Kampala. Martin Okiror, a 24-year-old marketing executive was left with stiff stretched lips after he kept on smiling and laughing at the weekend office party on Saturday night. The party was attended by most of the employees and all of the bosses of the company. Anxious to please and network with his bosses, Okiror kept on smiling at them and laughing at their jokes for five hours continuously, something doctors suspect of having stiffened his facial muscles.
“Okiror had gone straight to the party after office hours and was hanging out with us. But once the bosses came to the party after changing their clothes, he suddenly excused himself and went to his immediate boss. He didn’t come back to join us after that moment and was still hanging out with the bosses when we left for our homes. This morning we heard the news that he was taken to a doctor for treatment.” Naome, a colleague of Okiror said.
The party, touted by the HR department as being the monthly extravaganza for the employees of Sakala Marketing Limited, was held nine months after a similar party was organized early this year. At that time employees had requested the HR department to not hold any more monthly parties as they realized that the costs of organizing the party was to be recovered from nowhere else but employees’ salaries. Okiror had missed the last party and later on concluded that it had cost him a good performance appraisal. He got a chance again last night when a party was called to celebrate the birthday of the CEO.
“My bosses didn’t know much about me and I could hardly network with them as Kibirige, who regularly used to share cigarettes with them. Kibirige had befriended his boss in that last party after his boss had puked on him after drinking too much beer. Since then he had been quite close to his boss and he got a promotion and handsome salary hike last week, while I was left without any increment at all even though I work harder and smarter than Kibirige.” Okiror told UCN at a speed of twenty words per minute as his lips hurt while speaking.
Okiror’s friends tell that he was quite active last night. Most of them heard him laughing real loud when the Sales Head of the company declared, after finishing his fifth muzinga of Uganda Waragi, that he could even sell his wife for three golden pussy cats at a night club. Apparently it was joke and Okiror was the first one to get it, followed by giggles from other seniors present at the party.
“He was finding all the jokes funny and laughing louder than a policeman at a Fight Corruption event.”, recalled Naome.
Apart from laughing, his colleagues inform that Okiror was also smiling at each of the bosses whenever their eyes met and said “Hello boss” to them and bowing his head each time. He was also seen holding drinks for his immediate boss when his boss went to pee.
Okiror spent almost five hours at the party and was dropped to his home by his boss in his swanky car. This made Okiror feel really good and he immediately went to sleep, but woke up with stretched stiff lips this morning. His flatmates mizigo-mates had to take him to a doctor.
Okiror has written to the HR department of Sakala to foot the bills as he has termed his medical condition as a case of professional hazard. Sakala was closed on Sunday and the PRO didn’t return any cals from UCN.
