My mom usually is the first to wish me a happy birthday, almost by default every single year, and then my close friends who can remember it or have saved it to their phone reminders follow. On that 27th day of September, getting to the office, I half heartedly expected my workmates to have seen a facebook notification about my birthday, so I would have gladly settled for a wall post, or a twitter mention. But on this day, after hours into work and still not even a single mention from them of even recognizing that its my birthday, made me feel a little sad and forgotten.
At kuza HQ, there is always a lot of work to be done, so I brushed off this birthday stuff, and soon was so engulfed on my work and finishing up reports. Then came tea time, and as usual, I picked my favorite tea mug, and got myself a queen cake to console myself of having atleast some form of cake on my birthday. Just as I was pouring some tea from the tea pot, one of my colleagues, Nicole, came and pulled me away from the cafeteria area and told me she wanted some urgent help with something on the Imac. I was there wondering how important this things was, that it couldn’t wait till I had taken my tea. All the same since the tea was too hot anyway, I decided to go have a look at it.
Once I was seated on the computer, asking her what the problem was, I immediately heard a flurry of activity and a lot of footsteps coming towards our content room, and in an instance the room was full of people all around me. My instincts kicked in, telling me the guys in the office had realized it was my birthday, and that they were going to do something crafty to me, like pour water or something else of the sort as is the tradition of most birthday celebrations here.
To my surprise, I saw one of my colleagues holding out this huge brown cake, with strawberry toppings. I was beyond words, as I stood there like a zombie looking at each of them singing a birthday song to me, thinking to myself how special workmates and friends they must be. The cake was wonderful, and they even got to write my nickname which I will not reveal on it using the icing. I loved how good this Amarula cake was, and we all got a bite of it and had bonding photo moments, with the birthday boy having the largest piece by default.
Well, to say the least, they did go ahead and do one that crafty thing in the end where they ganged up to smear a lot of cream and chocolate on my face, as we all laughed it off. I felt very special and appreciated by people I work with here. This is a wonderful work culture we have cultivated here, and one that strengthens bonds of friendship and work relations.
I am looking forward to the next September to see what surprise they will cook up this time.
