Zainab's weak excuse

I've always loved working with people of like minds. I don't like it when a team member causes a setback for me just because of his or her incapability. This doesn't go well with me, and I've always tried to avoid working with such people, but in an academic setting, it is always or sometimes impossible to choose one's teammate, as we are always peered upon based on our matriculation number. This was what happened in this case, and it not only delayed but also resulted in a waste of time and resources.

source

I'm in my final year in a higher institution, and of course, the last semester is always filled with different activities coupled with projects, which is like a final assessment of all one has learned through the years in one's chosen course of study. Because of this, we were divided into groups. Each group is made up of eight students. We were to undertake laboratory practicals as biochemists and report adequately our results in an accepted format to be presented and submitted to the school. For over a month now, we have been visiting the laboratory and attending to all that is needed for the success of the analysis. We were to round up the laboratory work two weeks ago, and we would be left with the written part, which would be done outside the laboratory, but we couldn't achieve that because of a weak excuse from one of the group members.

The last phase of the practical is invivo analysis, in which all members must be present to partake in the process to know how each result was gotten instead of reading it. Being present will make practice time individually, and our supervisor made it compulsory for every one of us to be present, as we wouldn't move on with the process if anyone was absent. We agreed on a date and time to meet at the laboratory, and everyone agreed to the chosen date and time. On the said day, we were all planning to go, communicating through the WhatsApp group created. Some minutes before the agreed time, when some of us were already at the laboratory, a message came in from one of the group members that she would not be present because of unforeseen circumstances.

At first, no one replied in the group chat because she was fond of cracking jokes when not necessary. After a few minutes when others were already present and we didn't hear from her, the group leader took it upon himself to give her a call.

"I saw your message in the group, but you know it's not so right to give an excuse some minutes before the agreed time?" the group leader asked her.

"I'm sorry; I thought I would be able to make it, but I couldn't because something came up," Zainab replied.

This got everyone present annoyed because if she couldn't make it that day, we would be able to perform the analysis, as our supervisor made it clear to us that we must all be present. We all heard her conversation with the group leader because she was on speaker. Then, one other member asked her what the unforeseen circumstance was.

"My distant grandmother died; it was some minutes to the agreed time, they told me. That's why I won't be coming," Zainab replied.

"Your distant grandma?" I asked, and she replied, "Yes".

"Where is she living?" I asked, and she replied, "Kaduna.

"Are you traveling to Kaduna state?" another group member asked, and she replied, "No."

"Since you're not traveling, kindly make it down here; let's conclude our laboratory analysis today so that we can all go back to our various homes early," the group leader concluded.

"Her deatdestabilized me; I don't think I can make it down there today," Zainab replied.

"You know how important this is to all of us, and you remembered what our supervisor said about us all being present," another member angrily said, and out of annoyance, the group leader hung up the call.

Everyone was so furious we had to make a call to our supervisor to explain things to her, but as a disciplinarian, she insisted that we must all be present before we move on with the analysis. That day, we were unable to do anything; we all had to return to our various homes, furious and sad because we waited for more than an hour trying to convince her to join the rest of us at the lab. Aside from the waste of time and resources because none of us was living closer to the lab, we all had to transport ourselves from our various homes, and that cost a lot to and fro, and yet we got nothing done.

We held a meeting on the group chat to select another date and time, which got our work delayed. We all met last week for completion, but I wasn't as happy as I would have been if we had done it the other day because this time, I couldn't participate fully as I was a bit indisposed, but I had to be present to get the work done. We've completed the analysis, and we're left with the written part for now. Later we got to know that the deceased grandma is not directly related to her and was indeed a distant grandma.

Thanks for your time, and your comments will be appreciated.

Posted Using INLEO