Recently, I stumbled on a new word. It’s called funemployed. A joint word from “Funny” and “Unemployed”. Get it?
There is nothing funny about being unemployed. There is nothing funny about spending thousands of naira on university education and then simply being unable to find a way to make it back due to circumstances completely out of one’s control. But humour has always seen a lot of people through tough times.
Case in context: Some of the best comedians in Nigeria have gone through terrible experiences that helped them to develop their funniest observational jokes.
OK, so it may not be fun to be unemployed, but you CAN have fun whilst you’re unemployed because otherwise you might let yourself get so down and begin to consider taking a BRT bus to heaven.
Let’s get real here, peeps. When you are unemployed and you are on those occasional benefits (i.e. stipends from that uncle or aunty, small change from that elder brother, sister or friend, etc) it’s as if you’re expected to never do anything fun until you’re paying your own way.
That’s not fair OR true and you know what? Using words like funemployed is akin to putting a positive spin on the whole unemployment saga. Or is there a better way to turn a bad situation into a good one other than making it fun? Sometimes being funemployed isn’t quite as good as it seems though.
Just pause for a moment and think about your friends currently at their various offices. Can they run those little errands that you run on behalf of people who find you “indispensable”? Can they stop by at the newsstands the way you do when you pause to feel and appreciate the pulse of society? Can they do that and some more? No they can’t. And there’s one more: They also can’t indulge in ones of life’s greatest pleasures - the afternoon nap. LOL!
Unemployment is never anyone’s plan but you know what? It happens. As does other stuff rhyming with 'it' and God forbid we all seek a little happiness in it all.
Obviously DON’T have so much fun that you don’t do anything remotely job related because that’s silly and tiring, and other bad things. Bored to death of updating your CV and scouring graduate job sites? It’s alright; you are not a “jonzer” for not being productive every waking second.
Teach yourself how to cook and realise how expensive those ready meals that “working-class” people eat can really be. Start a blog or journal whining about how rubbish being unemployed is BUT use it as a reason to watch all of “Grey’s Anatomy” or “Army Wives” or “One Tree Hill” or “24” in quick succession and get some ‘experience’ writing reviews. See? Even fun things can be productive. Kind of.
.... to be continued.
- Precious Ohaegbulam (@prsh9 / precious_ohaegbulam@yahoo.com)
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