35 February 2022 The Birthday Journal “This is not fair,” I thought to myself as I put my phone off. It was a customer. A dissatisfied customer. I felt bad. Little did I know that my boss had heard the exchange. “I can’t afford to have you treat our customers like royalty,” he said angrily. “The customer is not always right.” I have watched you for some time, and I can’t work with you. You are more interested in pleasing the customer than being loyal to me. “You are fired!” Those three words shook me to my core. I felt completely downcast. I could not imagine that doing the right thing would end up this way. Perhaps it was my youth, perhaps my naiveté, but I didn’t understand workplace politics and how to please my boss. I had just finished my National Service. Or maybe it was just that my zeal to explore and express myself creatively wasn’t being properly harnessed. I was the creative type, and there was so much I wanted to do that I couldn’t do working with someone, as they had their own set of philosophies and rules. It was frustrating. 13 12 Bryan Tachie-Menson, CEO, WHITECHALK Events Planning Company; tall, dark, with well-groomed hair and a beard; smiled appreciatively as he narrated to “The Birthday Journal” how he came to be in the event planning space, his experiences, skills, and lessons that have helped catapult him to the pinnacle of the industry. When I lost the job, it made me wonder whether I was done with the industry, whether it was the end. However, I put myself together and got another job. I also took on side hustles I felt free to explore my creativity when I did my side jobs. It was this zeal to explore and express myself in what I call the “big world” Bryan Tachie-Menson CEO, Whitechalk
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