?” That landed every day like clockwork. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kwame, being a good sport, always laughed it off. It was easier to laugh than explain that his weight was something he struggled with and that every \u201charmless\u201d joke ate at his self-esteem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then there was the issue about his shoes. He owned a pair of brown loafers which had seen better days. He has patched it more times than he can count and was aware it wasn\u2019t a good look. But his priorities wouldn\u2019t allow him to get a new one. With a single mother to support and three siblings in university, new shoes were simply not at the top of his list. Bright, a senior officer whose wardrobe suggests a different financial reality, said nothing to Kwame’s face. Instead, one Thursday morning, a meme appeared in the office group chat: a cartoon with stinky, worn out shoes. No name attached, no tag needed. There were several laughing emojis within minutes. Someone casually responded, \u201cto whom it may concern\u201d. Another mentioned a promo at the mall. Kwame read every single message, set his phone face-down on his desk, and went back to his spreadsheet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n