pegar no pé

A few nights back Fernando and I were coming back from Magude to Maputo late on a Friday night, and so we decided to stop by our egg ranch in Marracuene to see if everything was in order and maybe surprise the guards and catch them sleeping.

When we get the our first egg house, there is no guard. We have $5,000 worth of chickens in a locked egg house and no guard nearby. We go to the second egg house, no guard. We go to the third, and Matusse, our ever-so-faithful guard was there. So we called an emergency meeting with our employees that live near in houses we've provided for them.

So I told them I'd stay overnight and be the guard, that really got them going saying things like "No! The boss can't do that! That's a shame!" so they put their heads together and asked around (everyone here talks and knows everything about one another's lives) and and as luck would have it, we knew that both guards were at a party and abandoned their shift.

I got in the car with the employees and we drove to the party. Only one of the guards was there and he came running to the car in his suit and dress shirt, caught in the very act. We took him back to his post and we chewed his head off and his salary will be discounted this month.

The best part was, when he came to the car at the party he told me: "Boss, I'm sick." I laughed.

I always have to play parent with employees here. It seems like I can never give a task and expect it to be done without poking them with a stick and making them do that. Which reminds me I really do have to go do some of that right now.